The King’s perspective

  If you read Colleen Hoover’s book, Without Merit, I’m pretty sure you would have come across this story, The King’s perspective. This story narrates:

“There is a story of a King, and this story is very true. Some say it’s just a rumor; some say it’s just a ruse. They called the man King Flip, but that wasn’t really his name. His name was Filipileetus, but that’s too hard to say.

King Flip had a penchant for a really expensive things. He liked anything shiny, and anything with bling. He had this nicest castle out of all the lands. But that didn’t stop him from wanting one even more grand.

So he bought a town called Perspective. And made the people build him a castle at the top of their highest mountain. He didn’t care if it was hassle.

When the work was finally done, he decided to go inspect it. But when he arrived in the town of Perspective, it was exactly as he’d left it. He couldn’t find a castle; it wasn’t on the mountain; it wasn’t on the beach; it wasn’t on the mainland.

He immediately grew angry, and sought his just revenge on all those who had fooled him. On the town, his army did descend. When the people were all dead, a red cardinal then appeared. “King Flip, what have you done? You killed good people, I do fear.”

King Flip tried to explain that the town deserved to die, for his castle was never built, or he would see it with his own eyes. The bird said, “But king, you merely assumed. You didn’t even try to look from a different perspective. Don’t just look from your own two eyes.”

The bird then led him over to where the castle should surely be. He then moved aside a boulder, and King Flip fell to his knees. For inside the mountain was the castle. The most magnificent one ever built. King Flip couldn’t believe his eyes. He quickly became wrecked with guilt. He had killed so many people. People he should have protected. Simply because he couldn’t see the castle from their perspective.

“Hide their bodies!” King Flip yelled. “Hide every last one! Put them inside the mountain. And then close those doors for good!” The king’s army hid the bodies, and King Flip fled the land. He went back to his old castle and never spoke of Perspective again.

Some say this story isn’t true; some say the town never existed. But look at any map and you’ll see there is no longer a town called Perspective.”

the room - vladimir nabokov

  

the room - vladimir nabokov

The Room
by Vladimir Nabokov

The room a dying poet took
at nightfall in a dead hotel
had both directories -- the Book
of Heaven and the Book of Bell.

It had a mirror and a chair,
it had a window and a bed,
its ribs let in the darkness where
rain glistened and a shopsign bled.

Not tears, not terror, but a blend
of anonymity and doom,
it seemed, that room, to condescend
to imitate a normal room.

Whenever some automobile
subliminally slit the night,
the walls and ceiling would reveal
a wheeling skeleton of light.

Soon afterwards the room was mine.
A similar striped cageling, I
groped for the lamp and found the line
"Alone, unknown, unloved, I die"

in pencil, just above the bed.
It had a false quotation air.
Was it a she, wild-eyed, well-read,
or a fat man with thinning hair?

I asked a gentle Negro maid,
I asked a captain and his crew,
I asked the night clerk. Undismayed,
I asked a drunk. Nobody knew.

Perhaps when he had found the switch
he saw the picture on the wall
and cursed the red eruption which
tried to be maples in the fall?

Artistically in the style
of Mr. Churchill at his best,
those maples marched in double file
from Glen Lake to Restricted Rest.

Perhaps my text is incomplete.
A poet's death is, after all,
a question of technique, a neat
enjambment, a melodic fall.

And here a life had come apart
in darkness, and the room had grown
a ghostly thorax, with a heart
unknown, unloved -- but not alone.

Leviticus 9:1–11:47

 Leviticus 9:1–11:47

English Standard Version

The Lord Accepts Aaron’s Offering

9 rOn the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel, 2 and he said to Aaron, s“Take for yourself a bull calf for a sin offering and ta ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish, and offer them before the Lord. 3 And say to the people of Israel, u‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both a year old without blemish, for a burnt offering, 4 and an ox and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the Lord, and va grain offering mixed with oil, for wtoday the Lord will appear to you.’ ” 5 And they brought what Moses commanded in front of the tent of meeting, and all the congregation drew near and stood before the Lord. 6 And Moses said, “This is the thing that the Lord commanded you to do, that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.” 7 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Draw near to the altar and xoffer your sin offering and your burnt offering and ymake atonement for yourself and for the people, and bring the offering of the people and make atonement for them, as the Lord has commanded.”

8 So Aaron drew near to the altar and killed the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself. 9 zAnd the sons of Aaron presented the blood to him, and he dipped his finger in the blood and aput it on the horns of the altar and poured out the blood at the base of the altar. 10 bBut the fat and the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver from the sin offering he burned on the altar, cas the Lord commanded Moses. 11 dThe flesh and the skin he burned up with fire outside the camp.

12 Then he killed the burnt offering, and Aaron’s sons handed him the blood, and he ethrew it against the sides of the altar. 13 fAnd they handed the burnt offering to him, piece by piece, and the head, and he burned them on the altar. 14 gAnd he washed the entrails and the legs and burned them with the burnt offering on the altar.

15 hThen he presented the people’s offering and took the goat of the sin offering that was for the people and killed it and ioffered it as a sin offering, jlike the first one. 16 And he presented the burnt offering and offered it kaccording to the lrule. 17 And he presented the mgrain offering, took a handful of it, and burned it on the altar, nbesides the burnt offering of the morning.

18 Then he killed the ox and the ram, othe sacrifice of peace offerings for the people. And Aaron’s sons handed him the blood, and he threw it against the sides of the altar. 19 But the fat pieces of the ox and of the ram, the fat tail and that which covers pthe entrails and the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver— 20 they put the fat pieces on the breasts, qand he burned the fat pieces on the altar, 21 but the breasts and the right thigh Aaron waved rfor a wave offering before the Lord, as Moses commanded.

22 Then Aaron slifted up his hands toward the people and tblessed them, and he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. 23 And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and uthe glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. 24 And vfire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, wthey shouted and xfell on their faces.

The Death of Nadab and Abihu

10 Now yNadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, zeach took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered aunauthorized1 fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. 2 And fire bcame out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among cthose who are near me dI will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ ” eAnd Aaron held his peace.

4 And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of fUzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, “Come near; carry your brothers away from the front of the sanctuary and out of the camp.” 5 So they came near and carried them in their coats out of the camp, as Moses had said. 6 And Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his sons, g“Do not let the hair of your heads hang loose, and do not tear your clothes, lest you die, and hwrath come upon all the congregation; but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning that the Lord has kindled. 7 iAnd do not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting, lest you die, jfor the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you.” And they did according to the word of Moses.

8 And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, 9 k“Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. 10 You are to ldistinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, 11 and myou are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses.”

12 Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his surviving sons: “Take the ngrain offering that is left of the Lord’s food offerings, and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for oit is most holy. 13 You shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your due and your sons’ due, from the Lord’s food offerings, for pso I am commanded. 14 But the qbreast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed you shall eat in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you, for they are given as your due and your sons’ due from the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the people of Israel. 15 rThe thigh that is contributed and the breast that is waved they shall bring with the food offerings of the fat pieces to wave for a wave offering before the Lord, and it shall be yours and your sons’ with you as a due forever, as the Lord has commanded.”

16 Now Moses diligently inquired about sthe goat of the sin offering, and behold, it was burned up! And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the surviving sons of Aaron, saying, 17 t“Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, since oit is a thing most holy and has been given to you that you may bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord? 18 Behold, uits blood was not brought into the inner part of the sanctuary. You certainly ought to have eaten it in the sanctuary, vas I commanded.” 19 And Aaron said to Moses, “Behold, wtoday they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, and yet such things as these have happened to me! If I had eaten the sin offering today, xwould the Lord have approved?” 20 And when Moses heard that, he approved.

Clean and Unclean Animals

11 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, yThese are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. 3 Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. 4 Nevertheless, among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you shall not eat these: The camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. 5 And the zrock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. 6 And the hare, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. 7 And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, ais unclean to you. 8 You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.

9 “These you may eat, of all that are in the waters. Everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. 10 But anything in the seas or the rivers that does not have fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is bdetestable to you. 11 You shall regard them as detestable; you shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses. 12 Everything in the waters that does not have fins and scales is detestable to you.

13 “And these you shall detest among the birds;1 they shall not be eaten; they are bdetestable: cthe eagle,2 the bearded vulture, the black vulture, 14 the kite, dthe falcon of any kind, 15 every raven of any kind, 16 the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the ehawk of any kind, 17 the flittle owl, the cormorant, the gshort-eared owl, 18 the barn owl, the htawny owl, the carrion vulture, 19 the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and ithe bat.

20 “All winged insects that go on all fours are detestable to you. 21 Yet among the winged insects that go on all fours you may eat those that have jointed legs above their feet, with which to hop on the ground. 22 Of them you may eat: jthe locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, and the grasshopper of any kind. 23 But all other winged insects that have four feet are detestable to you.

24 “And by these you shall become unclean. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening, 25 and whoever carries any part of their carcass kshall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. 26 Every animal that parts the hoof but is not cloven-footed or does not chew the cud is unclean to you. Everyone who touches them shall be unclean. 27 And all that walk on their paws, among the animals that go on all fours, are unclean to you. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening, 28 and he who carries their carcass kshall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean to you.

29 “And these are unclean to you among the swarming things that swarm on the ground: the mole rat, lthe mouse, the great lizard of any kind, 30 the gecko, the monitor lizard, the lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon. 31 These are unclean to you among all that swarm. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until the evening. 32 …