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Overview

A country claims not to know death, although a visitor periodically calls people away and they never return. Asked whether the caller can be seen, its inhabitants say yes. A wealthy immigrant believes he can escape mortality by forbidding his family to follow any summons. His wife nevertheless hears the call, evades his grasp and disappears. The story supplies no physical portrait of her caller.

Years later the husband argues with someone outside the barber’s shop whom nobody else can see. Finally he seizes the barber’s razor and runs after the figure, defeating his own resolution through anger rather than willing obedience. The pursuing barber sees him fall into a chasm and disappear. When a crowd later investigates, the chasm has vanished and only a plain remains; thereafter people in the region die like everyone else. The title associates the summons with death, while the narrative describes differential perception and disappearance without showing a skeleton, scythe or named supernatural species.

Calls people who do not returnSeen by summoned man alone in barber sceneEludes refusal through pursuitDisappearance in temporary chasm
01

Origins & earliest records

Roumanian Fairy Tales, collected by Mite Kremnitz, adapted and arranged by J. M. Percival (New York: Henry Holt, 1885), The Voice of Death, pp. 105–109.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete selected English narrative. The preface assigns tale 10 to P. Ispirescu’s collection. Physical appearance and the vanished chasm’s mechanism remain unspecified.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Roumanian Fairy Tales: The Voice of Death, pp. 105–109

    Mite Kremnitz, collector; J. M. Percival, adapter and arranger · 1885

    Preface assigns tale 10 to P. Ispirescu. Complete English ending; original Romanian not collated.

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 English adaptationKremnitz/Percival 1885: The Voice of DeathResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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