"Two Sought Adventure"
Brazillian artist Ren Moraes' interesting interpretation of our favorite residents of Lankhmar.
From the August 1939 issue of UNKNOWN, this was the first of the five Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories by Fritz Leiber to appear there. They are all so cool you can hardly stand it. Normally, I would put up a SPOILERS tag and then, a few paragraphs later, start discussing the surprise in the story, but this time it's just too good to risk ruining. If you haven't read "Two Sought Adventure" and intend to get to it someday, you really would not want the ending given away.
When some of the Fafhrd and Mouser tales were collected into a book in 1957, the title of the initial story was used for the book itself; so "Two Sought Adventure" was renamed "The Jewels In The Forest" and that's how it would most readily be available today (I was using the 1970 Ace paperback SWORDS AGAINST DEATH which is just packed with eight nearly perfect stories and a couple of bridging pieces).
Lankhmar's two greatest heroes are after a treasure in gems hidden somewhere in this weird-looking tower deep in the forest. In a passage from an ancient book of lore, the long-dead builder of the tower warns that the treasure is mysteriously guarded. "For although my treasure house be empty as air, no deadly creature in rocky lair, no sentinel outside anywhere, no pitfall, poison trap or snare, above and below the whole place bare, of demon or devil not a hair, no serpent lethal-fanged yet fair, no skull with mortal eye a-glare, yet I have left a guardian there."
Well! That certainly seems to cover all the possibilities and yet there ARE those dried old skeletons in the doorway, most of which are slightly crushed, and there is the fact that no one has in fact ever claimed the treasure. And the old architect had for some reason left a number of clues here and there about his hidden treasure as if (for some reason) he wanted people to come looking for it. So something ominous is certainly going on here. Leiber's solution to the puzzle comes with a stunning blast of action that leaves an amazing image in the reader's mind. First reading this story as a hyper kid with altogether too much imagination, I was almost knocked off my bed onto the floor.
The build up to the big revelation is just as enjoyable, as Fafhrd and the Mouser first clash with a rival team of thieves after the same prize. I love the small throwaway scene where our heroes accept the hospitality of a peasant family for the night. Breaking out the wine from their saddlebags, the Mouser entertains with sleight of hand and magic tricks, Fafhrd roars out bawdy songs and tells ghost stories and it's the best evening the simple farmer folk have had in a long time. What other sword and sorcery heroes would actually make good company? Who other than these two would you really want to spend an evening with? Elric? I hardly think so. Conan? God forbid, there is bound to be a violent brawl and sudden death. Jirel of Joiry? Wellll.... maybe, if she took a liking to you but she's pretty unpredictable and pugnacious, too.
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are almost unique among their kindred in that they are likeable. They make friends, fall in (and out) of love, have fascinating tales to tell and they show a lively sense of humour. Of all the sword-swinging wizard-bashing community, these two seem most like real human beings with interests and quirks beyond the combination of avarice and rage which motivates most sword and sorcery characters.
Part of this is because they are based largely upon Fritz Leiber and his friend Harry Fischer (co-creator of the heroes) and also because there were several years before this story in which Fafhrd and the Mouser had time to develop. In unpublished stories and false starts and letters between Leiber and Fischer, the two characters were mulled over and refined and explored. So, when the series actually began, Lankhmar's prize thieves seemed to have an air of a real past together.
From the August 1939 issue of UNKNOWN, this was the first of the five Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories by Fritz Leiber to appear there. They are all so cool you can hardly stand it. Normally, I would put up a SPOILERS tag and then, a few paragraphs later, start discussing the surprise in the story, but this time it's just too good to risk ruining. If you haven't read "Two Sought Adventure" and intend to get to it someday, you really would not want the ending given away.
When some of the Fafhrd and Mouser tales were collected into a book in 1957, the title of the initial story was used for the book itself; so "Two Sought Adventure" was renamed "The Jewels In The Forest" and that's how it would most readily be available today (I was using the 1970 Ace paperback SWORDS AGAINST DEATH which is just packed with eight nearly perfect stories and a couple of bridging pieces).
Lankhmar's two greatest heroes are after a treasure in gems hidden somewhere in this weird-looking tower deep in the forest. In a passage from an ancient book of lore, the long-dead builder of the tower warns that the treasure is mysteriously guarded. "For although my treasure house be empty as air, no deadly creature in rocky lair, no sentinel outside anywhere, no pitfall, poison trap or snare, above and below the whole place bare, of demon or devil not a hair, no serpent lethal-fanged yet fair, no skull with mortal eye a-glare, yet I have left a guardian there."
Well! That certainly seems to cover all the possibilities and yet there ARE those dried old skeletons in the doorway, most of which are slightly crushed, and there is the fact that no one has in fact ever claimed the treasure. And the old architect had for some reason left a number of clues here and there about his hidden treasure as if (for some reason) he wanted people to come looking for it. So something ominous is certainly going on here. Leiber's solution to the puzzle comes with a stunning blast of action that leaves an amazing image in the reader's mind. First reading this story as a hyper kid with altogether too much imagination, I was almost knocked off my bed onto the floor.
The build up to the big revelation is just as enjoyable, as Fafhrd and the Mouser first clash with a rival team of thieves after the same prize. I love the small throwaway scene where our heroes accept the hospitality of a peasant family for the night. Breaking out the wine from their saddlebags, the Mouser entertains with sleight of hand and magic tricks, Fafhrd roars out bawdy songs and tells ghost stories and it's the best evening the simple farmer folk have had in a long time. What other sword and sorcery heroes would actually make good company? Who other than these two would you really want to spend an evening with? Elric? I hardly think so. Conan? God forbid, there is bound to be a violent brawl and sudden death. Jirel of Joiry? Wellll.... maybe, if she took a liking to you but she's pretty unpredictable and pugnacious, too.
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are almost unique among their kindred in that they are likeable. They make friends, fall in (and out) of love, have fascinating tales to tell and they show a lively sense of humour. Of all the sword-swinging wizard-bashing community, these two seem most like real human beings with interests and quirks beyond the combination of avarice and rage which motivates most sword and sorcery characters.
Part of this is because they are based largely upon Fritz Leiber and his friend Harry Fischer (co-creator of the heroes) and also because there were several years before this story in which Fafhrd and the Mouser had time to develop. In unpublished stories and false starts and letters between Leiber and Fischer, the two characters were mulled over and refined and explored. So, when the series actually began, Lankhmar's prize thieves seemed to have an air of a real past together.