Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed
"Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed" | |
---|---|
Short story by Ray Bradbury | |
Original title | The Naming of Names |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre(s) | Science fiction short story |
Publication | |
Published in | Thrilling Wonder Stories |
Publication type | Periodical |
Media type | Print (magazine) |
Publication date | August 1949 |
"Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed" is a science fiction short story by American writer Ray Bradbury. It was originally published in the magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories in August 1949, under the title "The Naming of Names". It was subsequently included in the short-story collections A Medicine for Melancholy and S Is for Space.
The story takes place on Mars in the near future, as is the case with many of Ray Bradbury's stories.
Plot summary
At the beginning of a world-spanning war, a group of colonists are dispatched to the planet Mars from a spaceport in New York City. The Bittering family, composed of father Harry, mother Cora, and their children Dan (referred to as Tim in some versions), Laura, and David, arrives as part of the few colonists chosen for the first wave. Harry is initially disquieted by the Martian environment, but he takes comfort in the fact that the family can return to Earth when resupply ships arrive.
Strange events begin to affect the life brought as part of the settlement effort, including the seeded grass sprouting purple, the family cow growing a third horn in the middle of its head, and other anomalies with the vegetable garden. Harry's discomfort on Mars increases and the thought of returning to Earth on the next resupply mission soon becomes his only comfort, much to the concern of Cora. This solace is taken away as Bittering is informed that the war has led to an atomic bomb devastating New York City and destroying the only spaceport capable of supporting travel to Mars. Frantically, he begins work on building a rocket to return himself and his family to Earth. As he works on the craft, the colonists themselves soon begin to manifest Martian traits. Harry staves this off by only eating food brought from Earth, but eventually runs out. With no choice but to consume Martian-grown food, he soon notices that his own eyes have started to turn gold, and the townsfolk's skin turns to a dark reddish brown.
Cora convinces Harry that a family swim in the canals of Mars would do him good to relax, and he hesitantly agrees. While there, their eldest son, Dan, requests to be referred to by the Martian name Linnl. Harry and Cora, now almost entirely Martian, agree easily, and the other two children quickly adopt Martian names as well. As they return to the town, the Bitterings discover that the colonists are retreating to the ancient Martian villas in the mountains, as the summer has made the valley stiflingly hot. Harry briefly expresses a wish to stay and work on his rocket but is easily persuaded to go with the rest of the colonists and come back when the weather is cooler.
Five years later, the United States, having won the war and rebuilt New York, sends a small military dispatch to recover the colonists sent to Mars, only to find their settlement abandoned. The soldiers instead encounter a large Martian settlement in the mountain villas, where the native Martians are pleasant and have a remarkable affinity for English. Convinced they had nothing to do with the original colony's disappearance, the group agrees to attempt a second, larger settlement using the town built by the first.
References
External links
- Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
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- Fahrenheit 451 (1953)
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- A Graveyard for Lunatics (1990)
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- "The Million Year Picnic" (1946)
- "The Small Assassin" (1946)
- "I See You Never" (1947)
- "Fever Dream" (1948)
- "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl" (1948)
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- "Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed" (1949)
- "The Exiles" (1949)
- "Marionettes, Inc." (1949)
- "The Long Rain" (1950)
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- "The Veldt" (1950)
- "Ylla" (1950)
- "Embroidery" (1951)
- "The Fog Horn" (1951)
- "Here There Be Tygers" (1951)
- "The Pedestrian" (1951)
- "The April Witch" (1952)
- "A Sound of Thunder" (1952)
- "The Wilderness" (1952)
- "The Flying Machine" (1953)
- "The Golden Kite, the Silver Wind" (1953)
- "The Meadow" (1953)
- "The Murderer" (1953)
- "Sun and Shadow" (1953)
- "All Summer in a Day" (1954)
- "The Dragon" (1955)
- "The Aqueduct" (1979)
- "Banshee" (1984)
- "The Toynbee Convector" (1984)
- "Is That You, Herb?" (2003)
- Dark Carnival (1947)
- The Illustrated Man (1951)
- The Golden Apples of the Sun (1953)
- The October Country (1955)
- A Medicine for Melancholy (1959)
- The Day It Rained Forever (1959)
- The Small Assassin (1962)
- R Is for Rocket (1962)
- The Machineries of Joy (1964)
- The Vintage Bradbury (1965)
- S Is for Space (1966)
- Twice 22 (1966)
- I Sing the Body Electric! (1969)
- Ray Bradbury (1975)
- Long After Midnight (1976)
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- The Stories of Ray Bradbury (1980)
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- Dinosaur Tales (1983)
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- Classic Stories 1 (1990)
- Classic Stories 2 (1990)
- The Parrot Who Met Papa (1991)
- Selected from Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed (1991)
- Quicker Than the Eye (1996)
- Driving Blind (1997)
- Ray Bradbury Collected Short Stories (2001)
- One More for the Road (2002)
- Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales (2003)
- The Cat's Pajamas: Stories (2004)
- A Sound of Thunder and Other Stories (2005)
- The Dragon Who Ate His Tail (2007)
- Summer Morning, Summer Night (2007)
- A Pleasure to Burn (2010)
- The Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury (2011, 2014)
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- The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit and Other Plays (1972)
- Pillar of Fire and Other Plays (1975)
- The Martian Chronicles (1986)
- The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1986)
- Fahrenheit 451 (1986)
- Dandelion Wine (1988)
- The Veldt (1988)
- It Came from Outer Space (1953)
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- Bradbury 13 (radio series, 1983–84)
- Fahrenheit 451 (1984)
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- The Veldt (1987)
- The Ray Bradbury Theater (TV series, 1985–86, 1988-1992)
- The Halloween Tree (1993)
- Dandelion Wine (1997)
- The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1998)
- A Sound of Thunder (2005)
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- It Came from Outer Space (2003 book)
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- Ray Bradbury Award
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