“The Tower of the Elephant” (Weird Tales, March 1933) by Robert E. Howard is one of the central Conan stories, set in his youth. Conan is a thief, granted a new one and learns much from his mentor, Taurus. The ethical questions of whether it is moral for a hero to steal was not a problem for Howard. His knowledge of history told him that men were reavers and pillagers in the ages of long ago. It was only reasonable that Conan would be such a man, no saint, all sinner.
While in Zamora, Conan hears about the Heart of the Elephant, a fabulous gem kept in the wizard Yara’s tower, known as the Tower of the Elephant. After a bar brawl, Conan goes to spy out the tower and runs into another thief, Taurus of Nemedia, known as the Prince of Thieves. The two team up to deal with humans guards and patrol lions:
“LionsI” muttered Conan.
“Aye. By day they are kept in subterranean caverns below the tower. That’s why there are no guards in this garden.”
Conan counted the eyes rapidly.
“Five in sight; maybe more back in the bushes. They’ll charge in a moment—”
“Be silent!” hissed Taurus, and he moved out from the wall, cautiously as if treading on razors, lifting the slender tube. Low rumblings rose from the shadows, and the blazing eyes moved forward. Conan could sense the great slavering jaws, the tufted tails lashing tawny sides. The air grew tense—the Cimmerian gripped his sword, expecting the charge and the irresistible hurtling of giant bodies.
Taurus uses a tube filled with toxic dust to deal with the threat. Conan and his companion finally the climb up the side of the smooth tower. They gain access from the top which is crusted in jewels. Inside the tower they find a treasure room that seems unguarded. Taurus goes in while Conan is sent back to the top to see if they have been discovered. When he returns he finds Taurus dying with three punctures in his back. Conan enters the room and instantly is fighting for his life against a giant spider that tries to trap him with webs.
… A flying shadow that swept across the gleaming floor was his only warning, and his instinctive sidelong leap all that saved his life. He had a flashing glimpse of a hairy black horror that swung past him with a clashing of frothing fangs, and something splashed on his bare shoulder that burned like drops of liquid hell-fire. Springing back, sword high, he saw the horror strike the floor, wheel, and scuttle toward him with appalling speed—a gigantic black spider, such as men see only in nightmare dreams.
It was as large as a pig, and its eight thick hairy legs drove its ogreish body over the floor at headlong pace; its four evilly gleaming eyes shone with a horrible intelligence, and its fangs dripped venom that Conan knew, from the burning of his shoulder where only a few drops had splashed as the thing struck and missed, was laden with swift death. This was the killer that had dropped from its perch in the middle of the ceiling on a strand of web, on the neck of the Nemedian. Fools that they were, not to have suspected that the upper chambers would be guarded as well as the lower!
Conan kills the spider by crushing it with a trunk of gold. Moving on, the barbarian goes a flight down and finds another room that contains what he thinks is a statue. It proves to be a blind alien that resembles an elephant.
Smoke and exotic scent of incense floated up from a brazier on a golden tripod, and behind it sat an idol on a sort of marble couch. Conan stared aghast; the image had the body of a man, naked, and green in color; but the head was one of nightmare and madness. Too large for the human body, it had no attributes of humanity. Conan stared at the wide flaring ears, the curling proboscis, on either side of which stood white tusks tipped with round golden balls. The eyes were closed, as if in sleep…As Conan came forward, his eyes fixed on the motionless idol, the eyes of the thing opened suddenly! The Cimmerian froze in his tracks. It was no image—it was a living thing, and he was trapped in its chamber!
Conan feels pity for the creature and agrees to kill him, placing his heart’s blood on the gem for which he came to steal. This he delivers to Yara on the next floor. The magic in the gem causes Yara to shrink and be sucked into the gem. There Yag-kosha is reborn and takes his vengeance. Conan flees and the tower falls.
The influences on Robert E. Howard may include, as Tom Shippey feels, Lord Dunsany’s “The Fortress Unvanquishable Save for Sacnoth” with its spider guardian. Howard had Conan fighting giant spiders four years before Bilbo would do so in The Hobbit (1937). The elephant nature of Yogah may have been inspired by H. P. Lovecraft’s sense of cosmic horror and more specifically Frank Belknap Long’s “The Horror From the Hills” (Weird Tales, January and February-March 1931) featuring the elephantine Chaugnar Faugn. The destruction of the tower at the end is a bit of cliche descended from Edgar Allan Poe’s Usher.
One of the original Conans to appear in Weird Tales, this story was very influential with those that followed Howard. “The Tower of the Elephant”, along with “Rogue in the House” are the best of the “thief” stories of the Cimmerian. These would later contribute to the Thief character class in AD&D. Parts of this story were used in Conan the Barbarian (1982) though no plot points. In the film Conan and his buddies sneak into a tower to see the worshipers of Set committing human sacrifice.
Marvel Comics loved the story so much, they did it twice. First, Barry Windsor-Smith drew the story for Conan the Barbarian #4 (October 1971) and then John Buscema and Alfred Alcala in Savage Sword of Conan #24 (November 1977). Roy Thomas wrote both comics.
One of my favorites!