GRGR(28): The Mandrake Root

[Jeremy Osner]

The story of the mandrake root (p. 625) -- is it a parable of the
dawning of capitalism? That seems like a plausible explanation (if one
is needed) to me -- from death (of the prisoner and of the dog) comes
the root-of-all-evil which introduces the concept of inflation -- the
fledgeling beaurocrats of the CIA are interested right away (and look at
the linkage between sorcery, hierarchy, capital, and espionage). Any
other thoughts here? Note that the dog's death is purely gratuitous --
the sorcerer could have plugged up his ears and pulled the root himself,
no? or plugged up the dog's ears...

Jeremy