G. C. Edmondson 10 min read

Strangers land at dawn and start digging up the topsoil, and the robed Old One walks down to meet them, while a human linguist tries to talk.

G. C. Edmondson's 1955 story frames its first-contact tale from an intriguing angle, as Earthmen's machines tear at the land and a serene 'Old Pruneface' comes to parley. Wry, well-observed SF about communication and cross purposes. Read it for a clever golden-age story where the meek may have the last word.

In its time

Published in 1955, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

10 min read (a short story, a single idea, delivered and gone).

Illustrated by

Kelly Freas