Cil-Jack Vance excerpt from the novel Cugel the Clever
Cil-Jack Vance excerpt from the novel Cugel the Clever AKA: Cugel the Clever, chapter II The Dying Earth , chapter II Tales of the Dying Earth , Book II, chapter II Cil was first published as the second chapter (22/28 pages) in Vance's 1966 novel The Eyes of the Overworld. The novel is also known as Cugel the Clever which is the author’s preferred title. In 1969 Cil was issued as a novelette in the Vance collection Eight Fantasms and Magics . In the story Cil, Cugel has one of the lenses in his pouch and begins the long journey on foot to return to Almery where Iucounu lives. He would prefer to make a leisurely journey “but Firx , that irascible tangle of spines and barbs which Iucounu had clasped about Cugel’s liver, permitted no loitering, and Cugel’s only solace was the prospect of revenge.” After dealing with a ghost who makes a request of him and bandits who try to steal from him, Cugel encounters an old man on the seashore who has spent his ...