Peter of Abano in The Claw (Garnett)

Overview

In The Claw, a masked and cloaked female figure walks a Venetian piazza, frightening would-be companions by exposing a skull-like face and skeletal breast. One youth accepts the embrace and instead finds himself clasped by a silver-haired man of noble presence, with a haggard, anxious face. This is the magician who identifies himself as Peter of Abano. Dressed in black velvet, he draws the youth into a tower whose solid wall opens at his command; a floating severed hand carries their lamp. In his chamber stand scrolls, books, instruments and crystal vessels containing captive beings. His promise of wealth and magical gifts conceals a demand for a compact signed in the young man’s blood.

Abano explains that he has prolonged his earthly career by delivering a newly contracted soul to the demon each year. His intended recruit has died, and this is the last night in which he can meet the obligation. He mixes threats, entreaties and visions of power to force the youth’s signature, but an immense claw appears through the roof as midnight approaches. At the first stroke it pierces the magician and carries him away. The imprisoned creatures escape when their vessels break, and the young man loses consciousness. Even that survivor receives no simple rescue: the Inquisition finds too many powerful names in the contracts to welcome inquiry, and sends him away to the war in Cyprus, where he dies. Garnett’s note explicitly distinguishes this supernatural fiction from the physician Pietro di Abano’s historical reputation and rejects the story that the physician was stoned or burned alive.

First appearances & development

Richard Garnett’s authored English collection The Twilight of the Gods, and Other Tales, retained title dated MDCCCCIII (1903). The author’s notes distinguish the sixteen-tale first edition of 1888 from the present augmented impression. This profile concerns a literary character in that collection, not an independently established historical or religious account.

Canon & continuity

The complete seventeen-paragraph tale and its final account of the youth’s fate establish the narrative scope. The author’s notes on The Claw and Peter of Abano provide the explicit historical-versus-legendary qualification.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   The Twilight of the Gods, and Other Tales

   Richard Garnett · 1903

   Selected tale: The Claw.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Primary historical authored fictionGarnett — complete selected tale, dated title and author’s notesResearch access: 2026-10-18

Image credits

Peter of Abano in The Claw (Garnett) — independent literary interpretation with reconstructed unspecified details.