In the Court of the Dragon

by Robert W. Chambers

"Oh, thou who burn'st in heart for those who burn In Hell, whose fires thyself shall feed in turn; How long be crying-'Mercy on them.' God! Why, who art thou to teach and He to learn?" In the Church of St. Barnabe vespers were over; the clergy left the altar; the little choir-boys flocked across the chancel and settled in the stalls. A Suisse in rich uniform marched down the south aisle, sounding his staff at every fourth step on the stone pavement; behind him came that eloquent preacher and good man, Monseigneur C--.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Gothic, Fiction, Lovecraftian, Classics, Cthulhu Mythos

26 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2012

About the author

Robert William Chambers was an American artist and writer.

Chambers was first educated at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute,and then entered the Art Students' League at around the age of twenty, where the artist Charles Dana Gibson was his fellow student. Chambers studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, and at Académie Julian, in Paris from 1886 to 1893, and his work was displayed at the Salon as early as 1889. On his return to New York, he succeeded in selling his illustrations to Life, Truth, and Vogue magazines. Then, for reasons unclear, he devoted his time to writing, producing his first novel, In the Quarter (written in 1887 in Munich). His most famous, and perhaps most meritorious, effort is The King in Yellow, a collection of weird short stories, connected by the theme of the fictitious drama The King in Yellow, which drives those who read it insane.

Chambers returned to the weird genre in his later short story collections The Maker of Moons and The Tree of Heaven, but neither earned him such success as The King in Yellow.

Chambers later turned to writing romantic fiction to earn a living. According to some estimates, Chambers was one of the most successful literary careers of his period, his later novels selling well and a handful achieving best-seller status. Many of his works were also serialized in magazines.

After 1924 he devoted himself solely to writing historical fiction.

Chambers for several years made Broadalbin his summer home. Some of his novels touch upon colonial life in Broadalbin and Johnstown.

On July 12, 1898, he married Elsa Vaughn Moller (1882-1939). They had a son, Robert Edward Stuart Chambers (later calling himself Robert Husted Chambers) who also gained some fame as an author.

Chambers died at his home in the village of Broadalbin, New York, on December 16th 1933.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was a bit confusing in my opinion. A man falls asleep in church, hears discordant organ play, sees a preacher at different impossible positions and feels followed on his way home. What is going on here? To me the story certainly had some uncanny elements but left too many questions open. Interesting but at parts a bit tedious.

[Raffaello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Venivo da tre notti di travagli e sofferenze fisiche e mentali: l'ultima era stata la peggiore, il mio corpo era esausto, la mente intorpidita e sensibile quindi mi era sembrato naturale cercare pace nella mia chiesa preferita.
Avevo letto il Re in Giallo.

[Netanella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another of The King in Yellow interconnected shorts, this one comes third in the collection and takes place, like the last story, in Paris. An older man attends church service and is haunted by strange noises and visions. Does it help his sanity that he had been reading "The King in Yellow"?

Although not quite as enjoyable as the last story, it was a fun read. I especially was envious of his street address name.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining horror listening🎧

I listened to this as part of Classic Tales of Horror - 500+ Stories. This story is very interesting with will developed characters.

I would recommed this individual story and box set to readers of horror stories. 2023

[Sommer T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Death and the awful abode of lost souls, whither my weakeness long ago had sent him, had changed him for every other eye but mine."

Nice and creepy :) This story is included in one of my gothic tales books, and I decided to read it based on the title. It has a lot to do with the themes of guilt and sin, I think. Based on what I found online, I think it would make more sense in the context of Chambers' short story collection titled 'The King in Yellow." I'm having trouble finding resources to shed more light on the story's meaning as it is a rather obscure tale. Apparently it's one of the more mysterious stories that Chambers penned.

[Althea Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the midst of church services, a man suddenly is troubled by the perception of great malice. A malevolent force that no one else can perceive seems to be directed at him.

Is it real, or all in his mind? (He has been reading 'The King in Yellow'...)

This story works well as part of 'The King in Yellow' collection, but as a stand-alone, I felt like it would leave the reader wanting a bit more development of the ideas...

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kinda confusing, pretty ''meh''.

[Forked Radish · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is scary—that a book with dragon in the title could be so disappointing.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐


In the Court of the Dragon is the third story in the book titled The King In Yellow by Robert W. Chambers. The King In Yellow is a book which contains nine short stories and a sequence of poems. The King In Yellow is named for the eponymous play-within-the-stories which recurs as a motif through the first four stories, a forbidden play which is so sublimely and terrifyingly profound that it induces madness and drives its readers insane.

The first four stories are loosely connected by three main devices:
1. A play in book form entitled "The King in Yellow".
2. A mysterious and malevolent supernatural and gothic entity known as "the King in Yellow".
3 An eerie symbol called "the Yellow Sign".

HELPFUL HINT
To better follow the flow of the stories they should be read in order.
 
The list of stories in the book are:
The Repairer of Reputations
The Mask
In the Court of the Dragon
The Yellow Sign
The Demoiselle d'Ys
The Prophets' Paradise
The Street of the Four Winds
The Street of the First Shell
The Street of Our Lady of the Fields
Rue Barrée

During his days of writing horror, Robert Chambers captured the attention of H. P. Lovecraft and his fellow writing compatriots with this collection of stories. Many argue that Lovecraft's signature style of slow and nebulous narration was inspired by Chambers.

[Dalia · Rating 4 out of 5]

not as freaky deaky as others but still good

“But I had escaped him, though his eyes had said I should not. Had I escaped him? That which gave him the power over me came back out of oblivion, where I had hoped to keep it. For I knew him now. Death and the awful abode of lost souls, whither my weakness long ago had sent him—they had changed him for every other eye, but not for mine. I had recognized him almost from the first; I had never doubted what he was come to do; and now I knew while my body sat safe in the cheerful little church, he had been hunting my soul in the Court of the Dragon.”


“And now, far away, over leagues of tossing cloud-waves, I saw the moon dripping with spray; and beyond, the towers of Carcosa rose behind the moon.”

“Death and the awful abode of lost souls, whither my weakness long ago had sent him, had changed him for every other eye but mine. And now I heard his voice, rising, swelling, thundering through the flaring light, and as I fell, the radiance increasing, increasing, poured over me in waves of flame. Then I sank into the depths, and I heard the King in Yellow whispering to my soul: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!”

[Chris Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficult to follow at times but short and sweet for what I could make out.

"It had changed him for every other eye, but not for mine."

"I raised my eyes seared eyes to the fathomless glare and I saw the black stars hanging in the heavens, and the wet winds from the lake of Harley chilled my face, and now far away over leagues of tossing cloud waves I saw the moon dripping with spray and beyond the towers of Carcosa rose behind the moon."

"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

[giulia · Rating 3 out of 5]

un po’ confusionario, ma una lettura breve e piacevole.

dal testo:

La morte e lo spaventoso rifugio delle anime aliene dove la mia debolezza tempo prima lo aveva seppellito lo avevano trasformato per tutti ma non per me. E ora sentivo la sua voce crescere, gonfiare, tuonare nella luce abbagliante, e quando la avvertii la luce aumentò e aumentò fino a travolgermi dentro onde di fuoco. Poi quando sprofondai negli abissi, sentii Re in Giallo bisbigliare alla mia anima: "È terribile cadere nelle mani del Dio vivente".

[Niklas Zenius Jespersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novellen, som jeg egentlig har hørt som en del af den samlede bog/novellesamling "The King in Yellow", har en god slutning, men er i store dele af fortællingen lettere triviel at læse/høre. Selvom det mere trivielle historieforløb bliver retfærdiggjort af slutningen som en nødvendig litterær opbygning, så trækker det dog alligevel ned i bedømmelsen af den samlede historie.

[Atlis De · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this story, we get a glimpse of Carcosa which was a cool glimpse of this other world. The imagery in which this part is described made me want to create a story of a similar feel and tone. I find this story, along with the rest of the King in Yellow stories to be interesting since we can't really know if the narrator is losing their mind or if they are experiencing something otherworldly.

[William Cherico · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is kind of a ghost story more than anything with a surprise appearance from the King in Yellow. The final line is interesting, and I do wonder what Chambers meant by the Living God. Maybe the story is a kind of comment on the punishing hand of the church? Unclear. I think I liked it.

[Liam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this for the first time in highschool and the first story has stuck with me ever since. And then everything after that becomes progressively worse and uninteresting. To the point that it makes you wonder why they were ever published as a full book

[Ezra · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.7

[Alvaro_atm92 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Craziness

[Coni · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was one part that was creepy near the beginning while he thought someone moved by him in the church pew, but the rest of it was pretty lame.

[Jacob Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe stay away from that King in Yellow book.

[Ainsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ✨
That was crazily disturbing… but so good

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plot wise, a little hard to follow. But it had a good atmosphere and sense of wtf

[Lucas Acosta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very boring, until the end when it turns into cosmic horror in his most literal sense.

[Richie Kercenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uncanny but quite confusing. Was it a near Death experience or a troubled dream during Church service. There is no way to know, but you can read through it in different ways...

[Hugo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moins entraînant que le signe jaune et le réparateur de réputation, mais quand même sympathique.

[johanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

bra 👏 den mest förvirrande av de jag läst idag

[Chloe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love gothic literature. However, this was hard to follow and understand

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

kinda weak as a standalone story but with context it's neat

[Viji (Bookish endeavors) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good plot,nice twists,above-average presentation.. Altogether this story was a good one. It has mystery,horror and faith. A man who listens to the sermons of the priest feels that he's being persecuted by the organist,who is said to represent devil. In the end of the fight,the man wins. Then only he realizes that he had fallen asleep during the sermon and was dreaming. But when he sees the organ player,he infers that what he has seen was not merely a dream. The build-up of horror and mystery was awesome. The fear and despair one feels on being persecuted is wonderfully portrayed in this story. A really good quick-read.

[michau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Osobiście ubóstwiam cały zbiór opowiadań Roberta W. Chambersa zawarty w polskim wydaniu Króla w żółci. W „W Smoczym Dworze” o ile dobrze pamiętam zaledwie kilkunastostronicowej opowieści dzieje się niewiele ale końcowo autor zostawił nas w pewnym niepokoju i nierozwiązanej tajemnicy. Ogólnie rzecz ujmując dobry kawałek twórczości Chambersa.