SOURCE: "The Gifts of Asti" (Fantasy Book #3, March 1948) by Andre Norton (writing as Andrew North)

DESCRIPTION: "...The scaled and wattled creature who crouched beside her thigh turned his reptilian head so that golden eyes met the aquamarine ones set slantingly at a faintly provocative angle in her smooth ivory face...Varta passed between tall, uncarved pillars, Lur padding beside her, his spine mane erect, the talons on his forefeet clicking on the stone in steady rhythm..." ("The Gifts of Asti" by Andre Norton)

NOTES: Lur is Varta's lizard companion on the planet of Erb, a planet once peopled by the survivors of a nuclear space war. Lur is as large as a monitor lizard, probably bigger. As the last priestess of Asti, Varta has the ability to share a psychic link with Lur. Lur's naturally scaly body protects him from fire and water during their adventures.

HISTORY: "The Gift of Asti" is a weak juvenile piece but contains so many of the great things to found in later Norton works. There is the psychic link between characters and animals, there is the feel of Edgar rice Burroughs fun without slavish imitation. Norton actually names her planet after ERB. Lur feels very much like an imitation of John Carter's pet calot Woola. Norton's characters often set out on adventures alone so the psychic pet allows them to have someone to converse with.

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