Am-ra the Ta-an

Out of the land of the morning sun,

Am-ra the Ta-an came.

Outlawed by the priests of the Ta-an,

His people spoke not his name.

Am-ra, the mighty hunter,

Am-ra, son of the spear,

Strong and bold as a lion,

Lithe and swift as a deer.

Into the land of the tiger,

Came Am-ra the fearless, alone,

With his bow of pliant lance-wood,

And his spear with the point of stone.

         

He saw the deer and the bison,

The wild horse and the bear,

The elephant and the mammoth,

To him the land seemed fair.

Face to face met he the tiger,

And gripping his spear’s long haft,

Gazed fearless into the snarling face,

“Good hunting!” cried he, and laughed!

The bison he smote at sunrise,

The deer in the heat of day,

The wild horse fell before him,

The cave-bear did he slay!

         

A cave sought he? Not Am-ra!

He lived as wild and free,

As the wolf that roams the forest,

His only roof a tree.

When he wished to eat he slaughtered,

But not needlessly he slew,

For he felt a brother to the wild folk,

And this the Wild Folk knew.

The deer they spoke to Am-ra,

Of kin by the tiger slain,

Am-ra met the tiger,

And slew him on the plain!

         

A youth in the land of the Ta-an,

A slim, young warrior, Gaur,

Had followed Am-ra in the chase,

And fought by his side in war.

He yearned for his friend Am-ra

And he hated the high priest’s face,

Till at last with the spear he smote him,

And fled from the land of his birth race.

Am-ra’s foot-prints he followed,

And he wandered far away,

Till he came to the land of the tiger,

In the gateway of the day.

         

Into the land of the tiger,

There came an alien race,

Stocky and swart and savage,

Black of body and face.

Into the country of Am-ra,

Wandered the savage band,

No bows they bore but each carried

A stone-tipped spear in his hand.

They paused in Am-ra’s country,

And camped at his clear spring fair,

And they slew the deer and the wild horse,

But fled from the tiger and bear.

         

Back from a hunt came Am-ra,

With the pelt of a grizzly bear,

He went to the spring of clear water

And he found the black men there.

More like apes than men were they,

They knew not the use of the bow,

They tore their meat and ate it raw

For fire they did not know.

Then angry waxed bold Am-ra,

Furious grew he then,

For he would not share his country

With a band of black ape-men.