They wanted to go back to the lowlands. It was profitable, to be sure.
But it was even more of a satisfaction to hunt and kill the monsters
that had hunted and killed men for so long. It felt good, too, to find
other humans and bring them out to sunshine.
So nowadays the forgotten planet has ceased to be forgotten. It is
hardly necessary to name it, because its name is known through all the
Galaxy. Its population is not large, so far, but it is an interesting
place to live in. In the popular mind, it is the most glamorous of all
possible worlds,--and for easily understandable reasons. The inhabitants
of its capital city wear moth-fur garments and butterfly-wing cloaks for
the benefit of their fellows in the lowlands. There is no day but
fliers take off and dive down into the mists. When human hunters are in
the lowlands, they dress as the lowlanders they used to be, so that
lowlanders who may spy them will be sure that they are men, and friends,
and come to them to be raised to proper dignity above the insects. It is
not unusual for a man to be brought up to sunshine, and have his session
with the educator, and be flying his own assigned atmosphere-flier
within a week, diving back above what used to be the place where he was
hunted, but where he has become the hunter.
It is a very pleasant arrangement. The search for more humans in the
lowlands is a prosperous business, even when it is unsuccessful. The
wings of white Morpho butterflies bring the highest prices, but even a
common swallow-tail is riches, and the fur of caterpillars--duly
processed--goes into the holds of the planet-owned space-line ships with
the care given elsewhere to platinum and diamonds.
And also it is good sport. The planet is a sportsman's paradise. There
are not too many visitors. Nobody may go hunting without an experienced
host. And off-planet sportsmen tend to feel somewhat queasy after a
session as guest of the folk who have made Burl their planet-president.
Visitors are not so much alarmed at fighting flying beetles in mid-air,
even though the beetles may compare with the hunters' craft in size and
are terrifically tenacious of life. The thing that appalls strangers is
the insistence of Burl's fellow-citizens--no longer only tribesmen--upon
fighting spiders on the ground. With their memories, they like it that
way. It's more satisfactory.
Not long ago the Planet President of Sumor XI was Burl's guest for a
hunt. Sumor XI is a highly civilized planet, and life there has become
tame. Its president is an ardent hunter. He liked Burl, who is still all
hard muscle despite his graying hair. He and Saya have a very
comfortable dwelling, and now that their children are grown they have
room in it even for a planet president, if he comes as a sportsman
guest. The Planet President of Sumor XI even liked the informal
atmosphere of a house where pleasantly self-possessed dogs curl up
comfortably on rugs of emperor-moth down that elsewhere are beyond
price.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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