(urth) Sir Able is Tannhauser

[maru dubshinki]

On 5/19/06, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <danldo at gmail.com> wrote:
> For those of us who aren't big opera fans, can you give us
> an outline of Tannhauser?
>
> On 5/18/06, BlackWilbo at cs.com <BlackWilbo at cs.com> wrote:
> > Surely I can't be the first to notice correspondences between Sir Able and
> > Tannhauser? Have misspelled a search , or something?
> >
> > Black Wilbo

>From the ever-redoubtable Wikipedia: "According to medieval German
legend, Tannhäuser is a knight and poet who found the Venusburg, the
subterranean home of Venus, and spent a year there worshipping the
goddess. After leaving the Venusburg, Tannhäuser is filled with
remorse, and travels to Rome to ask Pope Urban IV if it is possible to
be absolved of his sins. Urban replies that forgiveness is as
impossible as it would be for his papal staff to blossom. Three days
after Tannhäuser's departure Urban's staff blooms with flowers;
messengers are sent to retrieve the knight, but he has already
returned to Venusburg, never to be seen again."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tannh%C3%A4user&oldid=52446220
Not our best article, to be sure, but serviceable for our purposes).

If I don't miss my guess, Wilbo is struck by the resemblance of a
knight spending time in fairy lands of some sort, returning obsessed
with honor and forgiveness and such-like, and eventually returning.

~maru