Steven Hunley
05-28-2011, 07:40 PM
Fortune Favors the Bold
By
Steven Hunley
Some stories are good if it’s for History class. But what if it’s for Creative Writing Class? Maybe we could dramatize this Gordian Knot bit.
Here’s what I researched on it:
"Turn him to any cause of policy,
The Gordian Knot of it he will unloose,
Familiar as his garter" , Shakespeare
And,
“When he could not find the end to the knot to unbind it, he sliced it in half with a stroke of his sword, producing the required ends (the so-called "Alexandrian solution"). That night there was a violent thunderstorm. Alexander's prophet Aristander took this as a sign that Zeus was pleased and would grant Alexander many victories. Once Alexander had sliced the knot with a sword-stroke, his biographers claimed in retrospect, that an oracle further prophesied that the one to untie the knot would become the king of Persia.”
Here’s what I came up with:
Alexander searched for the ends of the rope, as any mortal man would have done. Yet try as he may, he grew frustrated and gave up. That night in his tent, he grew restless and out of sorts. The problem would not let him sleep. The heavens reflected his state of mind; its thunder roared and threatened to rip the sky apart. Lightning flashed so close to his tent, it set his gold-eagled standards on fire and filled his nostrils with ozone, which some say is good for thinking. For the Gods were certainly with Alexander.
The next morning, as he was putting on his socks and sandals and tying his garters, one of them broke.
He unsheathed his sword of bright steel. With one stroke he sliced the knot and the ends of the rope fell free. He unraveled a strand and tied up his socks as easily as he would unravel and tie up the Persian armies.
For Alexander was no mere mortal. He had the Alexandrian solution for everything.
Fortune Favors the Bold.
http://youtu.be/coiJThHAcb8
By
Steven Hunley
Some stories are good if it’s for History class. But what if it’s for Creative Writing Class? Maybe we could dramatize this Gordian Knot bit.
Here’s what I researched on it:
"Turn him to any cause of policy,
The Gordian Knot of it he will unloose,
Familiar as his garter" , Shakespeare
And,
“When he could not find the end to the knot to unbind it, he sliced it in half with a stroke of his sword, producing the required ends (the so-called "Alexandrian solution"). That night there was a violent thunderstorm. Alexander's prophet Aristander took this as a sign that Zeus was pleased and would grant Alexander many victories. Once Alexander had sliced the knot with a sword-stroke, his biographers claimed in retrospect, that an oracle further prophesied that the one to untie the knot would become the king of Persia.”
Here’s what I came up with:
Alexander searched for the ends of the rope, as any mortal man would have done. Yet try as he may, he grew frustrated and gave up. That night in his tent, he grew restless and out of sorts. The problem would not let him sleep. The heavens reflected his state of mind; its thunder roared and threatened to rip the sky apart. Lightning flashed so close to his tent, it set his gold-eagled standards on fire and filled his nostrils with ozone, which some say is good for thinking. For the Gods were certainly with Alexander.
The next morning, as he was putting on his socks and sandals and tying his garters, one of them broke.
He unsheathed his sword of bright steel. With one stroke he sliced the knot and the ends of the rope fell free. He unraveled a strand and tied up his socks as easily as he would unravel and tie up the Persian armies.
For Alexander was no mere mortal. He had the Alexandrian solution for everything.
Fortune Favors the Bold.
http://youtu.be/coiJThHAcb8