|
FIRST PLACE
King Alexander and the Knot
By James Saint-Cloud
San Rafael, California
333 B.C., Gordia, in what is today
Turkey.
People crowd to see me along the dusty road to Gordia.
Eyes squinting through the wind and sun to see the
Macedonian that has put the Persian king to rout, come
now to encounter their own town’s famous legacy
from King Midas’ time: Rope twisted around a
cart hitch in a ball. Shall anyone untie it? The legend
says all Asia will be his.
Curiosity alone brings me here today. “Make a
detour to see the knot at Gordia,” they urged,
and I almost said no. I shrugged. Asia shall be mine
to rule anyway, I knew. And all the world a knot I
shall unloose.
If I had been alone, it might have been different.
I might have simply looked at the thing, poked about
and laughed and gone again. But there are so many curious
faces now. Hundreds! Filling all the bright windy space.
I have routed Darius once, they know. “Shall
this young king prevail,” the eyes all ask, “Shall
Persia fall to him?” Then no longer Darius but
Alexander shall be ruling them! So much tension, to
see what I will do today. To watch the victorious conqueror
when he shall fail. Shall I curse and weep, they are
wondering, when I have met defeat? Pout? Stamp my feet?
One thing is sure: My failure today is fore-ordained.
No one else has had success. So why should I? It is
a familiar spectacle. This knot is a crafty joke at
the expense of anyone who tries.
Ah. There it is. Large enough. A thick brown endless
snake lying sleeping in a ball. The challenge is to
find its head, the end of it, so cleverly hidden in
its mass. It begins nowhere; it is everywhere en route.
The snake that eats its tail! I kneel to work, prying
the coils apart to search between. How have they concealed
the rope’s end so well? It is a world, like any
other. And I shall master it.
I am lost in my task, until I sense whispering, a great
viper slithering all around. I look up. The people
have begun to make sly comments as they watch, and
curl their mouths. One of them sneers. It bites at
my heart. I stand, to better see who is mocking me.
Yes, a sneer! Faster than thought the lightning from
its sheath is loosed, a slender silver storm that is
meant for him—I step in his direction with my
sword.
The smirk flies away, the serpent disappears into a
hole.
I wheel to look at all these others encircling me.
Startled, they shrink back. Dust and heat rush coiling
to my head. Here I am, my sword up in the air. I must
bring it down somewhere. And I see the knot. The great
brown head bares its fangs at me! My sword comes down
on it, unties its snarl easily. Just as that bright
edge unties all Asia for me now.
Copyright (c) 2003 for the
author, all rights reserved. |
|
