Otis Adelbert Kline’s ‘The Dragoman’s Revenge’

I have posted on Otis Adelbert Kline (1891-1946), who is usually known for his Venus and Mars series. But a more interesting series are his “Dragoman” stories that ran in Oriental Stories/Magic Carpet Magazine in 1930-33.

This series of stories have been collected in The Dragoman’s Revenge, put out by Black Dog Books in their “Signature Series” in 2007. It has a good introduction from Doug Ellis on Kline and the creation of this series.

The series is made up of six stories, with a further one that was actually written by E. Hoffmann Price from an outline by Kline. These tales are about Hamed bin Ayyub, formerly known as Hamed the Attar and now is Hamed the Dragoman. They are tales Hamed tells of his youth to an unknown listener at the coffee shop of Silat. It seems they are told in the 1930s (when the stories appeared) and are probably set in the 1880s and later. An “attar” is a druggist or perfumer, which he was earlier in his life. A “dragoman” is a guide or interpreter, which he became later after learning several languages.

These tales were published in Oriental Stories, a short-lived companion magazine to Weird Tales. While WT was in financial difficulties, it was hoped that things were improving, and a magazine devoted to tales set in the Orient, which was a popular location for pulp tales, would be successful. Launched in October/November 1930, Oriental Stories had works by several WT regulars, as well as the first Dragoman tale.

It struggled as a bimonthly, and went quarterly with the fourth issue. It lasted nine issues, after which it was renamed Magic Carpet Magazine and continued a further four. Several of these issues have been put out in pulp fascimile format, and several of the works have been reprinted elsewhere.

The Dragoman stories were cover featured on the fourth and fifth issues by artist von Gelb, on the seventh by J. Allen St. John (which was used as the cover of the collection), on the ninth by Margaret Brundage, and on the first cover of Magic Carpet also by Brundage.

We meet Hamed in the first story, as noted now a old man working as a dragoman. In the coffee house, he tells of a tale of his early youth when he was an attar, but gave it up for a young lady. But as you read the tale, she was not who she seemed, and he lost all of his earthly posessions. After that he became a dragoman. This story seems to have been written as a one-off, and only due to its popularity was Kline convinced to continue the series.

In the second tale, “The Dragoman’s Revenge” (February-March 1931), he tells of when someone tried to frame him for murder, but he was able to turn the tables and get the better of the deal.

The next tale is set two years after that, “The Dragoman’s Secret” (April-June 1931). Here Hamed has sold off all his worldly goods, with the plan on taking a pilgrimage to Mecca. But again, things don’t go well, as he is robbed, rescued, and then put in further danger. But in the end, he comes out wealthy and with a memory he will cherish forever.

In “The Dragoman’s Slave Girl” (Summer 1931), after the events of the previous story he had traveled around the world, only to find himself in Mosul with but 100 dinars. At a secret slave auction, he bids for a beautiful slave girl, raising the ire of another. He is pulled into what is going on in Mosul to save himself and the girl he has fallen for.

“The Dragoman’s Confession” (Summer 1932) follows from that story. Hamed is living in Mosul with his wife. After purchasing a Chinese princess, he finds his wife murdered by poison and himself accused of the crime. He is able to escape with the help of the princess and they work to expose the real villains.

Hamed finally is able to take his pilgrimage to Mecca in “The Dragoman’s Pilgrimage” (January 1933).

As noted, there is another Dragoman tale, written by E. Hoffmann Price from an outline by Kline. It is “The Dragoman’s Jest” and appeared in Winter 1932. While a good story, it is not in the style of Kline’s works.

The whole series is an interesting set of oriental tales. Certainly if you only think of Kline for his planetary tales, you owe it to yourself to check these out. And this collection from Black Dog Books is excellent. I wish they had included the other covers on the back as we sometimes see, but they did include the interior artwork from the original stories.