SOURCE: "Mark Elf" (Saturn, May 1957)
"The Ballad of Lost C'Mell" (Galaxy, October 1962)
"The Dead Lady of Clown Town" (Galaxy, August 1964)

DESCRIPTION: "...This time it was a bear. The bear stood at the edge of the darkness and looked into the moonlit valley with the brook running through it...When he was sure all was safe, he twitched his claws and reached delicately into a leather bag which was hanging from his neck by a thong. Gently he took out a pair of spectacles and fitted them slowly and carefully in front of his tired old eyes." ("Mark Elf" by Cordwainer Smith)

NOTES: The Underpeople were slaves to the humans of the Instrumentality, doing all the menial work. Created from animals, they have animal heads but more human type bodies with hands and feet. Some types such as the S-Woman, or snake woman, are less social than others. When an underperson becomes ill or crippled they are put to sleep. Rights for Underpeople were long in coming, but after the self-sacrifice of Djoan the Dog-Girl and later the efforts of the cat-woman C'Mell, the underpeople were given their freedom.

HISTORY: Smith comments on animal rights as well as many other religious beliefs in his stories of the Underpeople. He was very fond of cats, basing C'mell on his own pet, Cat Melanie.

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