# Uya the Cunning — Short Fiction character guide

> Uya the Cunning in Short Fiction by H. G. Wells.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Uya, bearded Uya, Wau the Cunning

**First appearance:** 0041-i-ugh-lomi-and-uya

## Snapshot

A cunning prehistoric chieftain whose death-word against Ugh-lomi drives the tribe's hunt and haunts the old woman's fearful prayers.

## Who they are

Uya is the bearded lord of the Sons of Uya, a man whose cunning outlives him in the fear he planted — the old woman still turns to the reed-bed and calls him 'my lord' as though he could answer. His pursuit of Ugh-lomi and Eudena has become the tribe's inherited vendetta, and the lion that stalks the squatting-place is read as Uya's instrument. He matters because the whole early hunt, and the terrible order that Eudena be taken alive 'for Uya the Lion,' flows from his unfinished quarrel.

## In the story

### [Ugh-Lomi and Uya](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/i-ugh-lomi-and-uya)

The old, hairy, and cunning leader of the tribe. He marks Ugh-lomi with the death word and leads the chase after him, but is killed by Ugh-lomi's axe.

### [III: The First Horseman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/iii-the-first-horseman)

Uya is mentioned as having been killed by Ugh-lomi, but the tribe says he has returned as a lion.

### [IV: Uya the Lion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/iv-uya-the-lion)

Dead ruler whose spirit is believed to be reincarnated in the lion.

### [V: The Fight in the Lion’s Thicket](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/v-the-fight-in-the-lion-s-thicket)

Referenced as the lion-god the tribe worships; Ugh-lomi later claims to be Uya.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/characters/uya
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/characters