Optimism

[jack]

I was leaning on my spear in front of the stables when two other guards dragged a wrinkled long haired ragged clothed old man out of the palace. He seemed to take the whole thing with an air of amused resignation. I pulled myself to attention and asked what they were doing.

"This here's a most famous musician, mystic and scholar,isn't he, Clive?" said Phred.

"Wake up, Buddha!" said Clive, hauling the arm he held forward.

Phred let go, and the man sprawled forward, landing cross legged on the floor. But he just sat there, as if as comfortable as he'd ever been. "I am not a Buddha."

"Johnny seems a right ascetic, doesn't he?"

"So what was he doing in the King's Daughter's bed?"

I couldn't resist. "Teaching her to find Nirvana?" I asked. The man smiled, but said nothing.

"What *is* he doing here?"

"He was going to be exceuted," said Phred.

"But he promised the king a great gift," said Clive.

"He's going to teach the King's horse to sing. He has a year."

"Good luck!" Clive and Phred both laughed. "Keep him here," added Clive. "We'll see you both in a year!"

I looked down at him. "It's impossible. You're going to be killed anyway."

"But I have a year of life now that I didn't have before. And a lot of things can happen in a year. The king might die. The horse might die. I might die. And, who knows? Maybe the horse will sing."

"Do you really think that?"

"To a properly organised mind, all things are possible."

"You *do* sound like a Buddha. A caged Buddha."

"But I do not yet aspire so high."

"So what do I call you? Johnny?"

"Call me John. John Caged, if you will. And I say to you, I hear the horse singing now."

His character is not based in any way on the real person's. The original story stopped at the 'Maybe the horse will sing' line. In Mote in God's Eye it was attributed to Herodotus, but I can't find any evidence of that. Yes, it is a shaggy dog story, you expected different?'"

Comments

[ptc24.livejournal.com]

I was always a bit amused by John Cage, the composer, and Johnny Cage, the character in Mortal Kombat who had a move called the "package check".

[rochvelleth.livejournal.com]

I've heard it before... but not in Herodotus. Of course, I've yet to read *all* of Herodotus. But it sounds much more Arabian Nightsy than western, doesn't it?

[ewx.livejournal.com]

This version features a character called Nasrudin, which does point in that direction. Sadly it fails to say where it came from. Here's a Chinese-flavoured version and another person pondering the source (and also mentioned the claims of an origin in Herodotus). Ooh, and this page explicitly attributes it to the Arabian Nights, but here someone says it's too short for that (is it? I've no idea...)

An Arabian Nights origin is at least in principle checkable.

[sunflowerinrain.livejournal.com]

What I've read is that it doesn't appear in Herodotus and no-one knows where it came from so Pournelle may have invented it.

Your introduction of Cage has merged this story with a memory of a robotic horse (was it in Harrison's Men from R.O.B.O.T?) and I now have a disturbing image of a prepared equine.