Chapter 15 Summary

The sorn invites Ransom into the cave. Ransom is surprised to find he is not afraid of the sorn, and enters the warm cave. He asks the sorn if he is Augray, and the sorn answers that he is.

Ransom looks closely at Augray and determines the sorn is not as frightening as he imagined. It has elongated features, small eyes and is covered with a light-colored feathery coat. Augray offers Ransom some vegetables and cheese, which, he explains, comes from the milk of a yellow grazing animal which young sorns herd in the forests. Ransom realizes his earlier encounter with the giraffe-like creatures in the forest must have been these same animals. The sorn which came after them was not chasing Ransom after all, he realizes, but was simply a shepherd.

Ransom questions the sorn about the social structure of Malacandra, asking...