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Volume 3425
SOLA'S STORY

The Best of All Sola Illustrations
Thomas Yeates art featured in the
Barnes and Noble John Carter of Mars Trilogy Edition
www.tarzan.org/yeates/gallery9.html


SOURCES:
UNDER THE MOONS OF MARS
Six-Part Serial in ALL-STORY magazine: February - July 1912.
Chapter XV: A Sad History

A PRINCESS OF MARS
Book ~ First released by A.C. McClurg & Co. in October 10, 1917
and followed by multiple reprints by countless publishers:
Chapter XV: Sola Tells Me Her Story 

The sad story that Sola shared with John Carter was much abbreviated in the original All-Story magazine serial release -- Under the Moons of Mars by "Norman Bean" -- possibly at the request of editor, Thomas Metcalf. When the first edition hardcover book appeared in 1917 under the title, A Princess of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs presented a greatly expanded version of Sola's story. What follows is a comparison of the text found in those two versions:
Text found in both pulp and book versions in BLUE
Text found in pulp version only in BLACK
Text found in book version only in RED

BOTH: After partaking of my evening meal of cheese-like food and vegetable milk I sought out Sola, whom I found working by the light of a torch upon some of Tars Tarkas' trappings. She looked up at my approach, her face lighting with pleasure and with welcome.

"I am glad you came," she said; "Dejah Thoris sleeps and I am lonely. Mine own people do not care for me, John Carter; I am too unlike them. It is a sad fate, since I must live my life amongst them, and I often wish that I were a true green Martian woman, without love and without hope; but I have known love and so I am lost.


PULP VERSION SUMMARY: I sank down beside the industrious woman, and for some time we sat in friendly silence. After a while we entered into desultory conversation, and in the end she opened her heart to me and told me her story.

The tragedy and pathos of the story at once made clear to me why it was that Sola was so different from the other Martian women I had known. Despite Martian customs, there had been real love between her father and mother -- a clandestine affair which had persevered for years, to be discovered and exposed by Sarkoja during a time when Sola's father was at war. His identity was not learned by the spying woman.

Old Tal Hajus, soulless and bloody-handed villain, ordered Sola's mother executed; but the doomed woman before her end, succeeded in placing her young daughter among the other common children, and the real identity of the child never came out.



Sola by Thomas Yeates
EXPANDED BOOK VERSION: "I promised to tell you my story, or rather the story of my parents. From what I have learned of you and the ways of your people I am sure that the tale will not seem strange to you, but among green Martians it has no parallel within the memory of the oldest living Thark, nor do our legends hold many similar tales.

"My mother was rather small, in fact too small to be allowed the responsibilities of maternity, as our chieftains breed principally for size. She was also less cold and cruel than most green Martian women, and caring little for their society, she often roamed the deserted avenues of Thark alone, or went and sat among the wild flowers that deck the nearby hills, thinking thoughts and wishing wishes which I believe I alone among Tharkian women today may understand, for am I not the child of my mother?

 "And there among the hills she met a young warrior, whose duty it was to guard the feeding zitidars and thoats and see that they roamed not beyond the hills. They spoke at first only of such things as interest a community of Tharks, but gradually, as they came to meet more often, and, as was now quite evident to both, no longer by chance, they talked about themselves, their likes, their ambitions and their hopes. She trusted him and told him of the awful repugnance she felt for the cruelties of their kind, for the hideous, loveless lives they must ever lead, and then she waited for the storm of denunciation to break from his cold, hard lips; but instead he took her in his arms and kissed her.

"They kept their love a secret for six long years. She, my mother, was of the retinue of the great Tal Hajus, while her lover was a simple warrior, wearing only his own metal. Had their defection from the traditions of the Tharks been discovered both would have paid the penalty in the great arena before Tal Hajus and the assembled hordes.

"The egg from which I came was hidden beneath a great glass vessel upon the highest and most inaccessible of the partially ruined towers of ancient Thark. Once each year my mother visited it for the five long years it lay there in the process of incubation. She dared not come oftener, for in the mighty guilt of her conscience she feared that her every move was watched. During this period my father gained great distinction as a warrior and had taken the metal from several chieftains. His love for my mother had never diminished, and  his own ambition in life was to reach a point where he might wrest the metal from Tal Hajus himself, and thus, as ruler of the Tharks, be free to claim her as his own, as well as, by the might of his power, protect the child which otherwise would be quickly dispatched should the truth become known.

"It was a wild dream, that of wresting the metal from Tal Hajus in five short years, but his advance was rapid, and he soon stood high in the councils of Thark. But one day the chance was lost forever, in so far as it could come in time to save his loved ones, for he was ordered away upon a long expedition to the ice-clad south, to make war upon the natives there and despoil them of their furs, for such is the manner of the green Barsoomian; he does not labor for what he can wrest in battle from others.

"He was gone for four years, and when he returned all had been over for three; for about a year after his departure, and shortly before the time for the return of an expedition which had gone forth to fetch the fruits of a community incubator, the egg had hatched. Thereafter my mother continued to keep me in the old tower, visiting me nightly and lavishing upon me the love the community life would have robbed us both of. She hoped, upon the return of the expedition from the incubator, to mix me with the other young assigned to the quarters of Tal Hajus, and thus escape the fate which would surely follow discovery of her sin against the ancient traditions of the green men.

"She taught me rapidly the language and customs of my kind, and one night she told me the story I have told to you up to this point, impressing upon me the necessity for absolute secrecy and the great caution I must exercise after she had placed me with the other young Tharks to permit no one to guess that I was further advanced in education than they, nor by any sign to divulge in the presence of others my affection for her, or my knowledge of my parentage; and then drawing me close to her she whispered in my ear the name of my father.

"And then a light flashed out upon the darkness of the tower chamber, and there stood Sarkoja, her gleaming, baleful eyes fixed in a frenzy of loathing and contempt upon my mother. The torrent of hatred and abuse she poured out upon her turned my young heart cold in terror. That she had heard the entire story was apparent, and that she had suspected something wrong from my mother's long nightly absences from her quarters accounted for her presence there on that fateful night.

 "One thing she had not heard, nor did she know, the whispered name of my father. This was apparent from her repeated demands upon my mother to disclose the name of her partner in sin, but no amount of abuse or threats could wring this from her, and to save me from needless torture she lied, for she told Sarkoja that she alone knew nor would she even tell her child.

"With final imprecations, Sarkoja hastened away to Tal Hajus to report her discovery, and while she was gone my mother, wrapping me in the silks and furs of her night coverings, so that I was scarcely noticeable, descended to the streets and ran wildly away toward the outskirts of the city, in the direction which led to the far south, out toward the man whose protection she might not claim, but on whose face she wished to look once more before she died.

"As we neared the city's southern extremity a sound came to us from across the mossy flat, from the direction of the only pass through the hills which led to the gates, the pass by which caravans from either north or south or east or west would enter the city. The sounds we heard were the squealing of thoats and the grumbling of zitidars, with the occasional clank of arms which announced the approach of a body of warriors. The thought uppermost in her mind was that it was my father returned from his expedition, but the cunning of the Thark held her from headlong and precipitate flight to greet him.

"Retreating into the shadows of a doorway she awaited the coming of the cavalcade which shortly entered the avenue, breaking its formation and thronging the thoroughfare from wall to wall. As the head of the procession passed us the lesser moon swung clear of the overhanging roofs and lit up the scene with all the brilliancy of her wondrous light. My mother shrank further back into the friendly shadows, and from her hiding place saw that the expedition was not that of my father, but the returning caravan bearing the young Tharks. Instantly her plan was formed, and as a great chariot swung close to our hiding place she slipped stealthily in upon the trailing tailboard, crouching low in the shadow of the high side, straining me to her bosom in a frenzy of love.

"She knew, what I did not, that never again after that night would she hold me to her breast, nor was it likely we would ever look upon each other's face again. In the confusion of the plaza she mixed me with the other children, whose guardians during the journey were now free to relinquish their responsibility. We were herded together into a great room, fed by women who had not accompanied the expedition, and the next day we were parceled out among the retinues of the chieftains. 



BOTH: "I never saw my mother after that night. [said Sola.] She was imprisoned by Tal Hajus, and every effort, including the most horrible and shameful
torture, was brought to bear upon her to wring from her lips the name of my father; but she remained steadfast and loyal, dying at last amidst the laughter of Tal Hajus and his chieftains during some awful torture she was undergoing.

"I learned afterwards that she ["She had] told them that she had killed me to save me from a like fate at their hands, and that she had thrown my body to the white apes. Sarkoja alone disbelieved her, and I feel to this day that she suspects my true origin, but does not dare expose me, [at the present, at all events], because she also guesses, I am sure, the identity of my father.

"When he returned from his expedition and learned the story of my mother's fate I was present as Tal Hajus told him; but never by the quiver of a muscle did he betray the slightest emotion; only he did not laugh as Tal Hajus gleefully described her death struggles.

"From that moment on he was the cruelest of the cruel, and I am awaiting the day when he shall win the goal of his ambition, and feel the carcass of Tal Hajus beneath his foot, for I am as sure that he but waits the opportunity to wreak a terrible vengeance, and that his great love is as strong in his breast as when it first transfigured him nearly forty years ago, as I am that we sit here upon the edge of a world-old ocean while sensible people sleep, John Carter."

 "And your father, Sola, is he with us now?" I asked.

"Yes," she replied, "but he does not know me for what I am, nor does he know who betrayed my mother to Tal Hajus. I alone know my father's name, and only I and [Tal] Hajus and Sarkoja know that it was she who carried the tale that brought death and torture upon her he loved."

We sat silent for a few moments, she wrapped in the gloomy thoughts of her terrible past, and I in pity for the poor creatures whom the heartless, senseless customs of their race had doomed to loveless lives of cruelty and of hate. Presently she spoke.

"John Carter, if ever a real man walked the cold, dead bosom of Barsoom you are one. I know that I can trust you, and because the knowledge may someday help you or him or Dejah Thoris or myself, I am going to tell you the name of my father, nor place any restrictions or conditions upon your tongue.

["]When the time comes, speak the truth if it seems best to you. I trust you because I know that you are not cursed with the terrible trait of absolute and unswerving truthfulness, that you could lie like one of your own Virginia gentlemen [--] if a lie would save others from sorrow or suffering. My father's name is Tars Tarkas."



ERBzine WEB REFS

ERB C.H.A.S.E.R. Illustrated Bibliography
www.erbzine.com/mag4/0421.html

A PRINCESS OF MARS
 "To My Son Jack"
Written between July 1911 and September 28, 1911
WT= 1. My First Adventure on Mars,  2. The Green Martians, 3. Dejah Thoris, Martian
Princess, 4. Under the Moons of Mars
MT=Under the Moons of Mars - Series Title in Modern Mechanics = Carter of the Red Planet.
Large Image of Cover
Large Image of Cover Art by Schoonover
Read the eText Edition
Log Notes for the Novel
A Sample of the Original 1912 Serialization in All-Story Magazine (ERBville PDF):
February 1912 | March 1912
Full Text in PDF (Feedbooks)
The Story Behind the Original All-Story
See all the ERB Pulp Magazine Covers at

ERBzine 0212
CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN ERB and METCALF OF ALL-STORY

CONTENTS
Part I
August 24, 1911: Metcalf
August 26, 1911: ERB
August 28, 1911: Metcalf
September 28, 1911: ERB
October 6, 1911: Metcalf
November 4, 1911: Metcalf
Part II
November 6, 1911: ERB
November 20, 1911: Metcalf
June 26, 1912: Metcalf
June 28, 1912: ERB

 

Part III
September 20, 1912: ERB
October 2, 1912: ERB
October 9, 1912: ERB
Oct. 11, 1912: Metcalf
December 22, 1931: ERB
Part IV
October 15, 1912: ERB
December 5, 1912: ERB
December 10, 1912: Metcalf
December 12 1912: ERB

 

Part V
December 20, 1912: ERB
January 9, 1913: ERB
January 27, 1913: Metcalf
February 22  1913: ERB

 


A Graphic Interpretation of
Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars
by James Killian Spratt.
CHAPTERS
Intro | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 15a | 16 | 16a | 17 | 17a | 18 | 19 | 19a | 19b
| 20 | 20a | 20b | 21 | 21a | 21b | 21c | 22 | 22a | 23 | 23a | 24 | 24a | 24b |
John Coleman Burroughs' John Carter of Mars Sunday Pages
and Dale Broadhurst Novelization
http://www.erbzine.com/mag22/2288.html
John Carter Comics by John Coleman Burroughs
http://www.erbzine.com/mag28/2840.html
TARS TARKAS and THARK GALLERIES

Scores of interpretations of Thark appearances
by the best-known ERB artists
http://www.erbzine.com/mag13/1390.html
Thomas Yeates Art Gallery
www.tarzan.org/yeates
A Readers' Companion to the Barsoomian Mythos of ERB
By Woodrow Edgar Nichols
Enter the portal to all the Wonders of Barsoom at ERBzine 3308
www.johncarterofmars.ca

SOLA ART GALLERY
Move cursor over each illustration for pop-up captions

Sola by John Coleman Burroughs © 1941 by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc..Sola and John Carter by Jim Gary. © 1939, ERB Inc..Sola as a Jetan Chess Piece by James Spratt.Sola with Woola and John Carter by James Spratt
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Sola by Corben (ERB-dom)..Thark Head by John Coleman Burroughs..Sola and Woola - UK Sun Martian serial
/
Sola's Parents by David Burton.Sola's Mother by David Burton.Young Sola and Mother by James Spratt
.

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Sola and Dejah Thoris.Sola by David Burton.Sola with JC and Woola.Sola by Russ Manning
/
Sola and John Carter by James Spratt/Sola by Jesse MarshSola by Jesse Marsh.Sola with Dejah Thoris and John Carter by John Coleman Burroughs
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Sola by Thomas Yeates.Sola and John Carter by Thomas Yeates.Thark female with Dejah and John Carter by Thomas Yeates
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