The story was first published in the magazine Unknown for June, 1939 and first appeared in book form in de Camp's collection The Wheels of If and Other Science Fiction (Shasta, 1948).

[2] Visiting a freak show, scientist Dr. Matilda Sandler takes an interest in the ape-man "Ungo-Bungo", who appears to exhibit genuine atavistic features.

Eventually it comes out that Gaffney is actually Shining Hawk, a Neanderthal Man over 50,000 years old, whose aging process was frozen early in life when he was struck by lightning.

He has been a witness to much of history from the margins, making little personal impact on it—though it is suggested that he may have been the original basis for the tales of the divine lame blacksmith Vulcan (his leg injury is very old).

According to Sam Moskowitz, the story "broke ground for an entirely new approach on the treatment of such material,"[3][4] which was "most notably emulated by Philip José Farmer in 'The Alley Man'.

"[5] More recently, Robert Wilfred Franson called the work "a good specimen of the distinct category of stories about Neanderthal Man in science fiction (or fantasy if you prefer)."