SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: WHITE-MAN-DEVIL

 "White-Man-Devil" by "Murray Leinster" (Will F. Jenkins)  (from Wide World Adventure, June 1930; reprinted in World Stories #28, July 1930; included in Leinster's collection The Trail of Blood, 2017)

This is how the story begins:

"this is the true story of how Makwa got killed and why Kittredge swore off, and all other narratives are inaccurate.  It is current report that old Makwa was blown into several pieces when H.M.S. Alfred shelled the village on account of his indulged appetite for long pig.  You will told that in Tulagi, and Port Moresby also, if you ask about him, and a great many people believe it.  But, as a matter of fact, when the Alfred shelled the village it accounted for exactly six pigs and the village idiot.  Makwa and his people knew the ship for a faka ha'ita and dived for the bush before she opened fire.  And, of course, when she steamed away they came back, surveyed the damage, ate the six pigs with an excellent appetite, and regretfully refrained from eating the village idiot for religious reasons.  They considered themselves amply repaid for the damage done when they found four 4.7 shells which had struck soft earth and failed to explode.  They were forthwith preserved as remarkable magic in the devil-devil house.

"The damage done by the bombardment has been exaggerated, you see.  After the shelling, Makwa continued to rule the village, painstakingly keep on good terms with the local devils, scratch his populous head -- and plan devilment exactly as before.  In fact he waxed in reputation, authority, duplicity, and depravity until Kittridge rolled ashore dead drunk in a whale boat."

And this is how the story ends:

"This is, then the first time anybody has ever told the true story of how Makwa got killed and why Kittridge swore off.  All other narratives are inaccurate."

Along the way we learn that Kittridge, acting only as a drunk could do, staggered into the village of natives too startled to object, went up to Makwa, rubbed his bushy head with his hand, and called him "a good boy."  Makwa, who had seventeen proven murders to his name (and seventeen heads to prove it), had bribed the devil-devil man to place a curse on anyone who touched his head; anyone who did so would immediately shrivel up and die -- which allowed Makwa to continue his rule by fear.  To have his head touched by anyone, especially a white man who did not shrivel up when ding so, was a great threat to Makwa's power.  Plus, a white man's head had only one proper place -- separated from the body and hanging in Makwa's hut.  Kittridge was knocked unconscious and woke finding himself caged and scheduled to become long pig.  Now sober and sure he was about to die, Kittridge had to bluff his way to freedom, knowing that the odds of being able to pull off the bluff were heavily against him.

"White-Man-Devil" is an entertaining, colorful tale that displays Leinster's knack for jungle adventure stories at his greatest.  Those who know Leinster for his science fiction -- or perhaps westerns -- only are in for a treat.  A powerful tale difficult to put down.

As with so many of Leinster's stories, there are also some memorable observations.  One of my favorites in this story displays an enjoyable cynicism:  "And no man's religion works when it requires him to forego riches."