aliens - Short story,from early 70s where the hero is a bandit

I read this story in the 70s; is about an astronaut running from the law, he crash landed in a "deserted" planet and got badly injured, to the point that he cannot move at all.

Then this small creatures appear and tend to him, learning from him and developing a culture around him.

Later on more humans discover the planet and the creatures and find a statue of the man build by them.

I think Futurama did a sketch about it.

What's the name of the story?

Answer

That's Alan Dean Foster's "Gift of a Useless Man". The protagonist was a petty criminal named Pearson. The insect who made first contact was named Yirn, and one of the plot points was Pearson's surprise at the insects' short life span. He has only been on the asteroid for a few weeks or months, and he mistakes one of the insects for Yirn, when it is actually an insect named Yurn - Yirn's son who has taken over from Yirn because Yirn has died of old age.

Comments

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