The Once and Future King, by Terence Hanbury White. One of the best there is, and is listed amongst my favorites.
The book crossed my mind the other day when someone mentioned something that prompted me to think of those droppings of the Glatisant (a questing beast in the novel). And for 7 painstakingly-long minutes, I incessantly ransacked my brain for that word, and remembered fewmets (FEWMETS!). Oh the ethereal bliss of solving the inevitable I-know-the-word-but-I-can’t-effin’-remember-grrr moments.
Le Glatisant
I was on leave today, and spent the entire day at home. I was checking out blogs on the net, when I came across my old blog, and read a rather riveting entry I had way back. It’s an excerpt from the TH White novel:
This rabbi, went on a journey with the prophet Elijah, they walked all day, and at nightfall they came to the humble cottage of a poor man, whose only treasure was a cow. The poor man ran out of his cottage, and his wife ran too, to welcome the strangers for the night, and to offer them all the simple hospitality which they were able to give in straitened circumstance. Elijah and the rabbi was entertained with plenty of the cow’s milk, sustained by homemade bread and butter, and they were put to sleep in the best bed, while the kindly hosts lay down before the kitchen fire. But in the morning, the poor man’s cow was dead. They walked all the next day, and came that evening to the house of a very wealthy merchant, whose hospitality they craved. The merchant was cold and proud and rich, and all he would do for the prophet and his companion was to lodge them in the cowshed and feed them on bread and water. In the morning, however, Elijah thanked him very much for what he had done, and sent a mason to repair one of his walls, which happened to be falling down, as a return for his kindness. The Rabbi Juchanan, unable to keep silence any longer, begged the holy man to explain the meaning of his dealings with human beings.
“In regard to the poor man who received us so hospitably“, replied the prophet, “it was decreed that his wife was to die that night, but in reward for his goodness, God took the cow instead of his wife. I repaired the wall of the rich miser because a chest of gold was concealed near the place, and if the miser repaired the wall himself he would have discovered the treasure. Say not therefore to the Lord: What doest thou? But say in thy heart: Must not the Lord of all the earth do right?“
I’ve always loved this novel snippet, can’t believe I almost forgot about it.
Will re-read this once am done with Palahniuk’s Fight Club.