Transvestia
much more than that. Mr. Lindsay speaks of philosophy, thought and human relations in a way that is new and fresh. To do this, however, he must leave the Earth and develop his plot on another planet. Here we meet new creatures, new values, new morality. This is not a tale of the helmeted spacemen and their deeds of daring-do; we are immediately involved in an existance that is completely foreign to us.
Early in his travels on the new planet, our prota- gonist encounters a most kind and gentle man known as Panawe. He is probably the noblest of the many crea- tures that are to be encountered in the journey. It is interesting to note that his background provides the only item that would be of specific interest to our par- ticular group; he explains how he came to be to the Earthman this way;
"My earliest recollection is of being taken, when three years old (that's equivalent to fifteen of your years, but we develop more slowly here), by my father and mother, to see Brood viol, the wisest man on Arc- turus.... When my parents and I arrived in the great Forest where he lived, he scowled at my mother savagely and demanded what she required. Then I too learned for the first time the object of our journey. I was a prodigy- that is to say, I was without sex. My parents were troubled over this, and wished to consult the wisest of men.
"Old Brood viol smoothed his face, and said, 'This perhaps will not be so difficult. I will explain the marvel. Every man and woman among us is a walking murderer. If a male, he has struggled with and killed the female who was born in the same body with h♦m - if a female, she has killed the male. But in this child the struggle is continuing. '
"How shall we end it?' Asked my mother.
"Let the child direct its will to the scene of combat and it will be of whichever sex it pleases."
"You want, of course, to be a man, don't you?'
Said my mother to me earnestly.
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