A THOROUGH HISTORY OF TOMORROW:
A TRUE TAIL FOR ALL
AGES
Prologue
Dear Reader:
When I was younger, inquisitive,
and troubled, I had the good fortune to encounter Aeldr. Together we undertook the researches that you will find recounted
in this tale.
You may find the species of
reporting somewhat unusual, but these are matters Aeldr and I discussed thoroughly, and I am fully in accord with what I will
note here from these discussions. This species of language usage is utilized because the usual language, and recounting, has
lost its ability to get a reader’s, and listener’s, eye and ear, so this other manner of speech and writing has
been our preferred way for discourse. The rhythm, rhyming recounting and at times forthright language that we have used is
in the vein of earlier recounters, like Lucilius, Horace, Juvenal, Persius, Langland, Rabelais, Dryden, Pope and so many others,
but some readers may find us cruder. We talked of forms of rhyming such as rimes riche, suffisante, sparse
and terza rima, and species of rhythm such as quantitative, accentual, and various syllabic forms like iambic pentameter
and alexandrin, but we prefer what we offer you here. Our rhyme, rhythm, and easy speech seem most natural, like
an inherent way of our language faculties, and it communicates directly with our deeper being without affectation. The reader
offended by our form of discourse or any of the words may be so, but may such reader be more offended by the content addressed,
and thus take most diligent and serious note, not in his or her words, but in actions. As has been said, “Actions speak
louder than words.”1
I am sad to say that
the task of rendering these researches into written form fell mostly upon me, and before I could carefully verify the document
with Aeldr he was no longer around. I am sure that the essence of what I have put down is certainly accurate enough. Without
offending papists or theologians minor corrections would not add one iota to the information gleaned by the skeptical and
callous of heart, while those with more open minds will not be distracted by any errors I have made as our scribe. And as
Erasmus so well exploited, errors in a text provided him with a great pretext for a post-text, that is, for another edition,
so this text will remain as it is. (With the proviso, at this juncture, of it being unknown what an overcautious censor may
unscrupulously try to change.)
The book headings and
chapter titles are mostly my doing. I suppose I should mention that the Interludes and the Postlude were additions for my
entertainment, and hopefully for yours, dear Reader. I’m sure Aeldr would have enjoyed them and approved their insertion
herein.
Most respectfully recounted for Aeldr and me,
Chyle.
1. I could not locate the original source for this exact quotation, but Chyle may have adapted it from one of several
possible sources, which include Plutarch’s (46-c119) Morals, quoting Democritus, “Words are but the shadows
of actions;” or John Fletcher’s (1579-1625) The Lover’s Progress, Act III, Sc. 4, “Deeds,
not words shall speak me,” 1623; and Shakespeare’s (1564-1616) King Henry VIII, Act III, Sc
2, “And yet words are no deeds,” 1612, to which Fletcher may have contributed.