Bazaar of the Bizarre

For the collection of short stories named after this one, see Bazaar of the Bizarre (collection).

"Bazaar of the Bizarre"
Short story by Fritz Leiber
"Bazaar of the Bizarre" was the cover story for the August 1963 issue of Fantastic
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Fantasy
Publication
Published in	Fantastic
Publication date	August 1963
Series	Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser

"Bazaar of the Bizarre" is a sword and sorcery novelette by American writer Fritz Leiber, part of the canon of stories chronicling his adventurous duo, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.

First published in 1963 in Fantastic, it has been reprinted several times, including as a standalone edition. It also appears in the anthology The Spell of Seven, edited by L. Sprague de Camp.

Plot

One night in Lankhmar, the Gray Mouser and Fafhrd are summoned by their patron wizards, Ningauble of the Seven Eyes and Sheelba of the Eyeless Face, who have joined forces, to carry out a mission. They are required to enter the Plaza of Dark Delights and obliterate a bazaar that has been established there by the Devourers, alien merchants who magically mesmerize customers into buying high priced merchandise which is actually worthless junk. However, Mouser arrives before him and is enticed into the bazaar. Fafhrd, aided only by the Blindfold of True Seeing and the Cloak of Invisibility, given to him by the wizards, must perform the mission alone.

This he does, battling not only an entranced Mouser, but reanimated skeletons and living statues, against which his weapons are all but useless. But he manages to escape and rescue Mouser, still mesmerized into thinking that the junk he sees is really valuable, including books of ancient spells.

Other appearances

In Dragon Magazine, "Bazaar of the Bizarre" was the name of a recurring column detailing various magic items for use in the Dungeons and Dragons game.

External links

• Bazaar of the Bizarre title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database