On Oct 26, 8:30 am, marc.ged....domain.name.hidden wrote:
> Ever read the short story of 'Green Magic'?
No I hadn't, but thanks for the link, marc - it's a neat little tale,
delightfully told. I'm tempted to try a little more of Jack Vance
after this - any suggestions?
David
On Oct 26, 8:30 am, marc.ged....domain.name.hidden wrote:
> Danny,
>
> The depressed people are the sane ones. My post is merely
> 'existential angst' caused by knowledge of the world and myself as I
> really am.With knowledge comes unhappiness and happiness is the
> happiness of ignorance.
>
> Ever read the short story of 'Green Magic'? That story is available
> on-line:http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/green.htm
>
> I am like 'Howard Fair' and I suffered the same fate in the story that
> he did.
>
> ---
>
> "Where do you go?" Fair asked in wonder and longing. "May I go with
> you?"
>
> The sprite, swirling a drape of bright green dust over its shoulders,
> shook his head. "You would be less than comfortable."
>
> "Other men have explored the worlds of magic!"
>
> "True: your uncle Gerald McIntyre, for instance."
>
> "My uncle Gerald learned green magic?"
>
> "To the limit of his capabilities. He found no pleasure in his
> learning. You would do well to profit by his experience and modify
> your ambitions." The sprite turned and walked away.
>
> ----
>
> Jaadian assented. "You have not accepted my advice."
>
> Fair shrugged. "You asked me to remain ignorant, to accept my
> stupidity and ineptitude."
>
> "And why should you not?" asked Jaadian gently. "You are a primitive
> in a primitive realm; nevertheless not one man in a thousand can match
> your achievements."
>
> Fair agreed, smiling faintly. "But knowledge creates a craving for
> further knowledge. Where is the harm in knowledge?"
>
> ----
>
> By stages so gradual he never realized them he learned green magic.
>
> But the new faculty gave him no pride: between his crude ineptitudes
> and the poetic elegance of the sprites remained a tremendous gap, and
> he felt his innate inferiority much more keenly than he ever had in
> his old state. Worse, his most earnest efforts failed to improve his
> technique, and sometimes, observing the singing joy of an improvised
> manifestation by one of the sprites, and contrasting it to his own
> labored constructions, he felt futility and shame.
>
> ----
>
> In one terrible bittersweet spasm, he gave up. He found Jaadian
> weaving tinkling fragments of various magics into a warp of shining
> long splines. With grave courtesy, Jaadian gave Fair his attention,
> and Fair laboriously set forth his meaning.
>
> Jaadian returned a message. "I recognize your discomfort, and extend
> my sympathy. It is best that you now return to your native home."
>
> -----
>
> Howard Fair sat in his apartment. His perceptions, augmented and
> sharpened by his sojourn in the green realm, took note of the
> surroundings. Only two hours before, by the clocks of Earth, he had
> found them both restful and stimulating; now they were neither. His
> books: superstition, spuriousness, earnest nonsense. His private
> journals and workbooks: a pathetic scrawl of infantilisms. Gravity
> tugged at his feet, held him rigid. The shoddy construction of the
> house, which heretofore he never had noticed, oppressed him.
> Everywhere he looked he saw slipshod disorder, primitive filth. The
> thought of the food he must now eat revolted him.
>
> ----
>
> ... "Sometimes I wish I could abandon all my magic and return to my
> former innocence."
>
> "I have toyed with the idea," McIntyre replied thoughtfully. "In fact
> I have made all the necessary arrangements. It is really a simple
> matter." He led Fair to a small room behind the station. Although the
> door was open, the interior showed a thick darkness.
>
> McIntyre, standing well back, surveyed the darkness with a quizzical
> curl to his lip. "You need only enter. All your magic, all your
> recollections of the green realm will depart. You will be no wiser
> than the next man you meet. And with your knowledge will go your
> boredom, your melancholy, your dissatisfaction."
>
> Fair contemplated the dark doorway. A single step would resolve his
> discomfort.
>
> He glanced at McIntyre; the two surveyed each other with sardonic
> amusement. They returned to the front of the building.
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Received on Fri Oct 26 2007 - 12:02:02 PDT