From the Introduction
by L. Sprague de Camp
Of the four stories in this volume, the first two have complicated histories. In 1951 I discovered, in a stack of unpublished Howard manuscripts in the house of the late Oscar J. Friend, then the literary agent for the Howard estate, a story entitled Tbe Black Stranger! In preparing this manuscript for publication, I edited and rewrote it somewhat drastically, condensing it by more than fifteen per cent and adding a number of interpolations to tie the story in with King Numedides, Thoth-Amon, and the subsequent revolution in Aquilonia, to fit the story snugly into the saga.
The editor of Fantasy Magazine, who first published the story, made further additions and deletions. This version was reprinted in 1953 in the volume King Conan. The magazine editor retained the original title; but, when the story was published in King Conan, I changed the title to The Treasure of Tranicos because The Black Stranger! was confusingly similar to the titles of a numher of other Howard stories, at least a dozen of which had black in their titles.
For the present publication, I have gone back to the original Howard manuscript and have edited it much more lightly, not trying to condense it and making only such changes as seemed urgently necessary. I have omitted the magazine editor's changes; I have, however, kept the interpolations I introduced the first time to tie the story in with the rest of the saga - e.g. Conan's account of his escape from Aquilonia. What you read is, therefore, a good deal closer to Howard's original than the previously published version.
| After the events of the story Beyond the Black River, in Conan the Warrior, Conan rises rapidly in the Aquilonian service. Becoming a general, he defeats the Picts in a great battle at Velitrium and breaks the back of their confederacy. Then he is called back to the capital, Tarantia, for a triumph. But, having aroused the suspicion and jealousy of the depraved and foolish King Numedides, he is plied with drugged wine and chained in the Iron Tower under sentence of death. The barbarian, however, has friends as well as enemies in Aquilonia, and soon he is spirited out of his prison and turned loose with a horse and a sword. Riding back to the frontier, he finds his Bossonian troops scattered and a price on his head. Swimming Thunder River, he strikes out across the dank forests of Pictland toward the distant sea. |
Chapters:
- The Painted Men
- Men from the Sea
- The Dark Stranger
- A Black Drum Droning
- A Man from the Wilderness
- The Plunder of the Dead
- Men of the Woods
- Swords of Aquilonia