Chu-Bu and Sheemish
Chu-Bu and Sheemish is a short story by Lord Dunsany. The tale was first published in The Book of Wonder (1912).
Plot summary
An unnamed narrator tells the following story: Chu-Bu is the accustomed resident in a temple where he is worshipped. Sheemish is a freshly carved idol added to the same temple one day—and from that moment the two deities become jealous, taunt each other and attempt to outdo the other in achieving miracles. Eventually their combined efforts result in a minor earthquake which destroys the temple. Their worshippers each claim their preferred god has caused the earthquake, but all of them stay away and do not rebuild the temple out of fear of such powerful gods. The narrator remarks that he found the demolished, abandoned temple one day and that Sheemish had been smashed but Chu-bu was intact, found on his back with his hands and feet in the air. The narrator brought Chu-bu home, keeps him in that same position on his mantle, and every so often will offer token worship to Chu-bu to keep the god's spirits up.[1]
Themes
Alyssa House-Thomas has analysed the story as an example of Dunsany using Orientalism to create humour. She notes that the squabbling gods embody the colonialist clichés of irrationality and weakness, with their feeble insults and inability to defeat each other. By the end of the story, one is forgotten and the other reduced to a mantlepiece ornament, whom the narrator thinks nothing of removing hundreds of miles from his home. House-Thomas points out how this reflects justifications for imperialism such as indigenous peoples' alleged incapacity for self-rule and failure to preserve their heritage, necessitating Western intervention and curation. Although the story is humorous, it relies on Orientalist ideas that are, arguably, its chief meaning.[2]
Assessment
House-Thomas calls "Chu-Bu and Sheemish" probably the most famous of Dunsany's tales,[2] and John Rateliff calls it "arguably his single best story", including "all that is best in his work without having any of the flaws" and being "a masterpiece of economy".[3]
References
- ^ Anderson, Douglas Allen (2003). Tales before Tolkien: the roots of modern fantasy. Del Rey/Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-45854-0. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
- ^ a b House-Thomas, Alyssa (2012). "The Wondrous Orientalism of Lord Dunsany: Traditional and Non- traditional Orientalist Narratives in The Book of Wonder and Tales of Wonder". Mythlore. 31 (1). Retrieved 10 September 2023.
- ^ Rateliff, John D. (30 November 1990). "2 v". "'Beyond the fields we know': the short stories of Lord Dunsany" (Thesis). Marquette University. pp. 95–96.
External links
- Works related to "Chu-bu and Sheemish" at Wikisource
- The Book of Wonder at Project Gutenberg
- Chu-Bu and Sheemish public domain audiobook at LibriVox
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collections
- The Gods of Pegāna
- Time and the Gods
- The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories
- A Dreamer's Tales
- The Book of Wonder
- Fifty-One Tales
- The Last Book of Wonder
- Tales of Three Hemispheres
- The Travel Tales of Mr. Joseph Jorkens
- Jorkens Remembers Africa
- Jorkens Has a Large Whiskey
- The Fourth Book of Jorkens
- The Man Who Ate the Phoenix
- The Little Tales of Smethers and Other Stories
- Jorkens Borrows Another Whiskey
- The Last Book of Jorkens
collections
- At the Edge of the World
- Beyond the Fields We Know
- Over the Hills and Far Away
- The Ghosts of the Heaviside Layer, and Other Fantasms
- Time and the Gods
- The Collected Jorkens
- In the Land of Time, and Other Fantasy Tales
- Don Rodriguez: Chronicles of Shadow Valley
- The King of Elfland's Daughter
- The Charwoman's Shadow
- The Curse of the Wise Woman
- "Chu-Bu and Sheemish"
- "The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth"
- "The Hoard of the Gibbelins"
- "Idle Days on the Yann"
- Sidney Sime (preferred artist)
- John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany (father)
- Reginald Drax (brother)
- Dunsany Castle
- Edward Plunkett, 20th Baron of Dunsany (grandson and literary heir)
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