The Pool of the Black One

Infobox short story
name = The Pool of the Black One
title_orig = The Pool of the Black One
translator =
author = Robert E. Howard
country = USA
language = English
series = Conan the Cimmerian
genre = Fantasy
published_in = USA
publication_type = Pulp magazine
publisher = Weird Tales
media_type =
pub_date = 1933
english_pub_date =
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Pool of the Black One" is one of the original short stories starring the fictional sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard. It is set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age and concerns Conan becoming the captain of a pirate vessel and encountering a remote island with a mysterious pool that has powers of transmutation.

First published in "Weird Tales" in 1933, the story was republished in the collections "The Sword of Conan" (Gnome Press, 1952) and "Conan the Adventurer" (Lancer Books, 1966). It has more recently been published in the collections "The Conan Chronicles Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle" (2000) and "" (Del Rey, 2003).

Plot summary

cquote2|"Conan glared frozen with repulsion and shaken with nausea. Himself as cleanly elemental as a timber wolf, he was yet not ignorant of the perverse secrets of rotting civilizations. He had roamed the cities of Zamora, and known the women of Shadizar the Wicked. But he sensed here a cosmic vileness transcending mere human degeneracy--a perverse branch on the tree of Life, developed along lines outside human comprehension..."
Robert E. Howard|"The Pool of the Black One"

"The Pool of the Black One," which appeared in Weird Tales magazine the month after "The Slithering Shadow," is a piratical adventure story and occurs in the Western Sea of the Hyborian Age. The story begins with Conan the Cimmerian, adrift at sea near the Barachan Isles, clambering aboard a pirate ship christened "The Wastrel". After a terse conversation with the captain and a brawl with a Zingaran bully, Conan is begrudgingly accepted as a lowly member of the crew and is allowed to remain onboard.

The ship then sails to a mysterious island where the captain hopes to find a legendary treasure and, perhaps, much more. All hands go ashore, including the tyrannical captain and his mistress Sancha. While on the island, Conan confronts the captain alone in the jungle and slays him in a grim duel. However, the mysterious kidnapping of Sancha and the disappearance of several crew members compels Conan to plunge deeper into the jungle.

The island is revealed to be inhabited by strange tall black creatures that captured the crew, and dunk some of them in the titular pool that transforms them into shrunken figures. Conan rescues the remaining captives, including Sancha. After a bloody fight, Conan somehow triggers a self-destruct device in the pool, and barely escapes with the others in time.

Upon returning to their anchored ship, Conan reasserts his authority as captain and claims Sancha as his prize. The story concludes with the Cimmerian dreaming of raiding seaports and of the future plunder he will acquire.

Adaptation

The story was adapted by Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Sonny Trinidad in "Savage Sword of Conan" #22.

External links

* [http://conan.wikia.com/wiki/The_Pool_of_the_Black_One Conan wiki • The Pool of the Black One] • Synopsis, characters, locations, and publishing history
* [http://www.amrathelion.com/ Conan the Barbarian at AmratheLion.com]
* [http://www.conan.com/ Conan.com: The official website]