Avon Fantasy Reader No. 9 — page 74: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

three men and a woman. The remainder of the savages $ prostrated them- selves around me with every indication of superstitious fear. Ss - I signed that I was hungry, and food and drink were instantly brought me—a huge chunk of scorched meat ‘and a white sour beverage which I afterward learned was the fermented milk of some animal. I ate and drank, and feeling stronger, arose and stepped out of the hut, -walking as 1§ my body had been weighted with lead because of the planet’s tre- nendous gravitational pull. As I did so, the earth quivered once more, and the hut collapsed completely. | By signs I finally made the terror-stricken savages understand that I. wished to know the whereabouts of my ether ship. One of them, who appeared bolder than the rest, led me to a place where an enormous fissure yawned in the hard ground. Far down in this fissure I saw the craft wedged. I was casting about for some means of rescuing it, when the earth trembled, and the crack closed over it. Thus cut off from interplanetary travel—for I did not know how to construct. another ether ship—I found myself earthbound. I immediate- ly set about learning the simple language of the savages, living in a dwell- ing of skins tied to. light poles, because of the frequent earthquake shocks. These, as well as the many volcanic eruptions, terrific electrical storms, © -meteoric showers and electromagnetic displays from- the polar regions, I knew were the results. of the recent constant proximity of Magong to Earth, and that things would, in time, reach their proper balance once more. The savages, however, believed that the coming of “The great night light” and the subsequent terrifying phenomena, were due to some magic power which I possessed, and I was consequently worshiped as a god. Propitiatory offerings of food, flocks, and animal skins poured in to me from neighboring tribes for hundreds of miles in all directions. Grad- ually the earthquake shocks subsided, the volcanic eruptions ceased to be continuous, the meteoric showers grew less frequent, and the elements less destructive. After a year had passed I married a daughter of the chief of the tribe among which I had fallen. Other chieftains, learning that the god married women, quickly tendered the hands of their daughters. One of these, I married from time to time, thus making alliances with tribe after tribe which none might wish to break. I grew immensely wealthy, * the wealth of these people was reckoned, and built me an immense palace £ hewn stone, personally supervising the work of my horde of unskilled | ae I also built a temple for the worship of the great god, T’ien, Supreme Ruler of the Universe, and taught my people to worship Him, and to regard © me only as His earthly vicar. | Most of my numerous wives bore me children, and I was grateful for the fact that all of them, instead of resembling their mother’s people, had - the yellow skins, ‘straight black hair, and slanting eyes of my race. My children grew up and married savage women and men, yet there was slight modification in the physiognomy of their offspring. As the years Comicdooksnco