PRAYER OF ELATHLAK -- A

FRAGMENT OF THE
NECRONOMICON
by ALLEN MACKEY

This brief excerpt from the Necronomicon originates from an article

by Lee and Torrie, Hector S. Hoffmann, Shakespeare and the Old
Ones in Quandry Fanzine, December, 1950. The edition of the
Necronomicon quoted by the writing team's so-called "expert on the
occult"--Mr. Torrie--is unstated. Incidently, the authors claim that
Mr. Torrie had "studied under Von Juntz at the time of the writing of
Unsussprelichen Kulten." [sic]
At any rate, their pioneering work of Necronomic scholarship is a
sequel of sorts to D. R. Smith's "Why Abdul Al Hazred Went Mad"
(which is purported to be "a correct version of the last chapter of the
Necronomicon"--again, without any information as to which edition
it is from).1
Aside from a fragmentary chant 2, the reader is presented with a small
portion of hitherto unknown verse from the Mad Arab. Namely, the
prayer of Elathlak is given as an excerpt from the Necronomicon
chapter entitled "Hymn of The Days of The Black Sun."
From "Shakespeare and the Old Ones" (italicized by the present
editor):
"In the chapter of the 'Hymn of The Days of The Black Sun' in the
Necronomicon the prayer of Elathlak is given;
'Oh mighty serpent of speckled scales
And forked tongues which cry to the Ones,
 Oh, sharply spined sons of the foul unnamed,
And maggots that dwell within the hearts of thy followers,
I beg ye not harm not the chosen princess.'"
Evidently Elathlak is a "mighty serpent of speckled scales"--possibly
one of the spawn of Father Yig. Aside from the hints quoted above we
are not given any further information as to the identity of Elathlak.
However, we do have (from other areas of research) some clues as to
the mystery of "The Black Sun," which unfortunately extend beyond
the grasp of the present work.
I must thank my fellow researcher into Alhazredic Daemonology, Luis
G. Abbadie, for the tip that led to this obscure gem. See the February
18, 2017 post of his blog Ars Necronomica, which is entitled "The Dho
Chant."
* *** *
1
This work is reprinted in Robert M. Price's Chaosium collection (first
and second editions), The Necronomicon: Selected Stories and
Essays Concerning the Blasphemous Tome of the Mad Arab. As
editor Price states in his introduction to D. R. Smith's tale (which is
included in the "Versions of the Necronomicon" section): "'Why
Abdul Al Hazred Went Mad' originally appeared in Manly Bannister's
beautifully produced small press magazine Nekromantikon, vol. one,
no. three, Autumn 1950."
2
The fragmentary chant consists of four words. The entire passage
reads: "In the Necronomicon there is a chant, 'Cthlolaham, Sothan,
Caliban, Anatho...'" A possible connection to the Shakespeare
character Caliban, from The Tempest, is implied.