--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The seven black priests—\" Fafhrd…" description: "\"“The seven black priests—\" Fafhrd muttered. \"The six,\" the Mouser corrected. \"We killed one of them last night.\" \"Well, the six then,\" Fafhrd conceded...." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/482/fritz-leiber-11218_1970_the-seven-black-priests-fafhrd-muttered_2699917.jpg" --- # The seven black priests—" Fafhrd muttered. "The six," the… ![“The seven black priests—" Fafhrd muttered. "The six," the Mouser corrected. "We killed one of them last night." "Well, the six then," Fafhrd conceded. "They seem angry with us." "As why shouldn't they be?" the Mouser demanded. "We stole their idol's only eye. Such an act annoys priests…” quote by Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/482/fritz-leiber-11218_1970_the-seven-black-priests-fafhrd-muttered_2699917.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/482/fritz-leiber-11218_1970_the-seven-black-priests-fafhrd-muttered_2699917.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/482/fritz-leiber-11218_1970_the-seven-black-priests-fafhrd-muttered_2699917.jpg) > ““The seven black priests—" Fafhrd muttered. "The six," the Mouser corrected. "We killed one of them last night." "Well, the six then," Fafhrd conceded. "They seem angry with us." "As why shouldn't they be?" the Mouser demanded. "We stole their idol's only eye. Such an act annoys priests tremendously." It seemed to have more eyes than that one," Fafhrd asserted thoughtfully, "if only it had opened them." "Thank Aarth it didn't!" the Mouser hissed. "And 'ware that dart!" Fafhrd hit the dirt—or rather the rock—instantly, and the black dart skirred on the ice ahead. "I think they're unreasonably angry," Fafhrd asserted, scrambling to his feet. "Priests always are," the Mouser said philosophically, with a sidewise shudder at the dart's black-crusted point.”” [Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Characters discuss stealing a priest’s idol eye, leading to angry priests and a tense confrontation, highlighting consequences of disrespecting sacred objects. **In simple terms:** Stealing sacred items provokes anger and conflict. Key Takeaway Respect cultural symbols to avoid conflict. Themes respect consequences conflict Mood dramatic adventurous Type fictional inspirational When to use this quote - adventure - role‑playing - storytelling Key Concepts mythic fantasy ethics Questions to Reflect On - What drives the characters’ disrespect? - How could they have resolved the issue peacefully? A Different Perspective Moral ambiguity may be unclear. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [1970](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/zz-1970-438/) [Annoys Priests](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/annoys-priests-2724846/) [Fafhrd Muttered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fafhrd-muttered-2724848/) [Last night](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/last-night/) [Muttered Mouser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/muttered-mouser-2724847/) [Priests Fafhrd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/priests-fafhrd-2724844/) [Priests Mouser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/priests-mouser-2724845/) [Religious intolerance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religious-intolerance/) [Thievery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thievery/) ## Related quotes > [“Fafhrd, his back to a great oak, had his broadsword out and was holding off two of Rannarsh's henchmen, who were attacking with their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/fafhrd-his-back-to-a-great-oak-had-his-broadsword-out-and-was-holding/) [Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) > [“Fafhrd stopped, again wiped right hand on robe, and held it out. 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And this latter is never possible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-extreme-form-of-power-is-all-against-one-the-extreme-form-of-2/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“South Carolina had thirteen lynchings last year, ten were charged with assault on white women, one with horse stealing and two with being impudent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ida-b-wells-barnett/south-carolina-had-thirteen-lynchings-last-year-ten-were-charged-with/) [Ida B. Wells-Barnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ida-b-wells-barnett/) > [“The essential point of the preparative nature of psychotherapy in relation to magical practice is again reinforced two years later, in The Eye in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-a-plaisance/the-essential-point-of-the-preparative-nature-of-psychotherapy-in/) [Christopher A. Plaisance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-a-plaisance/) > [“Israel's demonstration of its military prowess in 1967 confirmed its status as a 'strategic asset,' as did its moves to prevent Syrian intervention in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/israel-s-demonstration-of-its-military-prowess-in-1967-confirmed-its/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [“Nothing ever really ends. That’s the horrible part of being in the short-story business—you have to be a real expert on ends. Nothing in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/nothing-ever-really-ends-that-s-the-horrible-part-of-being-in-the/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [“Oh,' she says, 'the Vat prints nothing but rapes. You know what a rape usually is? It's a woman who changed her mind afterward.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/oh-she-says-the-vat-prints-nothing-but-rapes-you-know-what-a-rape/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [“What sets one Southern town apart from another, or from a Northern town or hamlet, or city high-rise? The answer must be the experience…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/what-sets-one-southern-town-apart-from-another-or-from-a-northern/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [“None of us laughed at Helen. Maybe because in 1970 we listened more to new ideas, however sentimental or foolish they sound all these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-lax/none-of-us-laughed-at-helen-maybe-because-in-1970-we-listened-more-to/) [Scott Lax](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-lax/) ## More by Fritz Leiber > [“The “Howard” in the entry had to be Howard Phillips Lovecraft , that twentieth-century puritanic Poe from Providence, with his regrettable but undeniable loathing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/the-howard-in-the-entry-had-to-be-howard-phillips-lovecraft-that/) [Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) > [A scientist ought to have a healthy disregard for coincidences.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/a-scientist-ought-to-have-a-healthy-disregard-for-coincidences/) [Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) > [What do you care? You always liked loneliness better than you liked people. No offence liking yourself's the beginning of all love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/what-do-you-care-you-always-liked-loneliness-better-than-you-liked/) [Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) > [Traffic growled and snarled, rising at times to a machine-gun rata-tat-tat, while pedestrians were scuttling about with that desperate ratlike urgency characteristic of all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/traffic-growled-and-snarled-rising-at-times-to-a-machine-gun-rata-tat/) [Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) > [“Certainly we’ve made important innovations, chief among them the systematic use of the scientific method,” he said at one point, “but the primitive groundwork…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/certainly-we-ve-made-important-innovations-chief-among-them-the/) [Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) > [“Miss Millick wondered just what had happened to Mr. Wran. He kept making the strangest remarks when she took dictation. Just this morning he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/miss-millick-wondered-just-what-had-happened-to-mr-wran-he-kept/) [Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) > [“Of course it had been an hallucination. But when hallucinations start behaving like realities, with a score of coincidences to back them up, even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/of-course-it-had-been-an-hallucination-but-when-hallucinations-start/) [Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) > [Devils may be nothing but beings intent on their purpose, which now happens to collide with yours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/devils-may-be-nothing-but-beings-intent-on-their-purpose-which-now/) [Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) > [“The Mouser made a very small parry in carte so that the thrust of the bravo from the east went past his left side…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/the-mouser-made-a-very-small-parry-in-carte-so-that-the-thrust-of-the/) [Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) > [“It had all begun on the elevated. 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Beyond the space of the astronauts and the astronomers, beyond the dark, tangled regions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/the-dark-dangerous-forest-is-still-there-my-friends-beyond-the-space/) [Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) > [Not for the first time Richard reflected that this age's vaunted 'communications industry' had chiefly provided people and nations with the means of frightening…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/not-for-the-first-time-richard-reflected-that-this-age-s-vaunted/) [Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) > [Of course, if you assume a big enough conspiracy, you can explain anything, including the cosmos itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/of-course-if-you-assume-a-big-enough-conspiracy-you-can-explain/) [Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) [Explore all 58 Fritz Leiber quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) ## More 1970 quotes > [“None of us laughed at Helen. Maybe because in 1970 we listened more to new ideas, however sentimental or foolish they sound all these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-lax/none-of-us-laughed-at-helen-maybe-because-in-1970-we-listened-more-to/) [Scott Lax](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-lax/) > [“What sets one Southern town apart from another, or from a Northern town or hamlet, or city high-rise? The answer must be the experience…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/what-sets-one-southern-town-apart-from-another-or-from-a-northern/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [“Oh,' she says, 'the Vat prints nothing but rapes. You know what a rape usually is? It's a woman who changed her mind afterward.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/oh-she-says-the-vat-prints-nothing-but-rapes-you-know-what-a-rape/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [“The Mouser made a very small parry in carte so that the thrust of the bravo from the east went past his left side…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/the-mouser-made-a-very-small-parry-in-carte-so-that-the-thrust-of-the/) [Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) > [“Nothing ever really ends. That’s the horrible part of being in the short-story business—you have to be a real expert on ends. Nothing in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/nothing-ever-really-ends-that-s-the-horrible-part-of-being-in-the/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [“Israel's demonstration of its military prowess in 1967 confirmed its status as a 'strategic asset,' as did its moves to prevent Syrian intervention in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/israel-s-demonstration-of-its-military-prowess-in-1967-confirmed-its/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [“The essential point of the preparative nature of psychotherapy in relation to magical practice is again reinforced two years later, in The Eye in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-a-plaisance/the-essential-point-of-the-preparative-nature-of-psychotherapy-in/) [Christopher A. Plaisance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-a-plaisance/) > [“South Carolina had thirteen lynchings last year, ten were charged with assault on white women, one with horse stealing and two with being impudent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ida-b-wells-barnett/south-carolina-had-thirteen-lynchings-last-year-ten-were-charged-with/) [Ida B. Wells-Barnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ida-b-wells-barnett/) > [“The extreme form of power is All against One, the extreme form of violence is One against All. And this latter is never possible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-extreme-form-of-power-is-all-against-one-the-extreme-form-of-2/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“It should first be understood that lesbianism, like male homosexuality, is a category of behavior possible only in a sexist society characterized by rigid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/radicalesbians/it-should-first-be-understood-that-lesbianism-like-male-homosexuality/) [Radicalesbians](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/radicalesbians/) > [“Oaths are made to be kept only until their purpose be fulfilled," the fluty voice responded. "Every geas is lifted at last, every self-set…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/oaths-are-made-to-be-kept-only-until-their-purpose-be-fulfilled-the/) [Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) > [“None can use black magic without straining the soul to the uttermost—and staining it into the bargain. None can inflict suffering without enduring the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/none-can-use-black-magic-without-straining-the-soul-to-the-uttermost/) [Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) > [“The rise of Autism coincides with my life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-magee/the-rise-of-autism-coincides-with-my-life/) [Steven Magee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-magee/) > [“Fafhrd stopped, again wiped right hand on robe, and held it out. "Name's Fafhrd. Ef ay ef aitch ar dee." Again the Mouser shook…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/fafhrd-stopped-again-wiped-right-hand-on-robe-and-held-it-out-name-s/) [Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) > [“Fafhrd, his back to a great oak, had his broadsword out and was holding off two of Rannarsh's henchmen, who were attacking with their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/fafhrd-his-back-to-a-great-oak-had-his-broadsword-out-and-was-holding/) [Fritz Leiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/) [Browse all 18 1970 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/zz-1970-438/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The seven black priests—\" Fafhrd muttered. \"The six,\" the Mouser corrected. \"We killed one of them last night.\" \"Well, the six then,\" Fafhrd conceded. \"They seem angry with us.\" \"As why shouldn't they be?\" the Mouser demanded. \"We stole their idol's only eye. Such an act annoys priests tremendously.\" It seemed to have more eyes than that one,\" Fafhrd asserted thoughtfully, \"if only it had opened them.\" \"Thank Aarth it didn't!\" the Mouser hissed. \"And 'ware that dart!\" Fafhrd hit the dirt—or rather the rock—instantly, and the black dart skirred on the ice ahead. \"I think they're unreasonably angry,\" Fafhrd asserted, scrambling to his feet. \"Priests always are,\" the Mouser said philosophically, with a sidewise shudder at the dart's black-crusted point.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Fritz Leiber" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/the-seven-black-priests-fafhrd-muttered-the-six-the-mouser-corrected/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "1970" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/the-seven-black-priests-fafhrd-muttered-the-six-the-mouser-corrected/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/482/fritz-leiber-11218_1970_the-seven-black-priests-fafhrd-muttered_2699917.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/482/fritz-leiber-11218_1970_the-seven-black-priests-fafhrd-muttered_2699917.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/482/fritz-leiber-11218_1970_the-seven-black-priests-fafhrd-muttered_2699917.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The seven black priests—\" Fafhrd muttered. \"The six,\" the Mouser corrected. \"We killed one of them last…” — Fritz Leiber", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Fritz Leiber", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritz-leiber/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“The seven black priests—\" Fafhrd muttered....", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/the-seven-black-priests-fafhrd-muttered-the-six-the-mouser-corrected/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritz-leiber/the-seven-black-priests-fafhrd-muttered-the-six-the-mouser-corrected/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```