Listening to:
Radiohead & Pixies - Blowout

“What I wish to tell you is certainly not as ingenious as that; all the same it is very fine, and it goes as follows. A few days ago the friend I have told you of was speaking about the country or world just discovered by the Portuguese mariners, and of the various animals and other things they bring back from there to Portugal; and he claimed that he had set eyes on a monkey, of a very different kind from those we are used to seeing, which could play chess extremely well. And on one occasion, when the gentleman who had brought it was in the presence of the King of Portugal and was playing it at chess, the monkey had made some moves that were so clever as to press him hard, and eventually checkmated him. As a result the gentleman flew into a rage (as people who lose at chess invariably do), took up the King (which, being of Portuguese make, was very big) and gave the monkey a great blow to the head. At once the monkey skipped aside and began to complain loudly, seeming to be demanding justice from the King himself for the wrong done to it. The gentleman thereupon invited it to play another game, and the monkey, after a few signs of refusal, began to do so and, just as before, once again it got him into trouble. At length the monkey saw that it was in a position to give the gentleman checkmate again, and so it applied itself with fresh cunning to avoiding being struck once more. Unobtrusively, without revealing what it intended, it put its right paw under the gentleman’s left elbow, which he was resting rather fastidiously on a taffeta cushion, and using its left hand to checkmate him with a pawn, having suddenly snatched the cushion away, at one and the same time it placed the cushion on its head as a shield against the blows. Then it jumped for joy in front of the King, as it celebrated its triumph. So you see how wise, wary and discreet the monkey proved to be.” -- Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier, p.165 (Penguin)

I wish I were as smart at chess as that monkey is. Three weekly tournaments so far with my new friend, and I haven't won a single game. Then again, we play checkers, not chess, and I always forget you can double-hop.

Previous

Next