We know from the Bible, from mythologies and from screen adaptations of prose fictions that stories come in different versions. "Everyone knows" that Aphrodite rose from the sea foam but Homer didn't know it. He presented her as a daughter of Zeus. Then Plato differentiated between a heavenly Aphrodite and an earthly Aphrodite. Mythology and literature affect philosophy. A man in the Hindu Temple in Preston told us that there are different versions of the story of how Ganesh got an elephant head. Of course.
Poul Anderson presents two accounts of Yggdrasil, two versions of his Kith future history and two accounts of the fate of Ys after its inundation. In The King Of Ys (with Karen Anderson), Ys is not only submerged but also completely demolished so that no memory of the fabulous city will remain whereas, in The Broken Sword, "...the drowned towers of Ys..." remain visible to elf-sight.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And you reminded me of King Manasseh of Judah, whose reign is recorded in 2 Kings 21.1-18 and 2 Chronicles 33.1-19. The account in Kings gives an unrelievedly dark portrait of Manasseh as the most wicked of the Jewish kings, one whose idolatry and apostasy led directly to the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BC. But the report in Chronicles contradicts this, saying King Manasseh repented and was restored to his kingdom by YHWH after the Assyrians arrested him and led him off to Assyria in chains (and with a hook thru the nose).
Which is true? Both could be! I can well see Manasseh, as a submissive vassal of Assyria, forcing the worship of pagan goes on Judah. And, if he was indeed arrested, repented, and was restored, an aging Manasseh could have turned back to the worship of the true God.
Ad astra! Sean
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