Introducing The Old Phoenix

A Midsummer Tempest, vii.

I am not going to get into the mythology of magic rings except to mention that Oberon and Titania give such rings to Rupert and Jennifer. I watched Wagner's Ring Cycle in its entirety on TV but only because it was possible to follow the story in the English subtitles.

Puck tells Rupert:

"'...to speak of inns and such - My friend, if sorely pressed for shelter, think of this. There is a tavern known as the old Phoenix, which none may see or enter who're not touched by magic in some way. It flits about, but maybe ye can use his ring to find it, or even draw a door toward yourselves....'" (pp. 55-56)

This is the first mention of the Old Phoenix. See also:

First Appearances And First Meetings
Notes On "House Rule"
A Midsummer Tempest X.

Anderson wrote:

"That inn beyond every world, the Old Phoenix, first appeared in my Shakespearean fantasy novel A Midsummer Tempest. Elsewhere I have acknowledged 'its relationship to works by John Kendrick Bangs, Charles Erskine Scott Wood, Hendrik Willem van Loon, Lord Dunsany, Edmond Hamilton, and others, as well as the origin of all in a common daydream.'"
-Poul Anderson, "House Rule" IN Anderson, The Armies Of Elfland (New York, 1992), pp. 64-76 AT p. 64.

There is much scope for googling here but this time I will leave it to blog readers. John Kendrick Bangs wrote about a Houseboat on the Styx which Alan Moore incorporated into his Promethea series. (Scroll down.)