One of modern tropes of the fantasy genre is that of a "rogue", signifying an adventurer or protagonist whose skillset tends toward thievery, stealth, cat-burglary, deception, backstabbing, and other skills not generally thought heroic, as distinct from the traditional warrior hero, or magician. I got to thinking of the origins of this trope, and whether Clark Ashton Smith had any significant influence on it.

Here, of the top of my head, is a brief list of early fantasy stories featuring "rogues":

- "The Wonder Book" (1912), by Lord Dunsany, contain several tales of would-be thieves, such as "The Probable Adventure of the Three Literary Men", "The Hoard of the Gibbelins", and "How Nuth Would Have Practiced his Art Upon the Gnoles".

- "The Thief of Bagdad" (1924), silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks. Arabian Nights-inspired adventure film. However, I cannot recall any thief protagonists in the actual Arabian Nights.

- "Rogues in the House" (1934), by R.E.Howard. Conan may be the manliest man alive, but he also has considerable skill as a sneak thief and burglar, and a few stories, such as this one, feature him in that light, as one of several scoundrels invading a magician's house. Not the only nor perhaps the best example, but I single it out since its title foreshadows the name that would become attached to the trope.

- "The Tale of Satampra Zerios" (1934), short story by Clark Ashton Smith. A pair of professional thieves try their hand at looting haunted ruins.

- "The Hobbit" (1937), novel by J.R.R. Tolkien. Bilbo joins a band of adventurers as a "burglar", since he is obviously useless as a warrior.

- "Liane the Wayfarer" (1950), short story by Jack Vance. Part of "The Dying Earth", and a prototype for his later character, Cugel the Clever.

- "The Theft of the Thirty-Nine Girdles" (1958), by Clark Ashton Smith. A more light-hearted adventure of Satampra Zeiros.

- "The Eyes of the Overworld" (1966), novel by Jack Vance. Set on the Dying Earth, and featuring a new Liane-type character, "Cugel the Clever", a narcissistic young scumbag. Spawned a 1983 sequel.

- "Swords and Deviltry" (1970), collection by Fritz Leiber, featuring Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.
-------------------------x

I don't know anything earlier than this. I suppose there must be precedent among fairy and folk tales. But Jack, from "Jack in the Beanstalk", does not seem known for any particular skill, and the master thief in Grimm's "The Master Thief" is by far the most fantastic thing in his own story - there are no other fantasy elements.\

Have I overlooked anything of Smith's?

Platypus, you might find abundant antecedents in folktales about tricksters. Alan Garner compiled an anthology called “The Guizer.” The actor in such stories, one reviewer said, “may be called Fool or Trickster....He is almost always ambiguous.” The reviewer also says that in this book Garner “gone back to the earliest possible versions of the chosen stories,” etc. I have a copy but haven’t read it.

Wikipedia on the picaresque novel could be useful.

[en.wikipedia.org]

In Norse mythology, Loki provides an antecedent.

But my guess is that CAS was influenced by modern literature -- however, I know little about him.

Dale Nelson Wrote:
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> Wikipedia on the picaresque novel could be
> useful.
>
> [en.wikipedia.org]
>
> In Norse mythology, Loki provides an antecedent.
>
> But my guess is that CAS was influenced by modern
> literature -- however, I know little about him.

So a "picaro" is a "rogue", more or less. I don't think I ever knew that. Vance's writing has been often called "picaresque". One title that springs to mind is "Showboat World" a/k/a "The Magnificent Showboats of the Lower Vissel", featuring the slightly disreputable wandering showman Apollon Zamp. This in turn somewhat reminds me of Lord Dunsany's "Idle Days on the Yann", though the protagonist there is nothing more disreputable than a seemingly-aimless wanderer.

Certainly, Lord Dunsany was likely to have been an influence on CAS, directly or indirectly.

I was wondering why "The Thief of Bagdad" (1924) has a thief as protagonist, when this is not a prominent feature of "The Arabian Nights". The answer just occurred to me. It was because the last big success of Douglas Fairbanks was playing Robin Hood.

Now that I think of it, one of the most picaresque episode in Galland's ARABIAN NIGHTS is "The Three Apples", and its various imbedded stories, including but not limited to the Barber's stories of the misadventures of his six brothers; also the various people who accidentally murder the poor hunchback, and try to conceal their crime. I don't recall that any of them were actually thieves, though.

Aladdin was a neer-do-well, but he wasn't a thief or criminal.

The creation of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser goes back to 1934, when Fritz Leiber and his friend Harry Otto Fischer dreamed up the duo in their correspondance. Actual publication date of the first story, "Two Sought Adventure" was 1939, in Unknown magazine. While the two were certainly skilled warriors, and the Mouser started out as a genuine magician's apprentice, it is true that they never fought in wars as soldiers-they really do qualify as rogues!

There might also have been some cross-genre influence from the mystery field (i. e. the tales of the Gentleman Thief, Raffles).

Ken K. Wrote:
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> The creation of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser goes
> back to 1934, when Fritz Leiber and his friend
> Harry Otto Fischer dreamed up the duo in their
> correspondance. Actual publication date of the
> first story, "Two Sought Adventure" was 1939, in
> Unknown magazine. While the two were certainly
> skilled warriors, and the Mouser started out as a
> genuine magician's apprentice, it is true that
> they never fought in wars as soldiers-they really
> do qualify as rogues!
>
> There might also have been some cross-genre
> influence from the mystery field (i. e. the tales
> of the Gentleman Thief, Raffles).


Thanks for the correction. I have not touched these stories in decades, but I just dug up SWORDS AGAINST DEATH, and read "Jewels in the Forest", which I understand is "Two Sought Adventure" retitled (and maybe revised for all I know). I was enjoying it for a while, but that climax just seemed to come apart at the seems. Nice ideas, but Leiber just seems to me to have a knack for killing his own magic.

In the story, Mouser is rogue-like in the sense that he is small, quick, catlike in his movements, skilled in forgery, skilled in ventriloquism. And of course the goal in this story is guarded treasure.

Platypus Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ken K. Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The creation of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser goes
> > back to 1934, when Fritz Leiber and his friend
> > Harry Otto Fischer dreamed up the duo in their
> > correspondance. Actual publication date of the
> > first story, "Two Sought Adventure" was 1939,
> in
> > Unknown magazine. While the two were certainly
> > skilled warriors, and the Mouser started out as
> a
> > genuine magician's apprentice, it is true that
> > they never fought in wars as soldiers-they
> really
> > do qualify as rogues!
> >
> > There might also have been some cross-genre
> > influence from the mystery field (i. e. the
> tales
> > of the Gentleman Thief, Raffles).
>
>
> Thanks for the correction. I have not touched
> these stories in decades, but I just dug up SWORDS
> AGAINST DEATH, and read "Jewels in the Forest",
> which I understand is "Two Sought Adventure"
> retitled (and maybe revised for all I know). I
> was enjoying it for a while, but that climax just
> seemed to come apart at the seems. Nice ideas,
> but Leiber just seems to me to have a knack for
> killing his own magic.
>
> In the story, Mouser is rogue-like in the sense
> that he is small, quick, catlike in his movements,
> skilled in forgery, skilled in ventriloquism. And
> of course the goal in this story is guarded
> treasure.

It's fun to see this series recalled here. I think I must have read all of them and at the time I enjoyed them--lighthearted and fluffy as they tended to be.

But of all of the literature I've read, the series seems to be the best example of "suitable for..." content I've encountered. It fits the sensibilities of an adolescent male very well, but has little appeal beyond that developmental stage.

What say ye, comrades and drinking fellows? ;^)

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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