Sunday, September 21, 2014

238 Quiz Answer

Birnam Wood, a forest near Birnam in Perthshire, Scotland. In Shakespeare's play 'Macbeth', Macbeth is told that he will only be defeated when Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane. Later, his enemy's army comes through Birnam Wood and each soldier cuts a large branch to hide himself, so that when the army moves on it looks as if the wood is moving.

(Also for Three Word Wednesday and ABC Wednesday:"K" is for "Karma")

I wrote the following more or less adequate scenelet, thinking it might remind you of a well-known play.  What play?

I call it the big R.

That’s for Remembering.

And that’s what I try to avoid because it belongs to the dim borderlines of the past; it implicates me in what I have done. Instead, I think of now. I think of my new life.


Living in a castle now.  Just imagine.

Such style.  Such elegance.  In a way I feel almost like a parasite, living in a castle and forgetting all about the big R, the Remembering.  It’s my wonderful new life.  It's karma.

The problem is, anyone can take a castle. So let me assure you: this is more. It’s a fortress.
 

And a fortress is – what is the word I want? Unassailable? Impregnable? Yes, that’s it! Impregnable! Safe. Secure.

That’s what I thought. That’s what I believed. Until...

The day came that I glanced out toward the horizon, as I do every day. I saw nothing. Nothing different. There are trees out there, masses of them, not much else.

Then the Thing happened. The thing happened that could not happen.

In the long twisted history of man, in the explosive millenia since humankind first emerged from that alluvial mud, surely such a thing has never before taken place.

All those trees, they - began to move!

They moved toward me!

I thought for a while that my mind too was in a state of collapse. Hallucination, illusion, surely that must be it! But my mind was not broken; it was clear. I had thought, I had cerebration, I had reason. I could see and understand what was happening.

Even though it could not be happening.

But there they were, all those trees moving as one body, progressing slowly but inexorably toward me.

However, I was in my impregnable fortress.  Safe.

Safe..?
 

The answer will be posted Saturday.

 

33 comments:

Ginny Brannan said...

I read with great interest this tale you spun. Loved the images of the castle. Have no idea which play!

Theresa Milstein said...

I don't know this well-known play, but now I want to!

Eddie Bluelights said...

MacBeth.

Burnham Wood is moving and a man untimely ripped from his mother's womb will kill him - I'd love to write an alternative version where MacBeth refuses to die . . . . lol

Berowne said...

Eddie Bluelights is the first with the correct answer.

Magaly Guerrero said...

Love the idea of a person about to be overtaken by something as majestic as a walking forest, but still holding on to the notion of being "impregnable." But nope; I have no idea what the answer might be. ;-(

I'll be back later to learn something new...

naturgesetz said...

The Scotch Play, i.e., Macbeth.

Berowne said...

Naturgesetz also has the right answer.

Gail said...

Again you have me stumps. I did think of High Hopes late in the night.

I'm not very good at these puzzles. My personal hard drive takes too long to boot up. They are enjoyable and do make me think.

Thank for stopping by to comment.

Kathe W. said...

Oh my...malevolent trees....so intriguing. I have no clue! Dang!

Altonian said...

Two immediate thoughts on this one:
It could be the Ents, attacking Saruman's stronghold in L O T R; or it could be Dunsinane forest investing Macbeth's castle, in Shakespeare's Macbeth. I'll go with Macbeth, I think.

Berowne said...

Latest with the right answer: Altonian.

Truedessa said...

Well, I read this twice trying to decipher which play but, I am a bit lost. I loved the pictures and the concept behind the words. Sounds a bit like Hamlet.

Silent Otto said...

Ah..the illusion of solidity ...in reality , the stones of the fortress are evey moment wearing away , diminishing , so that in a hundred thousan years there will just be a mound of rocks , and a million years there will be dirt, everything changing state , energy flowing , never constant ...everything at different rates , just the illusion of solidity , dispelled by your magical piece

Kate said...

Good ole Wil and Macbeth!!

Berowne said...

Kate is another with the correct answer...

Kate said...

Did I not send you Will's Macbeth and Birnham Wood?

Roger Owen Green said...

Not getting it. Does remind me of those nasty trees in The Wizard of Oz who threw apples, but only their arms moved.

ROG, ABCW

Hildred said...

I guess that would be MacBeth and here comes the army...

21 Wits said...

Movingly stumped indeed! I know the castle as being, Bodiam Castle, but I have no idea on the famous play.

Berowne said...

Congrats to Hildred, also with the right answer.

ChrisJ said...

The only play I know with a moving forest is "Macbeth". I'm pretty well up on literary questions, but NOT modern literature

SilverGardenia said...

I liked the castle pictures, and the speaker's overconfidence. It's Macbeth, right?

ChrisJ said...

I have a bad feeling my comment didn't go through again. I have a bad habit of forgetting to sign in. Anyway, here's my guess again .... "Macbeth"

Berowne said...

ChrisJ was right, twice, and SilverGardenia also had the correct answer.

Ornery Owl of Naughty Netherworld Press and Readers Roost said...

I can't say I know, but I like the way you tell it.

Tess Kincaid said...

Beautifully written Mr. B...all that comes to mind is Camelot...

Berowne said...

A compliment indeed, Tess; thanks.

Sheilagh Lee said...

It reminds me of a scene from Lord of the rings

Rallentanda said...

Ha..you gave it away with the tree reference. Mayhem and murder in this one with a particularly vicious woman and a few ugly hags as well... say no more:)

I studied this one at school and it is always associated with getting sunstroke for me as I was
reading it in the ferocious midday sun.

Berowne said...

Another right answer, this one from Rallentanda.

Leslie: said...

This is from Macbeth when the attackers hid behind cut trees to disguise themselves as they approached the castle.

Berowne said...

Leslie, almost at the last minute, has produced the correct answer.

Amrit Sinha said...

Macbeth ... one of my favorites :-)

 
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