The Theft of Thirty-Nine Girdles

"The Theft of Thirty-Nine Girdles" is a short story by the late American author and Lovecraft contemporary Clark Ashton Smith. It forms part of his Hyperborean Cycle, and is loosely connected to the Cthulhu Mythos.
==Synopsis==
In his dotage, a master thief recalls a time in his youth when he and two companions stole a number of religious artefacts from a temple. Using a concoction dubbed The Powder of the Fetid Apparitions, the group are able to terrify the temple's occupants and patrons into leaving the group to go about their work, but unfortunately one of them is recognised. As a result, another of the group flees the city with the bulk of the treasure, leaving the others with but a single small gold ingot for their troubles.
==Characters==
*Satampra Zeiros, a career criminal, and one of the greatest in his field.
*Vixeela, Zeiros's companion and accomplice, and a former servant at the temple.
*Veezi Phenquor, a highly-skilled alchemist and magician.
==Publication History==
"The Theft of Thirty-Nine Girdles" was published in Saturn Science Fiction and Fantasy in March 1958. It has since been reprinted many times, and has been translated into Spanish, Dutch, Italian, French, German, and Hungarian.
Category:Clark Ashton Smith works
Category:Lovecraft Circle Works