Tales in the Sand is issue 9 of the Sandman comic series, created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Keith, and Mike Dringenberg. It was originally released on August 1, 1989.
Synopsis[]
In an undisclosed time and place, two tribesmen travel into the desert for the last step in the younger man's initiation to adulthood. According to the Tale, where there is now desert, the tribe once dwelt in a magnificent city ruled by a beautiful queen named Nada. She was a wise and just ruler, and the people prospered - until one day, a stranger arrived and the two fell in love - but the stranger was no ordinary man, and their liaison changed everything forever.
Summary[]
A young African tribesman travels into a desert with his grandfather to hear him tell the Tale that is only told to each man once in a lifetime, as the last step of his initiation. At his grandfather's behest, the young man finds a heart-shaped shard of glass, and the old man begins the Tale. He reveals that they are in "the first place where people began", and long ago, when the desert was green, their tribe were called "the first people" and dwelt in a beautiful and prosperous city of glass. The city was ruled by a 16-year-old queen, Nada, who was wise beyond her years and the most beautiful woman in the world. She refused to take a husband, feeling there were no worthy suitors.
One day, a stranger came into the city, and Nada fell in love upon seeing him. She sent her people to search for him, and then asked King of the Birds for help. After that, a weaverbird brought her a berry of flame, which, if she swallowed it, would take her to the side of her true love. Swallowing the berry, she entered the Dreaming and reached the throne room, where the Lord of Dreams - called Kai'ckul in this time and place - revealed that he was the stranger she had seen. Nada knew instantly that her love was doomed, since mortals and the Endless aren't meant to be together.
She fled the Dreaming in terror, but eventually Kai'ckul caught up to her, confessing his love and asking her to be his queen. They spent a night together. For this forbidden romance, the Sun itself blasted the city of glass out of existence, killing everyone, and turning that land into the shard-ridden desert it is the present day. Devastated, Nada threw herself off a mountain. Kai'ckul followed her spirit to the realm of Grandmother Death, still begging that she become his bride. After she refused him three times, he condemned her to suffer eternally in Hell. With that, the grandfather ends the Tale, instructing the young warrior to tell it to his own offspring when the time comes. As they leave the desert, a female narrator states that the women have a version of that tale that ends differently, though she does not disclose how.
Appearances[]
Featured Characters[]
Supporting Characters[]
- Grandfather
- Young tribesman
- King of the Birds
- Weaverbird
Antagonists[]
Other Characters[]
- Cain and Abel
- Gatekeepers
- Desire (mentioned only)
- Grandmother Death (mentioned only)
Objects[]
- Glass shard
- Berry of flame
- Dream's Helm
- Dream's ruby
- Dream's Sand Pouch
Locations[]
- City of Glass
- The Dreaming
- Realm of Death
Continuity Notes[]
- The fact that Nada meets Cain and Abel in the Dreaming suggests that even if City of Glass was the first human dwelling, Nada wasn't in the first generation of its rulers.
Trivia[]
- Although the exact location of the events is never specified, the imagery suggests Africa, supported by the fact that most weaverbirds and gazelles, as well as humans, are indigenous to that continent.