In Poul Anderson's
The Day Of Their Return, Aycharaych, the Chereionite telepath working for Merseia, manipulates the Aenean shoe-maker Jaan by imposing on his brain a false personality that is supposedly the returned Ancient, Caruith. Thus, Jaan becomes a (false) "prophet." When Aycharaych's deception has been exposed, Jaan remains schizophrenic, conducting an internal dialogue with the fictional Caruith. When he inwardly asks for help, only Caruith answers. However, the answer is without:
Dido, the morning star;
the sudden Aenean dawn;
light everywhere;
whistles;
wings;
fragrance;
banners;
trumpets.
When Jaan goes to seek the help of men:
"He had never known before how steep the upward path was." (
Captain Flandry, p. 238)
This is true both physically and spiritually.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
The way Aycharaych deceived and duped Jaan, imposing a false personality on his own, has to be one of the cruelest things ever done by the Chereionite. But, then Jaan was only an instrument in Aychraych's scheme for triggering a jihad that would have left the Empire "convulsed and shattered."
And I agree with your last sentence.
\
Sean
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