The Sword of Song

i “YOU are s ad!”! the Knight s aid, in an anxious tone: “let me sing y ou a song to comfort you.”* “Is it very long?” Alice asked. “It’s long,” said the Knight, but it’s very very beautiful. The name of the song is called ‘The Book of the Beast.’ ” “Oh! how ugly” cried Alice. “Never m ind,” s aid the mild creature. “Some people call it ‘Reason in Rhyme.’ ” “But which is the name of the song?” Alice said, trying not to seem too interested. “Ah, you don’t understand,” the Knight said, looking a little vexed. “That’s what the name is called. The nam e really is ‘Ascension Day and Pentecost; with some Prose Essay s and an Epilogue,’ just as the title is ‘The Sword of Song’ y ou know, just in the sam e way, just in the sam e way, just in the same way . . .” Alice put her fingers in her ears and gave a little scream . “ Oh, dear me! That’s * This passage is a parody on one in “Alice through the Looking-Glass.” harder than ever!” s he s aid to hers elf, and then, looking determ inedly intelligent: “So that’s what the song is called. I see. But what is the song?” “You must be a perfect fool,” said the Knight, irritably . “The song is called ‘Stout Doubt; or the Agnostic Anthology ,’ by the author of ‘Gas Manipulation,’ ‘Solu- tions,’ ‘The Management of Retorts,’ and other physical works of the first order—but that’s only what it’s called, you know.” “Well, wha t is the song then?” said Alice, who was by this tim e completely be- wildered. “If I wished to be obscure, child,” said the Knight, rather contemptuously, “I should tell you that the Name of the Title was ‘What a man of 95 ought to know,’ as endorsed by eminent divines, and that . . .” Seeing that she only begin to cry , he broke off and con- tinued in a gentler tone: “ it means, my dear . . .” He stopped short, for she was taking no notice; but as her figure was bent by sobs into som ething very like a note of in- terrogation: “You want to know what it is, CALLED BY CH E BOOK OF THE BEAST 1904 TO MY OLD FRIEND AND COMRADE IN THE ART BHIKKU ANANDA METTEYA AND TO THOSE FOOLS WHO BY THEIR SHORT-SIGHTED STUPIDITY IN ATTEMPTING TO BOYCOTT THIS BOOK HAVE WITLESSLY AIDED THE CAUSE OF TRUTH I DEDICATE THESE MY BEST WORDS. [This book is so full of recondite knowledge of va rious kinds that it seems quite ineffective to annotate every obscure passage. Where refere nces and explanations can be concisely given this has been done.] SWORD OF SONG