We all have such stories, don't we?
Robin Hood: my favorite film growing up (the Errol Flynn version); that feathered, green Peter Pan hat at age 8 from Disneyland was really (to me) a Robin Hood hat; playing historical cops & robbers: Robin Hood is on either side, but not both sides at once; the subject of my Chaucerian imitation as an undergrad: The Knight's Yeoman's Tale; a piece in the John-Fowles-Daniel-Martin-Robin-Hood-Byron/Byronic-hero-grad-school puzzle in my autobiography.
Truly, I would characterize my academic and even professional career through the figure of Robin Hood, though I also don't expect that to make any sense at all, especially if you don't live in my head.
"Everything I steal, I give away," asserts another Robin Hood figure, poet and editor Sam Hamill, and I concur. I have a poster from the Copper Canyon Press up on the wall just because of that line. Well, and because the Copper Canyon Press publishes great poetry.
I've been accused of not being able to tell the forest from the trees. Pure Robin Hood, don't you think? (I love the trees, I prefer the trees, but I pay attention to the forest too, while They--I'll generalize--just ignore the trees and assume They already know the forest, for They bought the map. 'The map isn't the terrain," the wisdom of the scout reminds us.)
Who is your mythic/historical figure that helps you make sense of some part of your life?
I have one friend who answers truly "Merlin," and who elaborates "Seeker of arcane knowledge and advisor to leaders."
Another friend: "Don Quixote." Of course . . . do we need elaboration? DQ is my own third or fourth choice, I think; Jim Hawkins from Stevenson's Treasure Island is another of my own runner-ups.)
A third friend invokes Dr. Seuss: "Mister!" he said with a sawdusty sneeze. / I am the Lorax, I speak for the Trees."
A fourth friend responds and expands just the way I prefer: "Alice from Alice's Adventures, Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter books, and Klaus Baudelaire from the Series of Unfortunate Events. Later, I added Dr. Watson to that list, and took Rosalind (from As You Like It) as an inspirational figure—I was probably about fifteen by that point. But if you told me to pick one, it'd be Hermione. Bookworm side-kick (not the main character); socially awkward; steps up to solve problems, but is sometimes taken for granted because she's dependable."
Now, I have yet another reason to read those Harry Potter books, finally. I like to understand literary references, especially from my friends, and who would pass up such an intriguing character as that? (Plus, the side of me that isn't quite Robin Hood fits that description of Hermione fairly well, with a few adjustments.)
Still another, a fifth, the Skeptic responds, perhaps rightly, "WHO does live in Your head? 'We seek him here, we seek him there...' '
(Answer: Of course, I do, and all those imaginary friends. But, friend, your mythic/historical alter ego, if you please?)
Skeptical Friend relents, responding with "Natty Bumpo and his real-life compadres--Bridger, Carson . . . . Roland, Horatio at the Bridge, Cuchulain at all those river fords . . . ." (The Skeptic and I share many of the same stories, much the same upbringing. In fact, this Scout helped bring me up, as it were. And, for those few who will understand, we both ended up relishing Escape From New York and The Thirteenth Warrior after initial resistance.)
Perhaps oddly, I do feel that I'm a literary huntsman, a literary Green Knight (Bertilak-as-teacher, yes), and even Heaney's wood-kerne, so the reach to Robin Hood is not that far.
I repeat, who is your mythic/historical figure that helps you make sense of some part of your life or soul? Go on, tell us.
