Monday 5 September 2022

The Peacock 628

 "Is everyone familiar with the story?" says Carl.

"The sphinx was finally defeated by Oedipus",  says Aaron.  "He was returning to his ancestral city, since he had been abandoned to die by his mother and raised by strangers  The sphinx asked him this riddle, What has four legs in the morning, two legs at midday and three legs in the evening.  No one could answer the riddle, and she would attack, rip to shreds or eat every last one who didn't get the riddle.  But Oedipus knew the answer  He said it is man, who crawls on four legs as a baby, walks on two legs as an adult, and walks on three legs, with a cane as an old man.  The sphinx threw herself to her death and Oedipus entered the city".

"Where", says Michael, "He murdered his father, then married his mother."

"And I am that sphinx?" says Sheila.

"Well", says Matthew, "I have always found you mysterious or enigmatic, as if you were always posing a riddle for us that we could not answer."

"Of course, there is also the Oedipal complex, framed by Sigmund Freud", says Carl, evidently wanting to stir the pot, yet again.

"And we are not going there", says Sheila

"A bit close to the bone, Mommy?" says Michael.

No comments:

Post a Comment