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Fantasy Aspects, issue 1, May 1947
Page 12
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Pheilon to Malea. Killed is the wrong word to use there, for Chi was immortal. He was wounded and prayed for death. The Gods heard his prayer and put an end to his mortal life. However, upon departing this vale of tears, he was placed among the stars, and became the constellation Sagittarius. The cause for the flight was the fact that Hercules became preturbed at the entire race of centaurs after one named Nessus did away with Herk's wife. From what there is to learn of the female Hercules married, it seems that Nessus did him a favor that was never appreciated. Her morals were extremely loose. From all the pictures that are around, it seems as if she never even bothered with the fig leaf. Maybe it was a good thing that Hercules and his boys did away with the centaurs, though. They were not gentlemen in the dictionary sense of the word. As a matter of fact, they were drunken, wild, lawless, inhospitable beings, ruled only by their animal passions. Their running off with the beautious Grecian ladies was only a fable, for they seemed to prefer nags to hags. At least from all accounts it seems as if they did leave the human ladies alone most of the time. There were a few exceptions, but they definitely were not the general rule. The centaurs did not have a very high esteem for the race of Homo Sapien. They would rather be be centaurs any day. They had no religion at all, nor any schooling, but a lot of sport. They did consort with all the gods but their favorites were Eros and Bacchus. They might have had the right idea after all. But still we have the question that always arises in my mind whenever I think of them: what did they eat? The books on centaurs mention many things, some of which would be nurishing for one part of the creature's boy, but possibly fatal to the other. And from the general construction it would appear that the food that they did eat had to pass through the Sapian stomach to reach even the horse alimentary canal. Of course, they are only a legend, and it could be explained by an entirely different set of pipes, but let's look at it as if they were actually equipped with a double stomach, two hearts, and all the other various things that go to make up the insides. Murray Sheehan in his book, Half Gods (E. P. Dutton, New York: 1927) says of Dick, the centaur: "He reached eagerly for the piece of bread and butter." I have yet to see a horse eating bread and butter. But in the same book Sheehan says, "Send Jack down to the lower pasture for Dick." That would lead us to think that the centaur is out grazing with the plainer horses. Kinda confusin'! Half-Gods is the story of a centaur born on a farm in Missouri. But it is more than the story of a centaur; it is one of the grandest satires on the human race ever written. When Dick is born he is thought of merely as a monstrosity. His farmer-owner never sees in him the great thing that he is. There are masterstrokes of writing in this book: the professor who sees him as a classic thing, but loses interest when Dick cusses him; the "intelligent city-man" who uses Dick as a side-show feature; and the Holy Roller preacher who regards Dick's strange form as a "Burden of God." Dick is not godlike. He is more human than any of his owners. He starts out a divine thing, but slowly and surely comes down to the level of his surroundings -- yet all through the book he is thought of merely as a work animal. His is a pitiful story, and I never felt quite so sorry for anything I was reading about ---( Page 12 )---
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Pheilon to Malea. Killed is the wrong word to use there, for Chi was immortal. He was wounded and prayed for death. The Gods heard his prayer and put an end to his mortal life. However, upon departing this vale of tears, he was placed among the stars, and became the constellation Sagittarius. The cause for the flight was the fact that Hercules became preturbed at the entire race of centaurs after one named Nessus did away with Herk's wife. From what there is to learn of the female Hercules married, it seems that Nessus did him a favor that was never appreciated. Her morals were extremely loose. From all the pictures that are around, it seems as if she never even bothered with the fig leaf. Maybe it was a good thing that Hercules and his boys did away with the centaurs, though. They were not gentlemen in the dictionary sense of the word. As a matter of fact, they were drunken, wild, lawless, inhospitable beings, ruled only by their animal passions. Their running off with the beautious Grecian ladies was only a fable, for they seemed to prefer nags to hags. At least from all accounts it seems as if they did leave the human ladies alone most of the time. There were a few exceptions, but they definitely were not the general rule. The centaurs did not have a very high esteem for the race of Homo Sapien. They would rather be be centaurs any day. They had no religion at all, nor any schooling, but a lot of sport. They did consort with all the gods but their favorites were Eros and Bacchus. They might have had the right idea after all. But still we have the question that always arises in my mind whenever I think of them: what did they eat? The books on centaurs mention many things, some of which would be nurishing for one part of the creature's boy, but possibly fatal to the other. And from the general construction it would appear that the food that they did eat had to pass through the Sapian stomach to reach even the horse alimentary canal. Of course, they are only a legend, and it could be explained by an entirely different set of pipes, but let's look at it as if they were actually equipped with a double stomach, two hearts, and all the other various things that go to make up the insides. Murray Sheehan in his book, Half Gods (E. P. Dutton, New York: 1927) says of Dick, the centaur: "He reached eagerly for the piece of bread and butter." I have yet to see a horse eating bread and butter. But in the same book Sheehan says, "Send Jack down to the lower pasture for Dick." That would lead us to think that the centaur is out grazing with the plainer horses. Kinda confusin'! Half-Gods is the story of a centaur born on a farm in Missouri. But it is more than the story of a centaur; it is one of the grandest satires on the human race ever written. When Dick is born he is thought of merely as a monstrosity. His farmer-owner never sees in him the great thing that he is. There are masterstrokes of writing in this book: the professor who sees him as a classic thing, but loses interest when Dick cusses him; the "intelligent city-man" who uses Dick as a side-show feature; and the Holy Roller preacher who regards Dick's strange form as a "Burden of God." Dick is not godlike. He is more human than any of his owners. He starts out a divine thing, but slowly and surely comes down to the level of his surroundings -- yet all through the book he is thought of merely as a work animal. His is a pitiful story, and I never felt quite so sorry for anything I was reading about ---( Page 12 )---
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