Pouch 2: X.R.S. Correspondence



Date:	April 1, 1994
To:	XRS
From:	Costantakos
Re:	CRADLE OF HOPE  (Scroll #805-01-76906)


I've just completed the translation of the scroll I call "Cradle of Hope."
Araham will distribute it to you via the usual channels for review.


It seems here that our mysterious author is creating new mythic figures.
There are references here to Pandora's granddaughter.  I'm not sure I like
him tampering with the established myths.


Evan



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Date:	April 10, 1994
To:	XRS
From:	Covington
Re:	RE:  CRADLE OF HOPE  (Scroll #805-01-76906)



Evan--


"Established myths"!?!  Are you crazy?  You know as well as I do that the
Xena Scrolls date back to about the time Herodotus claimed Homer was
writing.  Unstuff your shirt Evan.  Xena IS a character of the "established
myths."  We just didn't know about her until now.


Enough said -- so onto your translation:


In your own classical way, I think you've found the voice of the Xena
Scrolls. Obviously, they're written in prose, but there is a poetry here.
You've captured this so well:


"'...There is truth in your dreams,' reads Cynara from the golden stones,
'Your Lordship, there is indeed a child in your future.'  But Gregor, the
caring king; Gregor, blinded by the loss of his only son and wife, could
not see with the ... eyes of the old woman.  The only child for him was his
infant son, dead these many [months].  'But this child in not of your
line,' spake the prophet, 'Born on the equinox, he is a child in your
possession.'"


And you've done a wonderful job keeping the alliteration:


"'The child will speak as you speak; will walk as you walk; will sit where
you sit and will wear what you wear.' went the prophesy."


And who could be more beautiful than Pandora's Granddaughter?


"Her hair, as golden as the Sun, seemed to create a light all it's own.
Her eyes matched that sun with the blue of the sky itself.  Yet, she
carried a heavy load in her small wooden box.  Light enough on the outside;
inside, it weighed heavy on her heart."


Of course, the original author is to have most of the credit, but Evan --
I'm impressed.  I didn't think you had it in you!


Janice.



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Date:	April 12, 1994
To:	XRS
From:	Costantakos
Re:	Having it in me...


Janice,


A compliment?  From you!?!


Seriously, thank you.  I've always held your work with great esteem, and
consider it an honor to have your praise.  Even if you are wrong about
which myths are established and which are not.  If you'd read my books,
you'd know!


Evan.



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Date:	May 1, 1994
To:	XRS
From:	Mad Marvin
Re:	I'VE FOUND HER!


The woman of Poteidaia has a name!!


While in this part of the world I decided to take a run up to the Xena
Scrolls excavation site.  Sort of, visit the home office, right?  Well
today, they uncover a new set of scrolls -- or "scroll" I should say.  At
first we didn't think it was one of the Xena Scrolls.  Probably just
another ancient rental agreement or legal babbling.  I mean, it's on
parchment not papyrus, and the handwriting is completely different than the
other scrolls.


But I couldn't wait to get a look at it.  [The archeologists] broke all of
their own excavations rules to let me at it.  The first line is torn for
the most part, but does read:


"...Gabrielle of Poteidaia, Best Friend of Xena: Warrior Princess, sometime
adventurer with Hercules, and ..."  The rest is torn.


And that's all they would let me read in the field.  They had to measure
and photograph and preserve the rest.  I can't wait to get at it!


But who wrote THIS scroll?  Why is it separate?  Why is Gabrielle mentioned
here by name and nowhere else?  What does Hercules have to do with it?
Mysteries, man, mysteries.

Mad Marvin in Macedonia
Close to Mother Xena.



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Date:	May 2, 1994
To:	XRS
From:	Covington
Re:	Gabrielle


That's great, Marvin!  "Gabrielle."  Xena's traveling partner has a name.
I've been saying it all day to myself:  "Gabrielle, this" and "Gabrielle
that" just to get used to the sound of it.  That is really great!


And the Hercules reference is incredible!  This discovery definitely means
we've found a lost character of classic Greek Mythology.


I'm so excited!!!


Janice.



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Date:	May 2, 1994
To:	XRS
From:	Costantakos
Re:	She has a name!



Wow!  That's great!


But who wrote this scroll?  To whom do we owe the gratitude?  Besides
Marvin and [archeologist], of course.  And Hercules!?!


To quote an old Haight-Ashbury linguist I know, "Mysteries, man,
mysteries."


Evan.



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Date:	May 5, 1994
To:	XRS
From:	Hasson
Re:	Gabrielle and Art History



Marvin and I drank much wine and celebrated some wonderful discoveries --
Gabrielle among them!  We met with [name deleted], his Art Restoration
friend, and were able to make out some faint images from scroll number
805-01-76911.  Marvin is working on the specific translation, but a quick
scan of the text points to Gabrielle carrying "The mighty staff," which
gives us a whole new insight on our Poteidaian friend.  Most of the section
seems to be a description by an Amazon warrior on how to kill a Centaur
with a fighting staff.


Marvin wants to call this scroll "Hooves and Harlots."  See what you've
started, Evan?


Hasson.



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Date:	May 10, 1994
To:	XRS
From:	Mad Marvin
Re:	The Author!


Check this out!  I just read it on the parchment scroll:


"Father:  I've just had read to me the memories and stories of..."  There's
big piece missing here, but then it goes on, "...Gabrielle of Poteidaia,
Best Friend of Xena: Warrior Princess, sometime adventurer with Hercules,
and ..."  Then again, a missing piece.  Then:  "You remember her, Father,
from Athens -- from school.  She's the one who taught me 'to close my eyes,
that I might see.'  Well, her stories ... of her ... and their
[adventures?]"


This parchment is still in pieces, and I'm reading what parts I can.
Hasson is backed up with other parts of the papyrus scrolls and won't get
to this for weeks, but you can see where it's heading.  This is obviously a
letter from the author to his father about the Xena Scrolls.  I don't think
I'm going too far out on a limb to suggest that Gabrielle might be the
author of the Xena Scrolls.




Mad Marvin Hung Over In Glyfada



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Date:	May 11, 1994
To:	XRS
From:	Mad Marvin
Re:	The Letter to Dad


I've been working on this thing 20 hours straight, now and am about to pass
out -- but had to let you guys hear this.  Part of this mysterious single
parchment reads:


"...Irony -- as you taught me so well, Father -- is the proof that the gods
watch over us, and so fits well into a story."  There is then some babbling
about Zeus, father of us all, etc., then:  "Surely Gabrielle is one of the
muses.  For none but a goddess could have foreseen my loss..." the entire
rest of the line is toast.  Then:  "to see that the name she was so
[instrumental?] in [pinning] on me, the..."


I can't make out the next few words, but I swear by all that's Holy that it
could be The Blind Bard!!  The line continues:


"Long before it was true..."


A small piece of the parchment reads, "your loving son," but the rest is
torn.


Could it be!?!  Is it possible?  The Boy?  The Dude?  The Teller of Tales?
The man who put the "myth" into mythology?  The "Il" in Iliad?  The "Odd"
into Odyssey?  And are we this close to actually having his signature!?!


Think of it!!  The father of Bart Simpson, and we have his scroll right
here!  (They call that a "joke," Costantakos)  :-)


Mad Marvin


Feeling Better, thanks.



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Date:	May 11, 1994
To:	XRS
From:	Covington
Re:	Re:  The Author!


Doe!


Marvin,


>Scrolls.  I don't think I'm going too far out on a limb to suggest that
Gabrielle might be >the author of the Xena Scrolls.


Of course, we'll have to wait for all the evidence to come in, but I think
your hypothesis is right on the money.  This might also explain why her
name doesn't show up anywhere in the papyrus writings.  Either she's very
modest, or that was the style of the times.


This also brings up another point... If we can confirm that Gabrielle is
the author of the Xena Scrolls, then we have found, not only a new female
mythic character, but also the first documented female mythic author.


This may answer a question that I've kept to myself since I first read
these scrolls: Is it me, or do these stories seem more ... compassionate
... than other writings of the period?


>Could it be!?!  Is it possible?  The Boy?  The Dude?  The Teller of Tales?
The man who >put the "myth" into mythology?


You mean ... !?!  Joseph Campbell!?!  not possible!  :)


>The "Il" in Iliad?  The "Odd" into Odyssey?  And are we this close to
actually having his signature!?!


Marvin, if I weren't so sure you were pulling our collective leg, I'd be
way too excited to joke about this.


Janice.



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Date:	May 11, 1994
To:	XRS
From:	Costantakos
Re:	Homer!?!


Marvin,


"The Blind Bard." is just a figment of Herodotus' imagination. That was an
invention to explain why the Iliad and the Odyssey are written in different
handwriting.  When in fact, they were simply written by different people.
Read my book sometime!


Evan.


And for the record, I'm well aware of who Bart's father is.  I've got kids,
you know.



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Date:	May 11, 1994
To:	XRS
From:	Covington
Re:	Evan's Book


Evan,


I heard your books were written by different people, and you're just taking
credit for it!  :)


The Blind Bard was as real as you and I are.  The question is, did he make
up his stories, or did he just write down folk tales that had been around
for generations before him?  But the point is moot, Marvin is joking...
Aren't you Marvin?


And speaking of real.  Regardless of who wrote the "Letter to Dad," it
would support the idea that both Gabrielle and Xena were actual people, and
not just mythic characters like the Argonauts, etc.


Thoughts anyone?


Janice



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Date:  May 13, 1994
To:     XRS
From:   Hasson
Re:     The Blind Bard


He's not kidding.


I couldn't possibly make anything close to a definite conclusion from this
sketchy evidence, but the translations in his E-mail of 1 May are all
correct.  I'm ordering another AMS Carbon-14 test on this parchment as well
as chemical analysis of the ink, but I can tell you this:  If this is a
forgery, it's the best I've ever seen, and I've seen them all.


I'm letting my students handle my other duties for a while, so I may devote
my entire energies on this letter.  I will keep you informed.


Hasson.



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Date:	May 15, 1994
To:	XRS
From:	Hasson
Re:	Dedication of the Scrolls



To stray off the subject for a moment, [one of my assistants] has finally
completed a project that I began back in 1983.


The very first part of the Xena Scrolls was almost completely missing.  As
we began to sift the soil, and canvas the area, we found thousands of
scraps of parchment. Painstakingly, piece by piece, we put together this
puzzle.  Poor [assistant's name deleted on request], must be in a permanent
hunch from all of the time with tweezers and magnifying glasses, in a room
sealed for fear that a breeze would blow away an important piece of
parchment.  She really has been a trooper!


Finally, yesterday, she brought me a photo of the finished page.  It reads:


"These..." missing 4.3 cm "are dedicated to The Great Wa[r Woman]..."
missing rest of that part of the page down to the next line.  "... Oh, and
of course, S..." missing the rest of this person's name "who was right,
this writing thing is catching on!"


[My assistant] did this translation, and is all caught up in the Idiom
Translation Movement.  (Marvin, she thinks you're one of the gods!)  As you
all know, I'm more traditional, but she has worked so hard, and her
translation is correct, I will let it stand.


Hasson