The God in the Bowl

Plot summary

One night in the Nemedian municipality of Numalia, the second largest Nemedian city, Conan enters a fantastic establishment: a great museum and antique house which laymen call the Temple of Kallian Publico.

In the midst of robbing this temple museum, Conan finds himself embroiled in a murder investigation when the strangled corpse of the temple's owner and curator, Kallian Publico, is found by a night watchman. Though the Cimmerian is the prime suspect, the investigating magistrate, Demetrio, and the prefect of police, Dionus, show remarkable forbearance, allowing Conan not only to remain free, but also to keep his unsheathed sword while their nervous men search the shadowy premises. It was a combination of Conan's massive physique, the fiery glare in his eyes and the insistence that he'd gut the first person who tried to apprehend him that kept the Watch members at bay.

As the on-scene investigation unfolds, the magistrate soon learns from Promero, Publico's clerk, that Publico had received from distant Stygia a strange bowl-like sarcophagus that now lies unsealed, open, and empty. This sarcophagus was said to be a priceless relic found among the darkened tombs far beneath the Stygian pyramids and sent to Caranthes of Hanumar, Priest of Ibis, 'because of the love which the sender bore the priest of Ibis'. Intercepting this rare item meant for Caranthes, Kallian Publico had believed the sarcophagus contained the fabled diadem of the giant-kings whose primordial kin dwelt in that dark southern land before the ancestors of the Stygians came there. However, clearly, the object contained within was not the diadem, but something of a more insidious nature.

While the magistrate and his men are baffled when uncovering this aforementioned information, the reader quickly begins to suspect the murderer may have been something other than entirely human and was contained within the now-opened sarcophagus.

A scream, a death, and the police retreat from the temple museum, leaving Conan to fend for himself with the roaming "murderer." Conan eventually locates the culprit whom he hesitantly dispatches with his long sword.

Editing controversy

The original version of the story was rejected by pulp magazine Weird Tales in Howard's lifetime and only rediscovered in 1951. It was then edited by L. Sprague de Camp for publication, and this edited version was the first version to see print. Several other differently-edited versions followed. The unedited, original version was only printed in 2002 with Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One (1932-1933).

Many of the changes made to the story by de Camp were slight. They have been characterized as technically correct and giving greater precision to the text, but as losing some of the richness and energy of Howard's original. One instance of the differences in texts follows:

Arus stood in a vast corridor, lighted by huge candles in nitches along the walls. These walls were hung with black velvet tapestries, and between the tapestries hung shields and crossed weapons of fantastic make.

The watchman stood in a vast corridor lighted by huge candles set in niches along the walls. Between the niches, these walls were covered with black velvet wall-hangings, and between the hangings hung shields and crossed weapons of fantastic make.

De Camp's editorial work on both this and other Howard Conan stories, in which he reportedly substantially altered and rewrote whole sections, often to include references to his own work, have been decried by Howard purists.

Everett F. Bleiler, commenting on the edited text, described "The God in the Bowl" as "a primitive detective story" and found it to be "not very good.". Carson Ward commented further: "A more fitting term would be an anti detective story- since it turns upside down the basic conventions of the genre. It begins in normal detective story fashion - a murder is discovered, the police arrives, a rationalist detective (Dionus) starts a thorough investigation, discards red herrings and looks for the real culprit. But in total opposition to the conventional ending of a detective story - i.e, the detective solving the mystery and triumphantly apprehending the culprit - 'God in Bowl' ends with the forces of law and order totally routed, detective and constables fleeing the scene in panic. The stage is left to the clash of primeval forces, the barbarian from the north against the sinister magic from the south. The outcome is entirely due to Conan's sword-arm. The laws and criminal procedures of the surrounding city and kingdom are effectively nullified".

Reprint history

Notable reprints of this story have appeared in the collections The Coming of Conan (Gnome Press, 1953) and Conan (Lancer Books, 1967). It has most recently been republished in the collections The Conan Chronicles Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle (Gollancz, 2000) and Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One (1932-1933) (Del Rey, 2003). Recent versions have removed all alterations made by L. Sprague de Camp.

Adaptations

The story was adapted by Roy Thomas and Barry Smith in Marvel Comics' Conan the Barbarian #7 ("The Lurker Within", July 1971) and by Kurt Busiek and Cary Nord in Dark Horse Comics' Conan #10 & 11.