Greatest Ever Pulp Stories #9 – The Mighty Manslayer
[image error]By: Harold Lamb
Appeared in: Adventure (October 18th, 1918)
Character/Series: Khlit the Cossack
An aging Cossack wanderer called Khlit is exploring the bazaars of Samarkand. He spots two ivory and gold elephants and tries to buy them but is refused by their owner; the merchant Mir Turek. Instead, Turek has a proposition for Khlit; to accompany him and his entourage across the Gobi desert to Karakorum in the land of the Tatars. There, according to legend, lies the fabled tomb of Genghis Khan and its untold treasures. So begins a thrilling adventure in which everybody it seems, has an ulterior motive.
Before setting out, Khlit buys the slave girl Kerula from Mir Turek to stop him from abusing her further. Kerula has visions and is plagued on their journey by the spectral form of the monstrous ‘Kotwan’ which may not be quite what it seems. And it’s not just ghouls trying to foil their quest. When the Chinese, who are currently besieging the Tatar city of Altur Haiten, learn of the quest for Genghis Khan’s tomb they naturally want in on it.
The hidden tomb of Genghis Khan has fascinated people for centuries. According to legend, his body was returned to his homeland (the Khentii province of Mongolia) and buried in an unmarked tomb. A river was diverted to conceal the entrance and all who knew of its whereabouts were massacred. Archaeologists have searched various spots without much success although a tumulus atop the mountain Burkhan Khaldun is a popular candidate. The area is still sacred and expeditions are considered invasive. Genghis Khan is a popular national figure to this day in Mongolia and many want to see his wishes upheld and his tomb to remain undiscovered.
New Jersey native Harold Lamb wrote tons of historical adventure stories for the pulps (primarily Adventure) featuring Cossacks, Crusaders and Middle-Eastern warriors. Fluent in Persian, Arabic and a smattering of Manchu-Tatar, Lamb was an authority on Middle-Eastern and East Asian history. The success of his biography of Genghis Khan prompted him to pen more non-fiction books including Alexander of Macedon: The Journey to World’s End and Hannibal: One Man against Rome. He collaborated with filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille on several movies as a technical advisor and screenwriter before his death in 1962.
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Ironically this 1969 paperback collection did not contain The Mighty Manslayer – that was included in the previous volume The Curved Saber (1964)
For whatever reason, Khlit the Cossack has failed to achieve the renown of other pulp alumni such as Conan or Tarzan and it seems a little unfair. Harold Lamb wrote nearly twenty Khlit tales and they are some of the best adventure fiction around. But even if Khlit has faded into obscurity, his influence resounded in the writing of subsequent pulp greats. Robert E. Howard was a massive fan and not only did Conan have his own ‘Kozaki’ adventures in The Devil in Iron and Iron Shadows in the Moon but Howard’s story People of the Black Circle bears many similarities to The Mighty Manslayer.
