Meet Merlin

My cat arrived Saturday on the afternoon train. I was early to pick him up, so I decided to have cheesecake and a latte at a nearby Italien restaurant/coffee shop. I slipped into one of the corner booths, hoping to have some quiet time to gather my thoughts before the rest of the weekend. I was startled by the shouts of a ten year old boy walking past my table, "Sunglasses, pretty! Sunglasses, pretty!" This is a bizarre thing that happens nearly every day I'm in Korea. For some reason, they always shout this same thing, if I'm resting my sunglasses up on my head. Later on when I was shopping with one of my friends, they said the same thing to both of us. "Sunglasses, pretty!" I have no idea what the novelty is... I see Koreans wearing their sunglasses this way all the time. I remain clueless. The same child walked by a few minutes later, shouting, "You stupid! You are stupid!" Cheesecake is a bit of a misnomer for what arrived on my plate. It was more like fluffified cake with a cheese flavor. Still edible, so I wasn't complaining. Halfway through my snack I hear wild exclamations of, "Miss Coppy! Miss Coppy!" and I look up to see a group of my students pointing and giggling. Koreans can't say the 'f' sound, so they substitute a 'p' sound. I waved politely and they scurried off to their table. When my cell phone rang, it was the Canadian couple to tell me that they had arrived. I was more than happy to leave.

They called him Frank, but after spending an afternoon with him, I knew his name should be Merlin. He has the wildest eyes I have ever seen. Before his previoius owners left, he seemed quite well-behaved and very curious about his new surroundings. After they left, he started yowling like there's no tomorrow! He tore around the house, as if he were being chased by something frightful. My friend Rochelle came over and he refused to be held for pictures. From time to time he can be very affectionate, and I hope to train him to be moreso. Unfortunately, he takes great pleasure in clawing up my wallpaper and ratting my hair while I'm trying to sleep. I hide his toys at nighttime, so he won't make too much noise, but the fiendish beast is too smart for that! He finds them every time and begins a new round of bell-ringing at 5:30 a.m.

Merlin is the advisor to Arthur in Anglo-Norman legendry. The character was created by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his twelfth-century History of the Kings of Britain, combined with the Welsh traditions about a bard and prophet named Myrddin. Alfred Lord Tennyson makes him the architect of Camelot in The Idylls of the King. You can find the entire text here: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/tennidyl.txt

Graven in the oldest tongue of all this world,
"Take me," but turn the blade and ye shall see,
And written in the speech ye speak yourself,
"Cast me away!" And sad was Arthur's face

Taking it, but old Merlin counselled him,
"Take thou and strike! the time to cast away
Is yet far-off." So this great brand the king
Took, and by this will beat his foemen down.