(In the Necronomicon, Shub-Niggurath is referred to as "the goat with a thousand young," and indeed, according to the testimony of ancient writings, the fruitage of his loins was vast. One of his progeny, Igharta by name, appears in a short passage in the recently discovered Book of Yng, Chapter 26, Verses 14-35. His story is important because of its mythological implications, namely, the link it provides between the tales of Classical Mythology and the legends of the Old Ones. Words in parentheses in the following translation are either interpolations for those obliterated in the original Arabic scroll, or for those terms which have no literal English equivalent. -- F.C.A.)

¹⁴ In the second year following the destruction of Mara-Kha by Kinastera *, Latina, a concubine of Shub-Niggurath, bore him a son. Igharta was his name, and he bore the signs of his parentage. ¹⁵ He was human above his (waist), but beneath, he was shaggy and (crook-legged) and clove-hooved like a he-goat.

¹⁶ Igharta inherited his mother's (fairness) of face, but from his father came his temperament.
¹⁷ Within him blazed the insatiable fires of lust.

¹⁸ One day, as Igharta passed through the city of Ky-Arko, he came to the temple of Hastur the Unspeakable, and saw at the temple doors, the beautiful priestess Nyarti. ¹⁹ At the sight of her, his loins became inflamed, and he (determined) in his heart to have her.

²⁰ That day, the other priestesses had gone to the river Hyctos to bathe, and Nyarti was alone. ²¹ The son of Shub-Niggurath disguised himself in the robe of a disciple of Hastur, and entered the temple as if to worship.

²² Once inside, he (cast off) his garment and attacked Nyarti, raping her at the foot of the sacrificial altar. ²³ To silence her tongue, Igharta strangled her and then he fled from Hastur's (temple).

²⁴ When the other priestesses returned, they found the (ravaged) body of Nyarti, and wept and beat their breasts. ²⁵ They tore out handfuls of their hair, and each cut off one finger from her right hand. These they threw into the sacrificial fires in supplication for justice.

²⁶ In the smoke of their flesh and blood, the (awesome) visage of Great Hastur himself appeared. ²⁷ And his terrible voice made the pillars of the temple shudder as he bellowed out with great rage his pronouncement on the fool who dared defile his temple and priestess.

²⁸ The Unspeakable said, "Since he who violated this consecrated place crept with the cunning of the serpent to vent the fury of his loins, ²⁹ Then let the serpent be his (mark) until his day of death."

³⁰ Hiding in the forest, Igharta felt a strange stirring beneath the folds of his robe, and throwing it aside, he found his member gone, ³¹ And in its place was a venomous serpent.

³² Thus, Igharta could never again come before men, lest he be recognized and punished. ³³ Instead, he (concealed) himself among the trees and spitefully took his vengeance on the maidens who walked alone in the forest, ³⁴ Forcing upon them painful intercourse with his fanged member.

³⁵ And his bastard offspring made up that (tainted) race known to later peoples as Satyrs.

Created: October 5, 1998; Updated: August 9, 2004