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"The Mandrakes" is a short story by Clark Ashton Smith, set in his semi-historical French province of Averoigne. It first appeared in the February 1933 issue of Weird Tales.
It tells the story of a married couple, both sorcerers, who make a living selling love-philtres whose active ingredient is the root of the mandrakes that grow to unusual size in the swamps along the river Isoile. When he kills her out of jealousy, she returns as a mandrake root and exposes his crime.
Characters[]
- Gilles Grenier: A sorcerer who is tolerated in 15th century Averoigne because of the usefulness of his love potions. He is thought to have been driven out of Blois,[1] "where all persons bearing the name Grenier were popularly believed to be werewolves." His "hands were black with bristles and [his] beard grew almost to his eyes," but he shows no other signs of lycanthropy. He is middle-aged, as indicated by the fact that his "sable mane and beard were already touched with the white warp of time."
- Sabine Grenier: Gilles' much younger wife, "a comely woman with blue-grey eyes and wheat-colored hair."
Publication History[]
Since its initial appearance in Weird Tales, "The Mandrakes" has appeared in several collections of Smith's fiction, starting with Other Dimensions (Arkham House, 1970). It was included in both The Averoigne Archives (Pickman's Press, 2019) and The Averoigne Chronicles (Hippocampus Press, 2021).
It was also featured in 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories (Barnes & Noble Books, 1995).[2]
References[]
- ↑ Wikipedia, "Blois".
- ↑ Internet Speculative Fiction Database, "Title: The Mandrakes".