Read/Watch 'em In Order #157
Manly Wade Wellman's fourth Hok story appeared in the March 1941 issue of Amazing Stories. (Making this post the SECOND time I've discussed a story from that issue.) In the previous stories, Hok has brought family units together into primitive tribal structures, started living in huts rather than caves and invented the bow and arrows.
In "Hok and the Gift of Heaven," he has a chance to introduce swords and usher in the Iron Age. This happens via a stroke of dumb luck OR divine intervention, depending on one's interpretation of the story.
I have no idea what Wellman's religious beliefs--if any--were. In the Hok stories--which are Wellman's fictional representations of man's early development--he has presented the worship of God (referred to as the Shining One) has a healthy part of that development. Hok, certainly, considers worship to be a necessary thing.
Here, when an enemy tribe is attacking Hok's village, a meteor land right smack in the middle of the battle. Hok is knocked out and his tribe panicks, running away. When Hok wakes up, he finds that an outcropping of coal has fed a very hot fire started by the meteor. When rain douses the flames, some meteoric iron has been melted into the shape of a sword. Hok figures out how to whet the metal to sharpen it and makes a hilt out of animal skins. He has new weapon. The third-person narration refers to it outright as a sword, but Hok gives it the ultra-cool name of Widow-Maker.
He also assumes the sword is a divine gift. Now as a Christian, I believe in God and believe that He takes an active part in our lives. But this is difficult to portray in fiction without creating an awkward deus ex machina, making it seem like the author is cheating to help his hero along. To be honest, as much as I like the Hok stories, the hero simply finding metal that melted by apparent chance into a sword did seem like a cheat. In the previous tale, Hok had worked hard to figure out bows and arrows. He earned the weapon. Here, he's just given it.
On the other hand, he does continue to stoke the initial meteor fire with coal because this seems to be what the Shining One expects of him. This response to his faith is what makes the fire hot enough to form the sword. So perhaps he DID earn it.
Anyway, he finds out his wife and son were captured by the enemy tribe. Armed with Widow-Maker, he pursues, killing a cave bear and a leopard along the way. This provides us with cool action and shows both us and Hok just how effective a weapon the sword can be.
He also passes a fire formed by natural gas. When flames seem to reach for the sword, Hok interprets this as the Shining One asking for it back. But Hok needs it for awhile longer before he can do that.
He finds the enemy village at the seashore, fights a shark, finds his family, kills a bunch of people, and then gets captured. But when the enemy chief tries to use Widow-Maker--well, another bit of presumed divine intervention occurs. Hok and his family escape, but the Iron Age will be delayed. Hok does return the sword to the Shining One by dropping it in the natural gas fire. Hok has promised to do this and he always keeps his word.
By the end of the story, the theme of divine intervention has been established effectively enough to make me okay with the "gift" of the sword. Whether this intervention really was divine or whether Hok simply sees it that way is up to the individual reader. In either case, Wellman provides us with another fast-paced adventure tale filled with brutal, exciting action. You can read it yourself HERE.
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