BLACK AMAZON by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch This story was written by von Sacher-Masoch (the man who leant his name to Masochism) soon after the beginning of the 20th Century. Since it is a relatively unknown piece, it is published here for our readers. As the ship neared the African coast, Paul Bing stood on deck, his heart swelling with hope and yearning, his arms out-stretched toward the land of his dreams. He was coming not to seek gold or diamonds; he had no thought of a lively trade in ivory, ostrich plumes or animal skins; what brought him to the Dark Continent was love. An unfortunate passion had embittered existence at home for him, and filled him with hate for the cold and faithless women of Europe, whom he condemned because of only one. Here among palms and panthers, swamp-phos- phorescence and crocodiles, he wished to seek his ideal and find a wife not yet corrupted by civilization and Paris toilette, a hot heart capable of real love. He landed in Angola and went at once to the nearest king to secure his protection. Timbo Mungoli, friend of all Europeans who had money, received him graciously, provided a guard and a following, to conduct him into the interior. Bing wrote out, on a palm leaf, a promissory note, engaging himself to pay Timbo one thousand dollars, at sight, on the day he, Bing, should return alive and unscathed. Bing set out with his caravan that very night. In the next days they traveled through a region so strangely beautiful that his dark thoughts were dissipated completely. Their first destination was a city in which Timbo Mungoli's father-in-law, Mungo Timboll, was in residence. Bing took quarters in a caravansery which belonged to the king. Ebon-hued waitresses were serving a black palm-wine and a banana-liquor, in cocoanut goblets. He tasted both, found them delicious, and had many goblets of each, alternately. When he paid the tot it was dark. In his exaltation he could not resist the indescribable, incredible night of Africa. He wandered, wandered, until as his head began to clear he realized that he was hopelessly lost. Suddenly he was confronted by a leopard, which looked at him contemplatively and without hostility. He realized that it was one of the kind which are domesticated and trained as hunters; and indeed the beast was followed immediately by the huntress, mounted on the back of a mighty lion. A black Amazon of beauty he could not have dreamed of halted and scrutinized him minutely. She had a panther skin about her shoulders; she was armed with bow and arrows and protected by a shield of elephant hide. The man and woman began a strange pantomime, which developed into a sort of ballet. She gave him to understand that she considered him as a hunted-down wild animal. He knelt and begged for his life. She took possession of him by placing her foot on his neck. Then she fastened his hands and motioned him to follow her. She was the Princess Ning-Gambi. Her kingdom, a perfect matriarchy, was a very powerful one. Slave-traders found it a fruitful source of merchandise, as the women- warriors were constantly raiding the settlements defended by mere men Bing was not sent to the fields. The Princess entrusted him with a very special personal service: to fan her, while, stretched out on leopards-kins, she held court or discussed matters of state. Kneeling before her, his eyes fastened on her always, he found ever new reason to admire and desire her. He discovered that she had an exquisite and very subtle taste in self-adornment; by means perceptible only to him, who watched her closely and ceaselessly, she could transform a whole costume with a touch here and there, the exchange of one jewel for another. In spare time, between the performance of duty and arduous sessions with the tutor teaching him the native language, Bing occupied himself with designing and making little gifts for her, whom he knew to be so critical. His efforts were entirely successful. He won her heart completely. Everyone in the court knew of the slave's love for his royal mistress, and wondered at his outlandish way of showing it. Bing was still a European, after all. He mooned around at night, he rhapsodized, he looked at the Princess with calf's eyes. The Princess was true African, but a monarch and an Amazon she was, and her pride would not let her simply correct him. One day an old slave woman, Ziska, elbowed his ribs vigorously and said, grinning, "You are very fortunate. The sun leaves its place in heaven and descends to you. Her Majesty awaits only your declaration, but you must make it not with flowers, as it seems they do in your country; you must bring a bleeding heart and lay it at her feet, as suitors do here." At one he took bow and arrows and went hunting. That evening he placed before Princess Ning-Gambi the bleeding heart of an antelope. The next day, to the sound of elephant-hide drums and buffalo horns, he was proclaimed, as "the White Crocodile," the consort of the Princess Ning- Gambi. He would be doubly a figure-head, as he was both white and male. The wedding was celebrated with great pomp. The high-point of the festival was the war-dance by the Princess, among a hundred bound, kneeling prisoners of war whom, at the end of her dance, she decapitated with smiling grace. The love of the royal couple grew. Europe was forgotten, as was the promissory note to-Timbo Mungol The neighboring King, Brinca-Brami, had wooed Ning-Gambi in vain. Now, at the head of his male warriors he invaded the land of the Amazons. His army far outnumbered hers; however, very confidently, she awaited a pitched battle, on top of a hill surrounded by thorny hedges. Just within the circle of hedge, she had placed innumerable crocks of irresistibly aromatic palm-wine mixed with opium. When the warriors broke through the hedge they sniffed and were lost, As they lay stupefied, the Amazons swooped down, selectively dispatched the least marketable, and trussed up the others, ready for the dealer. Ning-Gambi did not sell Brinca-Brami. She had a miniature carriage in which she rode about the palace gardens in the evening; he became her favorite horse. The love of the royal couple grew. The more it was gratified, the more they yearned. "I am mad!" she said. "Insatiable." "Ah," said the ardent lover, "I will give all to please you -- even my life." "That," she said, "is exactly what I wish. There is but one consummation you can give me now --" Four Amazons rushed out from behind the panther- skin curtains where they had been hiding. They overpowered him and dragged and pushed him into the yard of the parlace, where an enormous fire was burning. They impaled him on a spit, which they turned as he broiled. Ning-Gambi, reclining on a leopard-skin, fanned by two slaves, watched the cookery with mounting appetite. "Ah darling,' she whispered. "I love You too much. I just have to eat you." King Timbo Mungoli keeps the promissory note to remind him always to collect in advance.