An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia

The “Tyrant of Syracuse” proposes a contest between the two great sculptors, Kalos and Musides, to carve a statue of Tyché. The two artists are the closest of friends, but their lives are very different: whereas Musides “revelled by night amidst the urban gaieties of Tegea,” Kalos remains home in quiet contemplation. They begin working on their respective statues, but Kalos gradually takes ill and, despite Musides’ constant nursing, eventually dies. Musides wins the contest by default, but both he and his lovely statue are weirdly destroyed when a strange olive tree growing out of Kalos’ tomb suddenly falls upon Musides’ residence.

It is evident that Musides, for all his supposed devotion to his friend, has poisoned Kalos and suffers supernatural revenge. HPL says as much in a discussion of the story in In Defence of Dagon( MW 156). Although generally considered a “Dunsanian” tale, the story had been conceived no later than 1918, a year before HPL ever read Dunsany. He outlines the plot in a letter to Alfred Galpin (August 1918), saying that it had by that time been “long conceived but never elaborated into literary form”; he postponed writing the story because he evidently felt that

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Galpin’s own tale “Marsh-Mad” ( Philosopher,December 1920) had preempted him by utilizing the “living tree” idea.

This early plot synopsis did not suggest that the tale was set in ancient Greece, as it manifestly is. HPL’s knowledge of Greek history and literature was put to good use. The names of the artists— Kalos (“handsome” or “fair”) and Musides (“son of the Muse[s]”)—are both apt although not actual Greek names. Tyché means “chance” (or sometimes “fate”), and actual cults of Tyché were established in Greece sometime after 371 B.C.E. Other allusions in the story establish that the events must take place in the period 353–344 B.C.E., when Dionysius II was Tyrant of Syracuse. See S.T.Joshi, “‘The Tree’ and Ancient History,” Nyctalops4, No. 1 (April 1991): 68–71. “Tree on the Hill, The.”

Short story (4,280 words); written in collaboration with Duane W.Rimel, May 1934. First published in Polaris(September 1940); first collected in HM.

Near the town of Hampden, Idaho, the narrator, named Single, stumbles upon a strange landscape whose central feature is a peculiar tree with round leaves. He manages to photograph the site and brings the developed photographs to his friend Constantine Theunis, a writer of esoteric books. Theunis, usually languid and bored, is startled by the photographs, as he realizes that the landscape must be from a planet that has three suns. Theunis then remembers that Rudolf Yergler’s Chronicle of Nathmentions some such landscape. The passage in question speaks of a “shadow that should not be on Earth,” and it bodes ill for humanity unless a “Gem” can be found to drive the shadow back into the cosmic realm from which it came. Theunis knows where the Gem is housed, and he manages to borrow it. Some weeks later Single is asked to come to a hospital where Theunis is placed, suffering from some seizure. Theunis tells Single that he has saved the world, but he must destroy the photographs and any sketches that Theunis may have made; but before doing so, Single sees a sketch that suggests that the peculiar tree is in reality the gnarled, twisted hand of some hideous entity.

Clearly HPL revised the tale from a draft by Rimel. HPL says in a letter: “I read your ‘Tree on the Hill’ with great interest, & believe it truly captures the essence of the weird. I like it exceedingly despite a certain cumbrousness & tendency toward anticlimax in the later parts. I’ve made a few emendations which you may find helpful, & have tried a bit of strengthening toward the end. Hope you’ll like what I’ve done” (HPL to Duane W.Rimel, May 13, 1934; ms., JHL). Of the three sections of the story, the final one—as well as the citation from the mythical Chronicle of Nathin the second section—is certainly by HPL. Some have believed that much of the rest of the second section is also HPL’s, but this is an open question that must be decided merely from internal evidence, as no manuscript survives. The title Chronicle of Nathis probably Rimel’s invention, as he mentions it in several of his stories.

See Donald R.Burleson, “Lovecraftian Branches in Rimel’s ‘Tree,’” CryptNo. 17 (Hallowmas 1983): 3– 4; Peter Cannon, “Who Wrote ‘The Tree on the Hill?’” Crypt No. 17 (Hallowmas 1983): 5; William Fulwiler, “Some Comments on ‘The Tree on the Hill,’” CryptNo. 17 (Hallowmas 1983): 6; S.T.Joshi, “On

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