Keeping Your Cool Even When Turned into an Animal: The Pusadian Tales, Part 6

Read/Watch 'em In Order #108

There was a 16-year gap after "Ka the Appalling" was published in 1958 before L. Sprague de Camp returned to his Pusadian tales, with a new story becoming part of the 1974 anthology Flashing Swords #2, edited by Lin Carter.

Interestingly, about the same amount of time had passed for Gezun of Lorsk between "Ka the Appalling" and "The Rug and the Bull." In the meantime, he has sort-of settled down to being a family man. He ended up marrying Ro, the lady he ran off with at the end of  the previous story, and they now have three kids.

But "settled down" doesn't really describe Gezun's married life, as they are still often on the run from one nemesis or another after another of Gezun's schemes to make money don't quite work out.

As this new story opens, Gezun arrives in the city of Torrutseish, which had been the location of the adventure he had experienced in "The Hungry Hercynian (1953)". Returning is a bit risky, as he had left that city hurriedly after having made an enemy out of a magician named Bokarri. But Gezun figures that after so many years, there's no real risk. He had recently gained possession of a flying carpet and the knowledge of how to make more, so he plans to get in touch with the head of the magician's guild and open up a flying carpet factory.

But the head of the guild is Bokarri, who holds grudges for a very long time. But the flying carpet scheme is potentially lucrative and so avarice trumps vengence. He and Gezun form a partnership.

"The Rug and the Bull" is full of the same sort of clever plotting and dry humor that graces all the Pusadian stories. When Gezun test-rides his carpet for the king (who is a tad overweight), the overloaded carpet barely gets off the ground and lands awkwardly. But the king recognizes the potential value and is willing to give Gezun another tryout in a month.

But during that time, the various transportation guilds (porters, coachmen, boatmen, etc) grow worried about flying carpets hurting their own businesses. And, when offered enough money by these guilds, Bokarri pretty much jumps at a chance to betray Gezun. Consequently, Gezun finds his soul transported into the body of a bull about to take its turn in the bullfighting ring.

But Gezun handles this situation with remarkable aplomb and a bull with human intelligence can accomplish equally remarkable things during a bullfight. That includes turning a profit even though his flying carpet scheme now seems to be a lost cause.

As far as I know, "The Rug and the Bull" has never been reprinted anywhere, so reading it will require getting hold of a copy of Flashing Swords #2. This is worth doing, though, as all four stories in it are excellent fantasy tales.

There is one more Pusadian story out there, but it's only appearance seems to have been in a mazazine titled Weirdbook and I've been unable to locate back issues that fall within my budget, so our visit to de Camp's mythical Bronze Age civilization will probably end here. I have hopes that all the Pusadian tales will one day be anthologized together and re-printed, but who knows when that may happen. At the moment, I haven't decided what to cover next in the In Order series.