The One King's Fool
Jennifer,
I
was most distressed to hear of your recent frustrations.
Ours is, of course, a capricious art.
I may, however, be able to provide some small perspective to your
dilemma.
Obviously,
I lack your own perspective as a student of Skein and the Labyrinth, but I was
intrigued by your description of the wounded bear that hindered your progress.
I was some time pondering over why that image seemed familiar, until I
recalled The Book of Winters and the progress of Berengar Moran out of the
underworld. A great bear pierced by
a spear is the last guardian of the gates leading out of Hell, which Berengar
must best in a contest of riddles before he passes. I confess to more than a little surprise that Jack failed to
mention this when you asked him about it, and even more so that it was not among
the Berengar tales you had already heard from him.
The
significance of the bear is, unsurprisingly, not agreed upon by Berengar
scholars. I seem to recall that
your old master Dario saw it as the conquest of the dying winter, and that
others interpret it as the triumph of civilization over barbarism, both of which
I cannot help but feel are incomplete readings.
In any case, it seems that this is a portent for you, perhaps for all of
us, concerning the One King’s Fool. It
may be that Jack knows something of this he is reluctant to impart; if this is
what it appears to be, I can certainly sympathize. He has certainly waited a very long time for such a sign, and
is unlikely to want to speak too much of it.
Still, any insights you might glean from him would be, to say the least,
advantageous. I wish you the best
of luck in unraveling this mystery, and will continue to provide what assistance
I can should you require it.
Incidentally,
on another subject, I was paid a visit by none other than Zacharias Cleve the
other day, who was in high spirits. He
brought me a gift of the new illustrated edition of his Sanguinaria, which I confess I have not had the time to peruse in
detail, though it is clearly a beautiful book – bound in red leather, with
darkly evocative plates by an artist (Ian Barrett) whose work I have not
previously encountered. Cleve left
with the words, “I continue to find America to be a land of hidden treasures,
even after all this time.” If by
this he meant his gifted collaborator, I can see why.
I wish I had received your missive previous to his visit, though –
Cleve’s scholarship of Berengar lore is most impressive.
Should
you find the time and opportunity, I would very much enjoy a visit from you
sometime soon. It has been far too
long since you last graced my home with your presence.
In
the interim, take care. I hope to
hear from you again soon.
yr
obt. svt,
M. Murdoch
[his sign]