In a vividly described dusty, cobwebbed, rat-infested Moorish library with a time-grimed sleeping librarian, Rupert tries to find the location of Prospero's island. He reads Ovid's Metamorphoses. Are Ovid's stories of magical transformations literally true in Rupert's timeline? The premise of Rupert's timeline is that Shakespeare's plays are literally true. Therefore, any Ovidian stories referenced by Shakespeare should also be literally true.
Will brings Rupert food and comments on Joshua. Rupert:
"...rolled bread around a slab of meat, and chewed." (p. 167)
Thus, he ate a sandwich before there were sandwiches.
From the Historian's description, the island must be in the western Mediterranean but invisible except from nearby. It might have been Calypso's or Circe's island. (Circe metamorphosed men into animals.)
Prospero's daughter is still Queen Miranda of Naples.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
There must have been many times when people put meat or cheese rolled up or placed between two pieces of bread before "sandwiches" became associated with the Earl of Sandwich in the late 18th century. And Will seems to have brought pocket or pita bread, which would have been even easier to use for "sandwiches." But somehow the concept of "sandwiches" did not become part of popular culture till the late 1700's.
Ad astra! Sean
Pasties (meat and vegetable fillings cooked in a pastry envelope) were common; in the Middle East pita was always used for what we'd call "wraps".
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And in Medieval/Early Modern Europe, loaves of bread could be used as a kind of edible "dish."
Ad astra! Sean
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