Leighton Hodson describes the first two as "taxing but contrasted works" characterised by "highly wrought spareness of expression" and the third as "lighter, though not included for entertainment purposes only."

He says also that while the unity of theme between the three novellas is not straightforward, they can be thought of as "a sequence of meditations on human thinking", one about religion, one about man as a social animal, and one about "the potential dangers of the meddling intellect".

[4] Kevin McCarron sees the unifying theme as being instead to do with "the issue of progress": "The Scorpion God" concerns an outsider called the Liar challenging the established order of the kingdom he has entered; "Clonk Clonk", which is more optimistic about the potential value of innovation, considers an imagined prehistoric change in the relationship between men and women; and "Envoy Extraordinary" considers the perils of technological development.

[5] Don Crompton sees a connection between "The Scorpion God" and "Envoy Extraordinary" in their concern with the dangers of fixed world views but sees little other connection, saying "assiduous analysis can always be made to yield common ground between individual works, but these three stories are concerned with distinctive societies and draw independent lessons from them".

[2][7] In fierce heat, a man called Great House (the literal meaning of Pharaoh), also known as the God, is performing a ritual run that takes place every seven years, from his palace, around a low building on a rocky outcrop and back, to ensure that the river will rise and allow the fields to be planted.

The Prince doesn't want to have to become the God, which means marrying his sister, Pretty Flower, and taking on the burdens of holding up the sky and making the river rise.

He is also going blind, a fact that panics the old man when he learns it, since it puts in jeopardy his ability to carry on the duties of the God, which he will be relied upon to perform.

When the river last failed to rise high enough, the God of that time drank poison and his retinue were expected to follow him into the afterlife – the eternal Now – a prospect they accept happily but which terrifies the Liar.

Pretty Flower performs a ritual striptease dance, in which she is expected to seduce her father, who is more interested in drinking and playing a game of checkers with Head Man.

The Prince arrives in search of rope for his escape plan, but Head Man understands what he is trying to achieve and has the Liar summoned, intending to persuade or force him to join Great House, so he can be appeased.

The Liar tries to persuade Pretty Flower to take him as a husband instead, as all women would be permitted to him if he were Great House and their love would no longer be forbidden.

[11][12] The story concerns an inventor who anachronistically brings the steam engine to ancient Rome, along with three of the Four Great Inventions of China (gunpowder, the compass and the printing press).

[4] Walter Sullivan writing for The Sewanee Review in 1963, described The Brass Butterfly as "witty but by no means profound" and "Envoy Extraordinary" as "a not very successful novella about ancient Rome".