Venus Illsky

The story is led by a Parisian scientist visiting the ancient monuments in the Catalan part of France . Upon learning that a “huge black woman, almost completely naked” was recovered from the earth in the village of Ill , he arrives in Ill, where he stops at the house of the eccentric local historian Peyrorad. The “Idol”, about which there is evil reputation in the district, is a rare bronze statue of Venus of ancient work. In the expression of her face the storyteller imagines something merciless - "cunning, turning into malice."

Peyrorad’s house is preparing for the wedding of his 26-year-old son Alphonse with a girl from a neighboring village. Before the wedding ceremony, scheduled in spite of superstitions on Friday ^[1] , Alfons helps a team of fellow countrymen to win the ball over visiting Aragonese . During the game, the massive diamond ring that the Peyrorads have brought to their spouses from generation to generation, he puts statues on his finger, and in the bustle he forgets it there. After the newlyweds return from the church, Alfons tries to remove the ring, but to no avail: it seems to him that the statue has bent his finger. “It turns out that she is my wife, since I put on her a ring ...”, he mutters embarrassedly under his breath.

At night, the narrator hears heavy steps up the stairs toward the bride and groom’s bedroom, and early in the morning someone leaves the house in the same heavy gait. The groom is found dead in the bedroom - on a broken bed, crushed, as if he had been squeezed by an iron hoop. A ring is lying on the floor. The incoherent speech of the bride indicates, according to others, that she was damaged by reason. The girl says that before falling into oblivion, she saw her husband "in the arms of the green giant", reminding her of the bronze idol of Venus.

Although a supernatural explanation for what has happened suggests itself ^[2] , the metropolitan scientist prefers to remain on the firm ground of rational thinking. According to his assumption, the murder was committed by one of the defeated on the eve of the Aragonese, who, under witnesses, threatened Alphonse. The Aragonese, however, shows an alibi .

To local residents, the hypothesis that Alphonse died at the hands of a statue in love does not seem impossible. In the epilogue, it is reported that the old lady Peyrorad, following her son, having also lost her husband, ordered to melt the antique masterpiece into a bell for the local church. “Ever since this bell rings in Illa, the vineyards have already been hit twice by frost,” the author concludes.

• Venus Illskaya is the last film by Italian director Mario Bava (1979)
• The operas of Otmar Shek (1922) and Henri Busser (1964)

• Antique Bronze List
• False Germanicus ( en ) - a statue from the Louvre, with which Venus of Illa is compared in the text
• Lokis - another short story of Merime, where a gloomy denouement occurs on the wedding night