Story Review: Manly Wade Wellman's O Ugly Bird!
I've seen some of my friends reviewing stories they love from authors they like, so I decided join in.
I'll be looking into one from one of the oldest books I still own, 1988's John the Balladeer by Baen Books. It's a collection of what many feel are the best horror/dark fantasy short stories by Manly Wade Wellman, a writer who published more stories in his career (stretching from Weird Tales in the late 20's to Whispers in the 80's) than most people ever do. Yet, compared to many other fantasists and SF authors, he's all but forgotten.
O Ugly Bird! is the first of the 'Silver John' stories, a series set in Appalachia that uses traditional American folklore and hoodoo beliefs with remarkable ingenuity and effectiveness. John himself is a former Korean War veteran, born and raised in North Carolina, who wanders through the 'hills and hollers' of the back country with his guitar and its silver strings, confronting monsters, demons, and black magic. Wellman knew an incredible amount of Appalachian ballads and many of them show up in the stories.
As for the story itself, it starts off by establishing John, the villain Mr. Onselm, and even the setting, doing it all in Southern mountains dialect. "I swear I'm licked before I start, trying to tell you all what Mister Onselm looked like. Words give out -- for instance, you're frozen to death for fit words to tell the favor of the girl you love. And Mr. Onselm and I pure poison hated each other. That's how love and hate are alike... He was what country folks call a low man, more than calling him short or small; a low man is low otherwise than by inches."
John meets Mr. Onselm when he comes down from the mountains to a cabin where he finds the well-dressed but still unappealing Mr. Onselm bullying a man into giving him some food. The man, big and strong next to Onselm, obeys with open fear. When Onselm sees John, his first question is, "Where did you steal the guitar?" John answers him politely and makes up a quick verse about what he's seen. Onselm leaves, and finds out from the cabin's owner that Mister Onselm is a witch and terrorizes the local people into giving him whatever he wants and doing whatever he says by means of black magic, killing animals or striking people mute and the like. But the most fearsome thing about him is the Ugly Bird.
John of course asks what the Ugly Bird is and is sorry to find out: "First out I saw it was dark, heavy-winged, bigger than a buzzard. Then I saw the shiny gray-black of the body, like wet slate, and how it seemed to have feathers only on its wide wings. Then I made out the thin snaky neck, the bulgy head and long stork beak, the eyes set in front of its head -- man-fashion in front, not to each side. The feet that taloned on to the sack showed pink and smooth with five graspy toes." It flies off with the sack of meal. John learns from his host that the Ugly Bird has been seen in one place while Onselm's been seen in another. The man then tries to change the subject, but John makes up a quick verse proclaiming what he intends to do about Mr. Onselm and the Ugly Bird.
"You all have heard of the Ugly Bird
So curious and so queer,
That flies its flight by day and night
And fills folks' hearts with fear.
I never come here to hide from fear,
And I give you my promised word
That I soon expect to twist the neck
Of the God damn Ugly Bird."
After hearing this the frightened man sends John on his way with a silver dime to buy some food. John goes, aware that the Ugly Bird is following him. he makes up another verse mocking the monster, and soon finds a sick looking Mr. Onselm sitting on a log. He weakly orders John to leave. John sits down right next to him and makes up another verse, a very insulting one, about Mr. Onselm:
"His father got hung for hog stealing,
His mother got burned for a witch,
And his only friend is the Ugly Bird,
The dirty son of a --"
And then the Ugly Bird swoops down and smashes into John, knocking him off of the log. It swoops back at him, beak open and showing sharp and ugly teeth. John instinctively holds up his guitar and it veers off wildly. Onselm orders John to 'get.' "I shame to say that I got." John looks back just long enough to see the Ugly Bird pressing itself up against Mr. Onselm as he hurries down the trail. A short time later he finds himsef at the local store/post office, which Wellman takes the time to describe. He also finds a pretty and frightened girl named Winnie at the counter, with Mr. Onselm trying to force her to come along with him. He glares at the John and his guitar, and coldly backs down. When John slaps his silver dime down on the counter between them, Mr. Onselm reacts like Dracula to a cross and flees.
Winnie then tells John more about Mr. Onselm. How he just takes whatever he wants from the local people, and now he wants her. They also talk more about the Ugly Bird and Mr. Onselm, with John wondering that perhaps the Ugly Bird is projected out from Onselm's body like a medium's spiritual projection at a seance. That it's ectoplasm, made from his body. And if it can be hit or hurt, and it's a part of Mr. Onselm, then maybe...
Then Mr. Onselm returns with several local men in tow, including the store owner. "Mr. Onselm acted like the leader of a posse. 'Sam Heaver,' he crooned at the soft, grizzled man, 'can tramps loaf at your store?'" The men tell John to leave, but do nothing else. He refuses to go, but Mr. Onselm laughingly tell him that a man without even a dime in his pocket can't tell him anything. Mr. Onselm has one of the men grab John's guitar and then starts to drag Winnie away. John yells at them to stop him, but Onselm just turns and cocks his finger at John like the barrel of a pistol. John goes for the man holding his guitar and Mr. Onselm backs off in obvious fear.
Then the Ugly Bird shows up, diving straight for John's skull. He pulls his guitar away from the other man, turns and smashes it across the Ugly Bird's head. It drops lifeless to the dirt, and so does Mr. Onselm, his arms splayed out like its wings. The Ugly Bird then slowly melts away, leaving a stain behind, and Mr. Onselm's corpse shows thin burn lines across his face where John hit the Ugly Bird. John and the others quickly figure out what happened. The silver strings were enough to kill the Ugly Bird, and when it died, so did its creator. John is offered several rewards by the relieved locals, but he turns them all down save for some food to take along with him and another guitar, all of which they gladly supply. When Winnie starts getting a little too fangirlish over him, quoting the Bible ("There was a man sent from God, whose name was John."), John realizes it's time to leave.
The story itself is rather simple, but it's still effective and entertaining. It presents what was a different world to most of its readers in 1951 in highly effective fashion. The setting may seem a trifle rustic by modern standards, but neither are these the Illiterate Hillbilly Mutants so beloved of modern writers. Wellman lived among the mountain people for decades, he respected them, and it's obvious in the story that he views their way of living as being as worthy as any other.
The morality of the story is admittedly simple: Mr. Onselm is a bullying tyrant who uses black magic to terrorize people, and so when he meets John one of them just has to go. (Note that in authentic Ozark and Appalachian folklore a 'witch' is someone who got their powers from a deal with Satan. There are magic healers and people who know how to use spells and prayer to counter witchcraft in the stories -- John himself becomes one later on -- but they are most specifically NOT witches.) It would probably be looked down on today, but back then it worked. I think it works now. You get much the same attitude in many other writers of the time (30's-50's): there is a good and there is a bad, and when the good meets the bad, it has to do something about it.
That said this is not a 'deep' tale. John basically finds trouble and does something about it, with some exposition download concerning ectoplasm. That happens in a great many of the stories, though in the later ones it concerns things that occur more commonly in Appalachian folklore. The setting gets even more rich in later tales, though John stays much as we see him here. We learn that he has a curious streak that keeps him wandering the hills, and that he was the best shot in his division (based on the fact that shooting was a popular pastime as well as a way of putting meat on the table in Appalachia for centuries), though guns are rarely of any use against the things John meets. He's also well read and self-educated. Add in his humility and his basicially good nature and you have his character.
Later on I'll review another of the John stories if anyone liked this one. And if you have any criticism of how I did this review, please let me know
I'll be looking into one from one of the oldest books I still own, 1988's John the Balladeer by Baen Books. It's a collection of what many feel are the best horror/dark fantasy short stories by Manly Wade Wellman, a writer who published more stories in his career (stretching from Weird Tales in the late 20's to Whispers in the 80's) than most people ever do. Yet, compared to many other fantasists and SF authors, he's all but forgotten.
O Ugly Bird! is the first of the 'Silver John' stories, a series set in Appalachia that uses traditional American folklore and hoodoo beliefs with remarkable ingenuity and effectiveness. John himself is a former Korean War veteran, born and raised in North Carolina, who wanders through the 'hills and hollers' of the back country with his guitar and its silver strings, confronting monsters, demons, and black magic. Wellman knew an incredible amount of Appalachian ballads and many of them show up in the stories.
As for the story itself, it starts off by establishing John, the villain Mr. Onselm, and even the setting, doing it all in Southern mountains dialect. "I swear I'm licked before I start, trying to tell you all what Mister Onselm looked like. Words give out -- for instance, you're frozen to death for fit words to tell the favor of the girl you love. And Mr. Onselm and I pure poison hated each other. That's how love and hate are alike... He was what country folks call a low man, more than calling him short or small; a low man is low otherwise than by inches."
John meets Mr. Onselm when he comes down from the mountains to a cabin where he finds the well-dressed but still unappealing Mr. Onselm bullying a man into giving him some food. The man, big and strong next to Onselm, obeys with open fear. When Onselm sees John, his first question is, "Where did you steal the guitar?" John answers him politely and makes up a quick verse about what he's seen. Onselm leaves, and finds out from the cabin's owner that Mister Onselm is a witch and terrorizes the local people into giving him whatever he wants and doing whatever he says by means of black magic, killing animals or striking people mute and the like. But the most fearsome thing about him is the Ugly Bird.
John of course asks what the Ugly Bird is and is sorry to find out: "First out I saw it was dark, heavy-winged, bigger than a buzzard. Then I saw the shiny gray-black of the body, like wet slate, and how it seemed to have feathers only on its wide wings. Then I made out the thin snaky neck, the bulgy head and long stork beak, the eyes set in front of its head -- man-fashion in front, not to each side. The feet that taloned on to the sack showed pink and smooth with five graspy toes." It flies off with the sack of meal. John learns from his host that the Ugly Bird has been seen in one place while Onselm's been seen in another. The man then tries to change the subject, but John makes up a quick verse proclaiming what he intends to do about Mr. Onselm and the Ugly Bird.
"You all have heard of the Ugly Bird
So curious and so queer,
That flies its flight by day and night
And fills folks' hearts with fear.
I never come here to hide from fear,
And I give you my promised word
That I soon expect to twist the neck
Of the God damn Ugly Bird."
After hearing this the frightened man sends John on his way with a silver dime to buy some food. John goes, aware that the Ugly Bird is following him. he makes up another verse mocking the monster, and soon finds a sick looking Mr. Onselm sitting on a log. He weakly orders John to leave. John sits down right next to him and makes up another verse, a very insulting one, about Mr. Onselm:
"His father got hung for hog stealing,
His mother got burned for a witch,
And his only friend is the Ugly Bird,
The dirty son of a --"
And then the Ugly Bird swoops down and smashes into John, knocking him off of the log. It swoops back at him, beak open and showing sharp and ugly teeth. John instinctively holds up his guitar and it veers off wildly. Onselm orders John to 'get.' "I shame to say that I got." John looks back just long enough to see the Ugly Bird pressing itself up against Mr. Onselm as he hurries down the trail. A short time later he finds himsef at the local store/post office, which Wellman takes the time to describe. He also finds a pretty and frightened girl named Winnie at the counter, with Mr. Onselm trying to force her to come along with him. He glares at the John and his guitar, and coldly backs down. When John slaps his silver dime down on the counter between them, Mr. Onselm reacts like Dracula to a cross and flees.
Winnie then tells John more about Mr. Onselm. How he just takes whatever he wants from the local people, and now he wants her. They also talk more about the Ugly Bird and Mr. Onselm, with John wondering that perhaps the Ugly Bird is projected out from Onselm's body like a medium's spiritual projection at a seance. That it's ectoplasm, made from his body. And if it can be hit or hurt, and it's a part of Mr. Onselm, then maybe...
Then Mr. Onselm returns with several local men in tow, including the store owner. "Mr. Onselm acted like the leader of a posse. 'Sam Heaver,' he crooned at the soft, grizzled man, 'can tramps loaf at your store?'" The men tell John to leave, but do nothing else. He refuses to go, but Mr. Onselm laughingly tell him that a man without even a dime in his pocket can't tell him anything. Mr. Onselm has one of the men grab John's guitar and then starts to drag Winnie away. John yells at them to stop him, but Onselm just turns and cocks his finger at John like the barrel of a pistol. John goes for the man holding his guitar and Mr. Onselm backs off in obvious fear.
Then the Ugly Bird shows up, diving straight for John's skull. He pulls his guitar away from the other man, turns and smashes it across the Ugly Bird's head. It drops lifeless to the dirt, and so does Mr. Onselm, his arms splayed out like its wings. The Ugly Bird then slowly melts away, leaving a stain behind, and Mr. Onselm's corpse shows thin burn lines across his face where John hit the Ugly Bird. John and the others quickly figure out what happened. The silver strings were enough to kill the Ugly Bird, and when it died, so did its creator. John is offered several rewards by the relieved locals, but he turns them all down save for some food to take along with him and another guitar, all of which they gladly supply. When Winnie starts getting a little too fangirlish over him, quoting the Bible ("There was a man sent from God, whose name was John."), John realizes it's time to leave.
The story itself is rather simple, but it's still effective and entertaining. It presents what was a different world to most of its readers in 1951 in highly effective fashion. The setting may seem a trifle rustic by modern standards, but neither are these the Illiterate Hillbilly Mutants so beloved of modern writers. Wellman lived among the mountain people for decades, he respected them, and it's obvious in the story that he views their way of living as being as worthy as any other.
The morality of the story is admittedly simple: Mr. Onselm is a bullying tyrant who uses black magic to terrorize people, and so when he meets John one of them just has to go. (Note that in authentic Ozark and Appalachian folklore a 'witch' is someone who got their powers from a deal with Satan. There are magic healers and people who know how to use spells and prayer to counter witchcraft in the stories -- John himself becomes one later on -- but they are most specifically NOT witches.) It would probably be looked down on today, but back then it worked. I think it works now. You get much the same attitude in many other writers of the time (30's-50's): there is a good and there is a bad, and when the good meets the bad, it has to do something about it.
That said this is not a 'deep' tale. John basically finds trouble and does something about it, with some exposition download concerning ectoplasm. That happens in a great many of the stories, though in the later ones it concerns things that occur more commonly in Appalachian folklore. The setting gets even more rich in later tales, though John stays much as we see him here. We learn that he has a curious streak that keeps him wandering the hills, and that he was the best shot in his division (based on the fact that shooting was a popular pastime as well as a way of putting meat on the table in Appalachia for centuries), though guns are rarely of any use against the things John meets. He's also well read and self-educated. Add in his humility and his basicially good nature and you have his character.
Later on I'll review another of the John stories if anyone liked this one. And if you have any criticism of how I did this review, please let me know