Thank you. It's an older one; I was very glad it finally found a home.
I hate missing references.
Sorry; it's a riddle one character asks another in Patricia McKillip's Heir of Sea and Fire, one of the books I love.
"I don't know." She dropped her chin in her palms. "I don't know why he wants us all home now. I don't understand him. I asked him why I couldn't leave, and he asked me why Thanet Ross played a harp with no strings."
"Who?" Duac looked at her. "How could . . . Why did he play a harp with no strings?"
"For the same reason he walked backward and shaved his head instead of his beard. For no reason except that there was no reason. He was a sad man and died backward."
"Oh."
"He was walking backward for no reason and fell in a river. Nobody ever saw him again, but they assumed he died since there was no reason—"
"All right." Duac protested mildly. "You could spin that one into yarn."
She smiled. "See what education you missed, not being destined to marry a riddle-master."
It's the second in a trilogy, the others being The Riddle-Master of Hed and Harpist in the Wind. I recommend them highly.
It was a fleeting thing, and more shadow than substance.
no subject
Thank you. It's an older one; I was very glad it finally found a home.
I hate missing references.
Sorry; it's a riddle one character asks another in Patricia McKillip's Heir of Sea and Fire, one of the books I love.
"I don't know." She dropped her chin in her palms. "I don't know why he wants us all home now. I don't understand him. I asked him why I couldn't leave, and he asked me why Thanet Ross played a harp with no strings."
"Who?" Duac looked at her. "How could . . . Why did he play a harp with no strings?"
"For the same reason he walked backward and shaved his head instead of his beard. For no reason except that there was no reason. He was a sad man and died backward."
"Oh."
"He was walking backward for no reason and fell in a river. Nobody ever saw him again, but they assumed he died since there was no reason—"
"All right." Duac protested mildly. "You could spin that one into yarn."
She smiled. "See what education you missed, not being destined to marry a riddle-master."
It's the second in a trilogy, the others being The Riddle-Master of Hed and Harpist in the Wind. I recommend them highly.
It was a fleeting thing, and more shadow than substance.
That sounds like an allusion itself . . .