The Sword of Welleran
By Lord Dunsany
Foreword
When The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories was first published in 1908, the world had not yet learned to recognize Lord Dunsany for what he was: the architect of modern fantasy. His name would not carry the commercial weight of a Tolkien, nor the cult devotion of a Lovecraft, yet the imaginative scaffolding upon which both men would build their visions began here—in the haunted city of Merimna, where long-dead heroes stir in dusty tombs and the memory of valor proves more potent than the sword itself.
Dunsany did not invent fantasy, but he carved out a new shape for it. These tales are neither fairy stories nor classical myths; they are something else entirely—eerie, elegiac fables spun from the half-light of ancient dreams. They occupy a liminal space between legend and literature, a kind of metaphysical theater where the gods walk among us in silence, and cities fall not with a roar but with a sigh.
"The Sword of Welleran" is, on its surface, a story of martial legacy and the fragility of peace. But its deeper strength lies in its subtle questioning of memory, mortality, and the illusions that sustain civilization. The dead warriors of Merimna are not resurrected in body but in symbol. Their lingering presence, felt more than seen, is enough to alter the fate of nations. In Dunsany's world, the spiritual echo of greatness outlives the hand that once wielded the blade.
The other stories in this collection—"The Fall of Babbulkund," "The Kith of the Elf-Folk," "The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth," among them—extend and deepen this aesthetic. They are populated not with stock characters or convenient morals, but with strange gods, dying cities, and quiet horrors. Dunsany wrote not for children, but for those adults still willing to dream with their eyes open.
To read Dunsany is to step into a shadowed gallery of forgotten empires and moonlit deserts, where every corner glimmers with a phrase that might have been chiseled into stone. His prose, lush and ceremonial, resists haste. These stories are meant to be lingered over, like relics from a vanished age.
Before fantasy became a genre, it was an art. This book is one of its earliest and finest expressions.
Gio Marron
Video by Gates of Imagination YouTube channel*
Narrated by Arthur Lane
*Not affiliated with The Elephant Island Chronicles.
Text courtesy of Project Gutenberg: The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories
Also available on AMAZON: The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories
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Gio, many thanks for another wonderful audio book. I think I shared that I first discovered Lord Dunsany as a teenager when I read "The King of Elfland's Daughter" which I just reread recently with great joy. I also love "At The Edge of the World." His was a unique talent and you are unique for sharing it with us and gifting us with this audio book. Many thanks, my friend.