The Winged Human Forever.
The Open Sky is Calling You!
Ornithanthropus – The Winged Human
In Dream, Myth, Religion & Literature
This post is dedicated to the memory of editor Ejler Jakobsson, with deepest gratitude.
“I’ve made a lot of notes for a novel about winged men, which I’ll never write, as B. Alan Burhoe has already written it as a short story, Ornithanthropus: old fashioned/good.”
– Avram Davidson, BOOKS, Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine, March, 1973.
“Ho! Skyhunter! I have come to tame you…”
About my story “Ornithanthropus” – “The nature of this planet is such that it is possible to survive only in the air, the land is not suitable for life. Winged humans use living airships as their homes, creatures that can be tamed. The tribe is doomed to perish with the death of its home-airship, unless the young hunter finds a new home for his fellow tribesmen.” Translated from the marvelous website Fantlab.ru/work77661
Even though my Science Fantasy short story “Ornithanthropus” was first published way back in 1971, I’m still getting comments on it. Back in the day, it was letters forwarded by publishers. Now it’s emails.
In answer to Troy S: I agree, Troy, the Winged Human is one of our most sacred images. Meaning? It has some fundamental meanings…
“Ornithanthropus” A Winged Human short Science Fantasy story published in…
- Worlds of IF Magazine, December, 1971, editor Ejler Jakobsson, illustrator Jack Gaughan, New York, 1971 [1]
- BEST SF: 1971, edited by Harry Harrison & Brian Aldiss, New York, 1972 [2]
- BEST SCIENCE FICTION STORIES OF THE YEAR, edited by Lester del Rey, New York, 1972 [3]
- ULLSTEIN 2000 SCIENCE-FICTION STORIES 81, edited by Walter Spiegl, translated by Michael Nagula, Berlin, Germany, 1980 [4]
- Если 5, 1992, Magazine of “foreign fantastic prose” translated by S. Konoplev, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1992
- FATA-MORGANA 8, edited by Sergei Borisovich, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, 1993. Reprinted in the FATA-MORGANA Series “best stories” anthology CALL OF DISTANT PLANETS, 2018 [5]
“I fly in dreams. I know it is my privilege.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
“Both dreams and myths are important communications from ourselves to ourselves.”
– Dr. Erich Fromm [6]
The Winged Human in Dreams, Mythology & Religion
To dream of flying is one of the most auspicious of dreams. It’s the ultimate symbol of Freedom. Of success. Of triumph. This is all the more so if you have wings — a Winged Human.
The Winged Human is the symbol of Artistry, Creativity and Spirituality.
To dream that you are flying over broken land means you have obstacles to overcome, but that you will succeed. Flying over green and fertile country is a harbinger of a triumphant and creative life to be lived.
Yet there is a caution, even in this motif. The flying man Icarus flew too close to the sun, and fell into the Aegean Sea. Willie sings of an angel flying too close to the ground. Even in the limitless Sky, we are told, there is a Middle Path.
The Winged Human is known to all dream studies and Mythologies.
The Egyptians had the god Horus and the Cambodians, the bird-headed Garuda. The Greeks had the human-headed birds called Sirenae, usually women with beautiful voices that attracted men. Later the Sirenae, re-named Sirens, became confused with the Northern myth of mermaids…
In Greek mythology, the gods or their messengers often had wings — such as Selene, goddess of the Moon. The true Ornithanthropus — human head and body with added wings is of Middle East origin, passing through Templar and Alchemist studies, Christian art and dream interpretation study.
The earliest known depiction of Winged Humans in art is on a Sumerian stele showing them flying over the head of the Ruler of Ur (Ur-Nammu), dated about 2300 BC.
Angels (from Hebrew for “messenger”) have usually been described in winged form. Even today angels in dreams are seen this way. And depicted in art in this form for centuries.
Angels are messengers and guardians.
In the Holy Land and Catholic countries, angels are still avidly prayed to, the Archangel Michael being the most popular. It was Archangel Michael who appeared in dreams to Abraham, Jacob and Moses. Early Christians built sanctuaries to him, praying to him for healing and for protection against evil forces.
There are statues — aren’t there? — that almost seem alive, certainly capturing an innate spirituality. Like a favourite image of mine: the Celtic Angel Statue, combining Christian and Celtic imagery, shown above.
The Flying Man & Flying Woman in Literature
My “Ornithanthropus” was inspired by James Joyce’s Hawklike Man and by Roy G Krenkel’s ACE Books cover of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ PIRATES OF VENUS. That image of the Klangan — the birdman — carrying the sullen princess into the sky is a primal one. Catching that wild freedom, that joyous spirituality of winged flight. I love it! [7]
Winged Men and Winged Women have flown strange skies in many literary works, mostly science fantasy. From those of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ray Cummings [8], A.E. van Vogt, and Robert E Howard to Poul Anderson, Andre Norton, Martha Wells and Claire Corbett.
Even today, some of our top talents are soaring into the clouds. James Patterson with his Maximum Ride series. Margaret Atwood’s ANGEL CATBIRD graphic novels (with artwork by Johnnie Christmas and colours by Tamra Bonvillain).
And in a few sentences, James Joyce breathed life into the mythic character:
“He seemed to hear the noise of dim waves and to see a winged form flying above the waves and slowly climbing the air. What did it mean? Was it a quaint device opening a page of some medieval book of prophecies and symbols, a hawklike man flying sunward above the sea. A prophecy of the end he had been born to serve…
“His heart trembled — and a wild spirit passed over his limbs as though he were soaring sunward. His soul was soaring in an air beyond the world and the body he knew was purified in a breath and delivered of incertitude and made radiant. An ecstasy of flight made radiant his eyes and wild his breath and tremulous and wild and radiant his windswept limbs.” [9]
For as long as we strive to be Free, the Myth of Ornithanthropus, the Winged Human, lives! [10]
The Winged Human Forever!
UPDATE: Recently I’ve had an increase in messages asking for more tales “of the Flying man” from the Ornithanthropus milieu. Some asking for new stories. Others thinking that this story was just a part of a much bigger fictional work I’d written long ago. I’ve completed the first drafts of two more stories: “Schadow’s Woman” and “Consentient,” with two more in mind. Time will tell.
“Live Free, Mon Ami!” – Brian Alan Burhoe
FOOTNOTES – Like Feathers Falling Gently Down Till They Land on Solid Ground…
[1] Worlds of IF Science Fiction Magazine was known as “The Magazine of Alternatives.”
Editor Ejler Jakobsson wanted to publish the “more contemporary, creative and imaginative end of the SF spectrum.”
You might note that “Ornithanthropus” was misspelled “Ornithanthpopus” on the title page of the IF Magazine story.
To read my complete short story “Ornithanthropus” for FREE, you can find it on the marvelous Pulp Magazine Archive of Worlds Of IF Magazine ==>> ORNITHANTHROPUS – Worlds Of IF Science Fiction Magazine, December, 1971, Page 129
[2] “Burhoe is a Maritime Canadian who lives a lot closer to the realities of environment than most of us, finding solitary pleasure in snowshoeing through the white winter. A student of North American mythology, Indian and Inuit stories and legends, he has produced here his own legend of an interaction between nature and man that has yet to be.” – Harry Harrison.
This Harrison/Aldiss anthology was also published in the UK as THE YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION NO. 5, London, England, 1972
“Totally alien life modes…”
[3] “All I know of B Alan Burhoe is that he picked one of the toughest kinds of stories to write. A story of this type depends on giving the reader a full picture of strange backgrounds and totally alien life modes. Usually, only novels afford the writer the space needed to develop his exotic world, and to make the reader at home with his creation. Rare as this success is in this length, Burhoe has produced a nearly perfect example.” – Lester del Rey, on my story “Ornithanthropus.”
“There are few people who are first-class science fiction writers themselves and first-class judges of the quality of the science fiction other writers produce. Of these double-threats, Lester del Rey is one of the most outstanding. When he says, ‘These are the best,’ I listen and I read and I enjoy. This book is the proof.” – Isaac Asimov.
[4] ULLSTEIN 2000 SCIENCE-FICTION STORIES 81 was a “Best stories from Worlds of IF Science Fiction Magazine 1967-1974 collection” from the Ullstein publishing group based in Berlin, translated to German by Michael Nagula. This anthology also included stories by Isaac Asimov, J G Ballard, Arsen Darnay, Scott Edelstein, Jan Trenholme, Barry Alan Weissman, Robert F Young.
This was my first translated story:
Schadow wurde von seiner Frau geweckt.
Er erhob sich von der Matte aus muffiger Baumwolle, reckte die Flügel über seinem Kopf, bis sie die niedrige Decke aus Schilf berührten.
»Der Himmelsjäger stirbt«,sagte sie.»Wir müssen fort.«…
And so Schadow flew out on his own quest to tame a Himmelsjäger.
“I was the only Canadian…”
[5] FATA-MORGANA 8: Fantasticheskie rasskazy i povesti (STRANGE MIRAGES 8: Fantastic Short Stories & Novellas) was a preeminent collection of tales by “the leading visionary writers of Western Europe and North America,” all just recently translated into Russian. Cover art by Boris Vallejo.
It included yarns from English author and editor Brian Aldiss, as well as his countrymen John Brunner and John Wyndham. The great French fantasist Philippe Curval. American novelist & screenplay writer Richard Matheson (with 4 stories) and James E Gunn, Henry Slesar, multi award-winning Norman Spinrad, H P Lovecraft, F M Busby, Howard L Myers — and an old fave of mine, Clifford D Simak. I was the only Canadian fantasist in it, though there were lots of us around, even then.
My story was translated by Ukrainian writer Sergei Konoplev (Сергей Коноплев). My name in Russian, by the way, is Алан Берхоу, sometimes translating back into English as “Alan Burhoe,” but more often “Alan Burhow” or “Alan Berhow” or even “Alan Berhou.”
FATA-MORGANA 8 was released by Phlox Publishing House of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, in 1993. Altogether the acclaimed FATA-MORGANA Series saw 11 volumes published from 1991 to 1996.
Each story was illustrated…
First Published in a Russian Periodical in 1992.
In Russia, “Ornithanthropus” was first published in the magazine Если 5, 1992. Translated, as mentioned, by Sergei Konoplev. It was illustrated by Oleg Osinin (see below). My story was published along with “fantasy prose” writers Keith Laumer, Ron Goulart, R A Lafferty, E C Tubb, Ekaterina Glebova and Edmund Cooper.
And then it was reprinted the next year in FATA-MORGANA 8.
And most recently, reprinted in 2018 in the definitive collection of “best stories” from the entire FATA-MORGANA Series: CALL OF DISTANT PLANETS (Зов далеких планет), compiled by Andrey Lysak.
What an honour it is (or would be) to open a hardcover copy of CALL OF DISTANT PLANETS and find myself in the company of Lino Aldani, Brian Aldiss, Poul Anderson, Algis Budrys, Philippe Curval, Lester Del Rey, Joe Haldeman, Lee Hoffman, Dean Koontz, Richard Matheson, Andre Norton, Josephine Saxton, Jack Vance and Kurt Vonnegut.
NOTE: I discovered these last books on the internet, well after they were printed. Apparently some German and Russian publishers don’t pay royalties or give free copies (Surprise!).
But I can proudly say I’ve been published in those languages.
“Ho! Himmelsjäger! Ich bin gekommen, um dich zu zähmen…”
— Эй, Небесный Охотник! Я пришел, чтобы приручить тебя…
Dreams & Artists
[6] For a further look at the Meaning of Your Dreams, see DREAM DICTIONARY: Most Common Dreams from Animals to Your Future Interpreted
[7] “That image of the Klangan — the birdman — carrying the sullen princess into the sky…” Roy G Krenkel’s original painting for the dramatic ACE cover of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ PIRATES OF VENUS is shown above.
[8] Cover art for first ACE Books edition of Ray Cummings’ TAMA OF THE LIGHT COUNTRY is by Jerome Podwil.
[9] James Joyce, A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN, 1916.
“Live Free, Mon Ami!”
[10] And, in a way, my Civilized Bears also symbolize Freedom. A Freedom close to the soil, deeper, more fundamental. Neverending wilderness trails. Tree-bound, Forest-free!
Recent Reader Reviews…
“A beautiful story about a very unusual world. Not surprisingly, Lester Del Rey (separately) and Harry Harrison and Brian Aldiss (jointly) included the story of the world of winged people in their anthologies of the best fiction, and del Rey dedicated a laudatory review to it. It is a pity that, having invented such a wonderful world, the author limited himself to a story (I did not find any mention of this writer’s novel). Great fantasy adventure.”
– Alex1970, Reader Reviews, Fantlab.ru/work77661
“What a wonderful work, in which every, even the smallest detail, play a role. Everything is interconnected and logical. The author came up with an amazing world…”
– god54, Reader Reviews, Fantlab.ru/work77661
To fly like birds…
“A short sketch — a fragment — from the life on another planet. Different forms, different rules… And the eternal dream of Humanity to be able to fly like birds. Great plot.”
– Michael, Reader Reviews, Fantlab.ru/work77661
“It remains only to agree with all those who spoke out. It is a pity that Alan Burhoe wrote only this small sketch about the world of winged people… Just a beautiful image, firmly engraved in memory. Curiously, I perfectly remembered the story itself — and the winged people, and this flying creature, and the battle with the men wearing antigravs — only then I was sure that this story was part of some great work. So I advise everyone — the story is very beautiful, very imaginative, memorable and, most importantly, truly fantastic.”
– Seidhe, Reader Reviews, Fantlab.ru/work77661
“New, extraordinary, inventive and somewhat touching. It is even symbolic: people and aliens find a common language and live like relatives on a planet. A parable about how true friends are found.”
– Darth_Veter, Reader Reviews, Fantlab.ru/work77661
ORNITHANTHROPUS Winged Human in Dream, Myth, Religion & Literature – Free
Angel Catbird, B Alan Burhoe, Brian A Burhoe, Burhoe Family History, Civilized Bears, dream analysis, dreams, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ejler Jakobsson, James Joyce, Roy G Krenkel.
Archangel Michael, Flying man, Ornithanthropos, winged human, winged man, winged woman, Holy Land, Templar and Alchemist studies, Stories Der Zukunft, Fliegender Mann, Himmelsjäger.
Алан Берхоу, Орнитантропус, Летающий человек.
