ambiguities...

[Scott Badger]

R Wilson:

>"... The true king only dies a mock death. Remember. Any number of young
men may
>be selected to die in his place while the real king, foxy old bastard, goes
on.
>Will he show up under the Star, slyly genuflecting with the other kings as
this
>winter solstice draws on us? Bring to the serai gifts of tungsten, cordite,
>high-octane? Will the child gaze up from his ground of golden straw then,
gaze
>into the eyes of the old king who bends long and unfurling overhead, leans
to
>proffer his gift, will the eyes meet, and what message, what possible
greeting
>or entente will flow between the king and the infant prince? Is the baby
>smiling, or is it just gas? Which do you want it to be?"
>-- GR 131.19-29


The ritualistic sacrifice of the king (involving stand-ins) is much
discussed in Graves' _White Goddess_.  A common pre-Christian celebration of
the (seasonal) cycle of death and re-birth.  A cycle echoed, in this
passage, by the death of the older myths re-born as (not destroyed by, but
co-opted into) the new cult of Christianity.  Does "gifts of tungsten,
cordite, high-octane'" suggest, then, a similar transition from religion to
technology?

Scott