MD3PAD 19-21

[Toby G Levy]

        The Learned English Dog finishes his song and people call out
"requests."  The first asks if the Dog knows "Where the Bee Sucks?" This
is a quote from Shakespeare's "The Tempest" spoken by Ariel after he is
set free by Prospero.  The next request is "What is the integral of One
over (Book) d (Book)?" This translates out to log(book).  What any of
this
means in the context of the novel escapes me.

        The Dog recognizes Mason and tells Mason to meet him outside.
Mason wraps up the remains of his meal to give to the Dog.

vw#4: Metempsychosis - transmigration of souls; reincarnation.

        Dixon observes that Mason is acting like a person who has
recently lost a loved one.

        On  page 20 we find a very Pynchonian pun: "Suture Self, as the
Medical students like to say."

        Mason and Dixon go outside and locate the dog. While following
the dog down the street, they are accosted by a sailor from The Seahorse
who somehow recognizes them as upcoming passengers. He identifies
himself as Fender-Belly Bodine, clearly an earlier incarnation of the
Pig Bodine that figures prominently in Pynchon's other novels.

        Bodine thinks he is being helpful by saying that he and his
mates will snatch up the dog and hide him on the ship until they reach
an island where they would make money by showing off a talking dog.
Mason and Dixon both reject the idea.

        The dog gets Mason's attention and warns him that they may not
have another chance to talk to each other.

Toby