"The structure was festooned and enwrapped by wriggling, climbing shapes, none of which he could see in their entirety, for they were so entangled in their climbing that no one of them could be see in in their entirety. There was about them a drippiness, a loathsomeness, a scaliness that left him gulping in abject terror. And there were, as well, he saw, others of them on the ground surrounding thd well, great dark, humped figures that lurched along until they crossed the track."
"He could see no eyes, but he could feel them looking."
"Heads, if they were heads, moved back and forth. There was the sense of twitching tails, although he could see no tails."
Clifford D. Simak, The Whistling Well
Read Scott's essay about The Whistling Well here
Read Scott's essay about The Whistling Well here
This was a truly weird one. The concept of this story is that there is an evil that predates man; worshipped by the dinosaurs and prayed to with engraved gastroliths! This evil appears as a collective of wriggling shapes that swarm on trees and, in the final scene a windmill.
An axolotl with external gills and a tree burl.
Now, my approach to these creatures may seem a bit odd, but hear me out. Simak mentions trees a LOT in this story. Not just as a landscape feature but he specifically names paper birch, cottonwood, plum, chinaberry, hazel, maple, apple and oak. My rule of thumb for SFTB is that authors give away what thier "indescribable" creatures look like in the rest of the text. If Simak mentions trees a lot, then these ancient evil trees must have characteristics of trees. Even if he didn't mean it intentionally, that's my takeaway. So its body is a winding, humping branch with "scales" of bark and a lumpy burl for a "head".
Simak also mentions lavender, lilac, wild asters and goldenrod. More plantlife. What is more ancient than dinosaurs if not plantlife. Is the evil just nature. A prehistoric Pan?
These creatures are also worshipped by dinosaurs but aren't dinosaurs. Simak briefly mentions prehistoric amphibians ("There had been amphibians floundering and bellowing in the river swamps"). I used took this mention to mean maybe these things had amphibious qualities; external gills & tiny arms.
Two lame editions of Dark Forces and two cool ones. Including the last with cover by Bernie Wrightson!
I was reluctant to include any cover art for any of the anthologies this story has appeared in because frankly they all suck. It's original publication was in the collection Dark Forces which has one of the lamest covers for a horror anthology I've ever seen. However, after doing some research I discovered a two cool covers for later printings.
An axolotl with external gills and a tree burl.
Now, my approach to these creatures may seem a bit odd, but hear me out. Simak mentions trees a LOT in this story. Not just as a landscape feature but he specifically names paper birch, cottonwood, plum, chinaberry, hazel, maple, apple and oak. My rule of thumb for SFTB is that authors give away what thier "indescribable" creatures look like in the rest of the text. If Simak mentions trees a lot, then these ancient evil trees must have characteristics of trees. Even if he didn't mean it intentionally, that's my takeaway. So its body is a winding, humping branch with "scales" of bark and a lumpy burl for a "head".
Simak also mentions lavender, lilac, wild asters and goldenrod. More plantlife. What is more ancient than dinosaurs if not plantlife. Is the evil just nature. A prehistoric Pan?
These creatures are also worshipped by dinosaurs but aren't dinosaurs. Simak briefly mentions prehistoric amphibians ("There had been amphibians floundering and bellowing in the river swamps"). I used took this mention to mean maybe these things had amphibious qualities; external gills & tiny arms.
Two lame editions of Dark Forces and two cool ones. Including the last with cover by Bernie Wrightson!
I was reluctant to include any cover art for any of the anthologies this story has appeared in because frankly they all suck. It's original publication was in the collection Dark Forces which has one of the lamest covers for a horror anthology I've ever seen. However, after doing some research I discovered a two cool covers for later printings.
Next week is one of my favorites and the last from this run of SFTB!
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