Tarzan the Terrible · Chapter
IV: Tarzan-jad-guru explained
After Es-sat's death, Om-at declares himself gund of Kor-ul-ja and challenges any dissenters.
What happens
After Es-sat's death, Om-at declares himself gund of Kor-ul-ja and challenges any dissenters. He defies tradition by sparing Tarzan and Ta-den, decreeing that strangers who are brave and good friends shall no longer be slain. Om-at then organizes a search for the missing Pan-at-lee. Tarzan uses his keen sense of scent to track her to the cliff above Kor-ul-lul, where signs suggest she jumped to escape a lion. The search party encounters An-un and his sons fleeing the Kor-ul-lul, and they unite to charge the pursuing tribe, sending Id-an to warn Kor-ul-ja.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
In this excerpt, the dramatic climax occurs because Tarzan’s relentless search brings him within literal sight…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Power and Corruption
Om-at seizes power after Es-sat's death and immediately challenges corrupt traditions, asserting his authority to protect outsiders.
- Survival and Adaptation
Tarzan's tracking skills and the tribe's cliff-climbing techniques highlight adaptation to a hostile environment.
- Love and Loyalty
Om-at's determination to find Pan-at-lee and the loyalty of In-sad and O-dan demonstrate bonds of love and allegiance.
Characters to notice
- Tarzan
Uses his acute sense of scent to track Pan-at-lee; shows leadership and tracking skill; fights alongside Om-at.
- Om-at
Declares himself gund of Kor-ul-ja after Es-sat's death; defies tradition by sparing Tarzan and Ta-den; leads search for Pan-at-lee.
- Ta-den
Stands with Tarzan and Om-at; volunteers to join the search for Pan-at-lee.
- Pan-at-lee
Missing; tracked by Tarzan to the cliff above Kor-ul-lul, where she apparently jumped to escape a lion.
- In-sad
One of the first warriors to acknowledge Om-at's chieftainship; joins the search party.
- Es-sat
Dead; his death precipitates Om-at's rise to power.
Key passages
“Always there is change. Even the old hills of Pal-ul-don appear never twice alike—the brilliant sun, a passing cloud, the moon, a mist, the changing seasons, the sharp clearness following a storm; these things bring each a new change in our hills. From birth to death, day by day, there is constant change in each of us. Change, then, is one of Jad-ben-Otho’s laws.”
Om-at argues that change is a natural law, using the ever-changing appearance of the Pal-ul-don hills as a metaphor to justify his revolutionary decision to spare strangers.
Om-at's speech justifies breaking tribal tradition by invoking the inevitability of change.
“I am Om-at. Who will say that Om-at is not gund of Korul-ja?”
Om-at asserts his claim to leadership and challenges anyone to dispute it.
Om-at's bold declaration of chieftainship after Es-sat's death.
“You—mean—she jumped?”
Om-at asks in dismay if Pan-at-lee leaped into the gorge to escape the lion.
Om-at's reaction to Tarzan's tracking evidence at the cliff edge.
