Two hearts

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Two Hearts (English original title: Two Hearts ) is a fantasy short novel by Peter S. Beagle , which was published in 2004. It is the continuation of his story The Last Unicorn .

background

Although Peter S. Beagle draws on many of the main characters from the novel The Last Unicorn , Two Hearts is a story in its own right. There is a long period of time between the events and the main character in this story is the girl Sooz, from whose perspective the plot is portrayed. Beagle prefers to work with dualities in this story . This is also reflected in the title of the story. The mystical griffin has two hearts that illustrate both the eagle and the lion in it. The magician Schmendrick and Molly are now a couple and King Lir is still connected to the unicorn, whom he had come to know and love in the transformed form as "Lady Amalthea", and the girl Sooz and her dog "Malka" are inseparable . There are therefore “two hearts” or characters that form a pair.

action

Sooz, a young girl, lives in a village threatened by an evil griffin . All knights whom the king sends to help can do nothing against the monster. When her best friend Felicitas is caught by the monster, Sooz has enough and she decides to ask the king to take care of the matter personally.

So one night she secretly breaks out and leaves the village as a stowaway in her uncle Ambrose's car. She jumps off prematurely, so as not to be discovered by him, and meets the wizard Schmendrick and his companion Molly Grue, who claim to be good friends of the king and take Sooz with them.

King Lír immediately declares that he is ready to come with him to the village, although he already looks clearly aged and worn out. When they arrive at “Midnight Wood”, where the griffin is supposed to be, he orders Sooz to go, but when her dog Malka runs into the forest, she follows her. There is a fierce battle with the griffin, in which King Lír and Malka are mortally wounded.

Suddenly the unicorn appears and kills the griffin with its horn. Then it brings Malka back to life, but King Lír leaves it and disappears again. Molly teaches Sooz a song to whistle when she feels lonely. She promises her that she or the unicorn will come to her.

Links to the story of the "Last Unicorn"

In the book, only a few hints are made about the story The Last Unicorn , which is why it appeared in German in the volume The Last Unicorn and Two Hearts . Schmendrick and Molly tell Sooz, however, that they once traveled with Lír and that his castle at the time was destroyed. King Haggard, the Red Bull and Captain Cully are also briefly mentioned. King Lír calls the unicorn Amalthea because that was her name in her human form. It is also said that Lír was dead and that the unicorn raised him again.

Characters

Sooz and Malka
Sooz is a nine year old girl who sets out with her dog Malka to save her village from attacks by the Griffin.
Schmendrick and Molly Grue
Schmendrick has now become a true wizard, but he only uses his magic in an emergency. Molly stayed with him and gives mental support to people in need.
King Lír and the unicorn
After the death of his father, Lír took control of the country. But the years have not passed him by without a trace, as he is clearly vegetating. Nevertheless - or whatever the reason for his condition - he has not forgotten his beloved unicorn, which is why the unicorn adorns his royal coat of arms. The unicorn lives quietly and withdrawn again in its forest. But when Lír is in danger, it is there and ready to fight for him. Molly Grue explains his decision to let him die with the words: "She let him go because she loves him."
The griffin
This carnivorous monster has the front body of an eagle and the rear body of a lion. Because of this, it also bears the hearts of these animals.

literature

  • Peter S. Beagle: Two Hearts. in: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. 2005, ISSN  0024-984X .
  • Peter S Beagle: The last unicorn and two hearts. In: Hobbit Press. (Translated from the American by Jürgen Schweier and Cornelia Holfelder-von der Tann) Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-608-93872-2 .

Awards

For this short story, Peter S. Beagle was awarded the following prizes.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Harbach: Peter S. Beagle - The Last Unicorn and Two Hearts on sf-radio.net (review of the special edition from 2012).
  2. ↑ Reading sample on klett-cotta.de, accessed on November 18, 2013 (PDF; 194 kB)
  3. ↑ 2006 Hugo Awards ( Memento of the original from May 7, 2011 on WebCite ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on thehugoawards.org, accessed November 18, 2013.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.thehugoawards.org
  4. ↑ 2006 Nebula Award Winners on sfwa.org, accessed November 18, 2013.
  5. ↑ 2006 World Fantasy Awards Ballot at worldfantasy.org, accessed November 18, 2013.