To all these layers of meaning, we should add those associated with the Grail--the search of the Holy Grail represents an important moment of the Arthurian cycle, and the story of "Mad Trist," from Edgar Poe's
apologue, relates to this tradition, which combines the symbolism of the quest with that of the King-Fisher, the guardian of the precious chalice.
Tessin interprets his
apologue as a lesson not only to monarchs, on whom "it is incumbent every moment to show mercy and justice to his subjects," but also to subjects who are obligated to maintain "gratitude, subordination, and obedience to their sovereign" (228-229).
(15) This
apologue, as quoted by a modern theologian, is re-quoted as a symbol of the difficult situation of contemporary theologians in an authoritative general panorama by Ratzinger 31-33.
The prototypical parable differs from the
apologue in that it is an inherently probable and realistic story, taking place in some familiar setting of life.
Chapter twelve contains an analysis of "Some Illustrations of the Unicorn
Apologue from Barlaam and loasaph", written with the late Ruth Pitman, in which careful attention is paid to illuminations in manuscripts now in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, Bibliotheque Royale, Brussels, and the British Library, London.
Il n'en demeure pas moins que si l'on ote a ces propos de 1941 leur dimension theologique, encore une fois probablement contrainte par le lieu oo il ecrit (car il est alors beaucoup plus proche de l'atheologie de Bataille), et ainsi, en un sens, strategiquement judicieuse, le choix du petit
apologue de Filippo Lippi manifeste une position de resistance.
In this satirical
apologue, the old lady fails to understand the poet's language and accuses him of using a kind of vocabulary that was not common in her day.
Samuel Johnson writes in his biography of John Gay: "A Fable or an
Apologue ...