BIGGLES AND THE LITTLE GREEN GOD

by Captain W. E. Johns

2. THE AIR COMMODORE HAS A TALE TO TELL (Pages 14 – 23)

“You’ve proved yourself singularly adept at solving mysteries, Bigglesworth, I wonder what you could make of the one that has just been handed to me?” says Air Commodore Raymond, chief of the Special Aviation Section at Scotland Yard. Biggles says that the only reason he has anything to do with them “is because in my youth I was taught to obey orders; and here you give the orders. One of these days I shall come to my senses, buy a little plot of land in Cornwall and grow violets for a living”. “When that day comes, Bigglesworth, if it ever does, I shall know you’re about ripe for a mental home,” rejoined the Air Commodore, sadly. Raymond says to Biggles that no doubt he will have heard a well-known piece of poetry entitled “The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God”. (This poem, written in 1911 by J. Milton Hayes starts “There’s a one-eyed yellow idol to the north of Khatmandu, There’s a little marble cross below the town; There’s a broken-hearted woman tends the grave of Mad Carew, And the Yellow God forever gazes down – the full poem can be seen after the chapter 3 summary). Biggles replies “And a crazy ass known as Mad Carew who tried to pinch it. Oh yes, I know it. Too well. A fellow in my squadron, after a few drinks on guest night, use to climb on the piano and recite it between hiccups. He was slightly madder than Mad Carew, so I needn’t tell you what finally happened to him. (This could possibly be a reference to Henry Watkins, known as the Professor, a character from “Biggles of the Camel Squadron” (1934) when Biggles was in 266 Squadron in World War 1. We are not explicitly told that Henry dies in that book, but in “Biggles Flies Again” (1934), Biggles meets his brother and says “Watkins – of course. “A good lad. “We called him the Professor. Lacey – who is with me now – the Professor and I did many shows together. We were with him when he went – west”). Raymond says in this case the god happens to be green, with a single big red eye. “His eye, only one, set in the middle of his forehead, was a ruby of exceptional dimensions”. The statue is made of jade. “An exquisite piece of work carved from a solid lump of green jade. Weighs about 2 lb”. Biggles asks where the statue started life and Raymond tells him the experts can’t agree on that. Biggles guesses it’s been lost and Raymond has been asked to find it. Raymond confirms he has hit the nail on the head. Raymond starts to tell Biggles the whole story. “You’ve heard of Petticoat Lane?” Biggles replies “Of course. The junk market near Aldgate East, open on Sundays, where, they say, you can have your watch pinched at one end of the street and sold back to you at the other end”. “It isn’t quite as bad as that nowadays” returns Raymond. An ordinary cockney fellow called Sam Bates, looking for a birthday present for his wife, bought the statue as an ornament for twelve shillings. “To him it was just a lump of polished stone carved into the shape of an ugly little man sitting cross-legged on his bottom with his hands on his knees. A piece of red glass had been stuck in his forehead. It was hollow behind so that the light shone through it. This gave is a rather sinister expression”. The family used to call it “Old Joe”. One day a friend remarked that the red eye might be a ruby. “Bates kept thinking about the possibility. Once the seed had been sown he couldn’t get it out of his head. He was a poor man, but he wasn’t a fool”. Taking it to a Regent Street jewellers, he asked how much it would cost to get it cleaned. The jewellers offered him ten thousand pounds for it and they finally agreed a sale figure of twelve thousand five hundred. The idol was then sold to a private collector for an undisclosed sum which “no doubt gave the jeweller a handsome margin of profit”. There is a theory as to how the statue ended up in Petticoat Lane. In the eighteen century, the Chinese invaded Burma, then they made war on India. “The man responsible for the hostilities was Theebaw, King of Burma. However it all ended in 1886 when British troops marched into Mandalay, the capital, and a treaty was signed. Now, for a long time there has been a legend that in the king’s palace in Mandalay there was a fabulous treasure, which had vanished. The rumour was that it had been looted by British troops. “There is a chance that the little green god may have gone into a soldier’s knapsack” and that may explain how it made its way to England. “Bearing in mind that Burma has always been famous for its rubies, and the Chinese have always been masters in the art of carving jade. The little green god may be very old indeed”. What happened to the thing over the years, they are never likely to know. All they know for certain is that it ended up at Petticoat Lane in a tray of junk, without anyone realising what it was or what it was worth. Bates didn’t live long enough to enjoy his good fortune. Within a week of the sale he was knocked down by a car and killed whilst out on a spending spree. Raymond says “Queer, isn’t it, how often these outstanding jewels leave a trail of death and disaster behind them. The famous Hope Diamond, for example*”. (A footnote then tells us “This notorious 44 carat diamond of a rare blue colour was long believed to bring misfortune to its owner. It was given by King Louis XVI of France to his queen, Marie Antoinette. Both died on the guillotine. In 1911 it was bought in Paris for £60,000 by a man named Mclean. His son was killed shortly afterwards”). (The Hope Diamond came from the Kollur Mine in Guntur, India. It was sold to King Louis XIV of France in 1668 and stolen in 1792 during the French Revolution and recut. In 1839, the largest section belonged to the Hope Banking Family, hence its name. In 1911, Evalyn Walsh McLean became owner of the Hope Diamond when her husband, Edward McLean, the heir to a publishing fortune, bought it for $180,000 from Cartier Jewellers in New York. Evalyn’s father had discovered a gold mine and become a multi-millionaire. Evalyn’s brother, Vinson had died in an automobile accident in 1905 aged 17. Evalyn and her husband named their son, Vinson, after her brother and he died aged 9 when he was hit by an automobile. But that was in 1919, some eight years after they had bought the Hope Diamond and not “shortly afterwards”). Biggles says he is not prepared to believe that it is the fault of the mineral, but due to villains, “anything of great value if bound to cause trouble. It may be coincidence, but to me it’s a natural consequence”. Biggles asks if the god is a representation of Buddha. Raymond says the idol, “call it god if you like, for it is obviously something of the sort, is of no religion known today”. Biggles asks how it has gone missing. “It’s another story,” the Air Commodore said, “Would you like to hear it?”. The Air Commodore rings for coffee.