bluer eyes than Evadare's you couldn't call for." After Shull Cobart is destroyed, Evadare asks to join John on his travels, but he refuses to make her a wanderer like himself; when he can't dissuade her, he flees from her but she follows him. When after following without complaint she reaches the end of her strength and endurance, he realizes that he loves her. In the following story "Trill Coster's Burden", after Evadare shows her faith and courage by taking a dead wicked woman's sins upon herself according to mountain custom (called "sin-eating": "Somebody dies after a bad life, and a friend or paid person agrees the sins will be his, not the dead one's") and watching out the night, she and John are married by Preacher Frank Ricks. Evadare is mentioned in the subsequent "Silver John" novels, but only actually appears in the novel The Hanging Stones. The stories are rich in the customs and lore of the region and many of the folk songs John sings are authentic as well. Wellman did introduce some original songs and legends but his creations blend seamlessly with the traditional material. Whereas Tolkien integrated Northern mythology into his mythos, and C.S. Lewis the European Fairy Tales of yore, Wellman's stories are drenched in the folktales and songs of old Americana; the haunting stories of the slaves and the tall tales of the Revolution, strange beasts, witch-women, and dark apparitions. Wellman's friend, the author Karl Edward Wagner, wrote: "These stories are chilling and enchanting, magical and down-to-earth, full of wonder and humanity. They are fun. They are like nothing else you’ve read before." The short stories of John have been collected four times, as Who Fears the Devil? (1963), John the Balladeer (1988), Owls Hoot in Daytime and Other Omens (2003), and Who Fears the Devil? (2010). In addition, there are five novels about John. Wellman was planning an additional novel, to be titled The Valley So Low, but died before writing it. The title would be used for a collection of his stories, instead. The Silver John stories "O Ugly Bird" "The Desrick on Yandro" "Vandy, Vandy" "One Other" "Call Me From the Valley" "The Little Black Train" "Shiver in the Pines" "Walk Like A Mountain" "On the Hills and Everywhere" "Old Devlins Was A-Waitin'" "Nine Yards of Other Cloth" "Trill Coster's Burden" "The Spring" "Owls Hoot in the Daytime" "Can These