User:DoctorWho42/Ubbo-Sathla

"Ubbo-Sathla" is a short story by American author Clark Ashton Smith as part of his Hyperborean cycle, and first published in the July 1933 issue of Weird Tales.

Publication history
According to Emperor of Dreams: A Clark Ashton Smith Bibliography (1978) by Donald Sidney-Fryer, "Ubbo-Sathla" was first published in the July 1933 issue of Weird Tales. It was included in Out of Space and Time (1942), the March 1951 issue of Avon Fantasy Reader, Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos (1969), and Hyperborea (1971).

Plot
In 1932, Paul Tregardis finds a cloudy orb in a London curio shop. As he studies the occult, Tregardis finds it resembles an item mentioned in The Book of Eibon originally owned by the wizard Zon Mezzamalech during the Hyperborean age. He buys it and brings it home. Placing it on his writing table, he consults The Book of Eibon which says the stone can unlock ancient times dating back to Earth's beginning when all life began with Ubbo-Sathla. He stares at the stone and realises he is Zon Mezzamalech of Mhu Thulan. Zon Mezzamalech stares at the stone so he may access Earth's beginning and read the ancient tablets guarded by Ubbo-Sathla. However, he turns back into Paul Tregardis in London 1932. The experience was too unpleasant to repeat. Still, he stares again at the cloudy orb. He repeats these acts until he relives his lives before Zon Mezzamalech. Eventually, he relives his life as a spawn of Ubbo-Sathla who has to battle other spawns for dominance over the ancient tablets. Meanwhile, Paul Tregardis is reported missing.

Reception
Reviewing Hyperborea in Whispers, Fritz Leiber said "Of the Hyperborean stories, three are wholly first rate: "The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan," "The White Sybil," and "Ubbo-Sathla." In the 1977 book The Weird Tales Story, Robert Weinberg said "presented a unique concept of the beginning of life on Earth–one that was at odds with known facts but made for enjoyable reading."