Isle of View

by Piers Anthony

  897 Mare Imbrium foaled as night mare.

  909 Magician Ebnez takes the throne.

  917 LastWave (Twelfth).

  932 King Ebnez adapts the Deathstone into the Shieldstone to protect Xanth from Mundane Waves.

  933 Stork brings Humfrey.

  * Stork brings MareAnn.

  949 Stork brings Storm Magician.

  * Humfrey hired by King Ebnez to do a Xanth census of talents, as Royal Surveyor.

  952 King Ebnez dies.

  * Humfrey declared Magician and assumes throne.

  * King Humfrey marries Dana Demoness: wife 1.

  953 E. Timber Bram appointed Historian of Xanth.

  954 Dafrey delivered to King Humfrey and Dana Demoness; Dana takes off.

  * Humfrey marries Maiden Taiwan: wife 2.

  955 Tics mutate.

  971 Humfrey abdicates throne. Matron Taiwan abdicates their marriage.

  * Storm Magician assumes the throne.

  * Humfrey rediscovers Castle Roogna.

  972 Humfrey achieves degree from University of Magic and becomes a true Magician of Information.

  972 Magician Humfrey marries Rose of Roogna: wife 3.

  973 Rosetta Bliss Humfrey—"Roy"—delivered to Magician Hum-frey and Princess Rose.

  975 Storm King decrees that any resident without a magic talent will be exiled from Xanth.

  994 Rosetta marries Stone.

  * Cherie Centaur foaled south of North Village. 997 Stork brings Magician Trent to North Village.

  1000 Rose goes to Hell in a handbasket.

  * Magician Humfrey takes eighty years' worth of Lethe elixir.

  * Magician Humfrey marries Sofia Mundane: wife 4.

  1001 Stork brings Sorceress Iris to an unwary family.

  1002 Crombie the Soldier delivered to Magician Humfrey and Sofia. 1005 Magician Humfrey trains Magician Trent.

  1007 Magician Humfrey trains Sorceress Iris.

  1017 (Magician) Bink delivered to North Village to Roland and Bi-anca.

  1021 Magician Trent transforms the fish in Fish River into lightning bugs; also others, including a winged centaur filly who flees to Brain Coral's pool.

  1022 Evil Magician Trent attempts a coup d'etat. Transforms Justin into a tree. Is betrayed and exiled to Mundania.

  1025 Stork brings Gorgon and Siren, twin sisters.

  1027 Bink loses the middle finger of his left hand in a nonmagical accident.

  1033 Herman Centaur, exiled from the herd for having magic.

  1035 Sofia (wife 4) returns to Mundania.

  1036 Sea Hag takes over her last body.

  1039 Grundy Golem animated by Good Magician Humfrey.

  1040 Donald becomes a shade.

  1042 Bink travels to the Good Magician to learn whether he has a magic talent. Encounters an aspect of Chameleon, Donald Shade, Sorceress Iris, Magician Humfrey, has missing finger restored by healing spring, and is exiled to drear Mudania.

  * Bink, Chameleon, and Magician Trent return to Xanth and find Castle Roogna.

  * Wiggle swarm; Herman the Hermit Centaur dies.

  * Storm King dies.

  * Magician Trent becomes king and deactivates Shieldstone.

  * Magician Trent marries Sorceress Iris.

  * Bink marries Chameleon.

  * Chester Centaur marries Cherie Centaur.

  * Thirteenth Wave: Trent's former army settles peacefully.

  * Chet Centaur foaled near North Village to Chester and Cherie Centaur.

  * Grundy Golem goes to Magician Humfrey to learn how to become real.

  1043 Millie the Ghost restored to life.

  * Time of No Magic.

  * Magician Murphy and Neo-Sorceress Vadne escape from Brain Coral storage and make deal with Com-Pewter: get them safely to Mundania and their child will serve the evil machine, if he ever comes to Xanth.

  * Brain Coral starts inventory of stock in pool. This requires two or three decades to complete, so Murphy and Vadne are not yet missed.

  * Crunch Ogre marries curse fiend ogress.

  * Demon X(A/N)th makes Grundy Golem alive.

  * Magician Dor delivered to Bink and Chameleon.

  * Crombie marries Jewel Nymph.

  1044 Princess Irene delivered to King Trent and Queen Iris.

  * Smash Ogre whelped north of Magic Dust Village to Crunch Ogre and pseudo ogress.

  * Tandy delivered to Crombie and Jewel.

  1046 Goldy Goblin delivered to Gorbage Goblin.

  1047 Chem Centaur foaled to Chester and Cherie Centaur.

  1051 Stork brings Xavier in South Xanth to the witch Xanthippe.

  1052 Stork delivers Wira into an undistinguished and probably undeserving family.

  1054 Gorgon returns to Xanth and asks Good Magician Humfrey a Question: "Would you marry me?"

  1055 Dor goes to Fourth Wave Xanth to get the zombie restorative formula from the Zombie Master. Uses it to restore Zombie Jonathan to life as the Zombie Master.

  * Zombie Master marries Millie the Maid.

  * Hardy Harpy hatched in South Xanth.

  * Gorgon, having served a year, gets her Answer: Magician Humfrey would marry her. She's not surprised.

  1056 Hiatus and Lacuna, twins, delivered to Zombie Master and Millie.

  * Stork brings Glory Goblin to Gorbage Goblin.

  1057 Zora dies of grief for her false true love, and is zombied.

  * Stork brings Rapunzel. She is raised in the Ivory Tower by the Sea Hag.

  1057 A centaur and winged horse happen to drink at a love spring.

  1058 Cheiron Centaur foaled: a winged centaur.

  1059 Dor becomes king during King Trent's trip to Mundania.

  * Gorgon marries Good Magician Humfrey: wife 5.

  * Zombie Master assumes the throne.

  * . . . while Dor, Irene, Arnolde Centaur, Smash Ogre, and Grundy go to Mundania to rescue King Trent and Queen Iris.

  * Ichabod Mundane learns of Xanth.

  1062 Tandy rides a night mare to Humfrey's castle.

  1063 Chem Centaur maps central Xanth.

  * John Fairy and Joan Fairy married.

  * Siren marries Morris Merman.

  * Smash Ogre marries Tandy.

  * Goldy Goblin marries nonentitous goblin chief.

  1064 Stork brings Cyrus Merchild to Water Wing to Morris Merman and the Siren.

  * Eskil (Esk) Ogre delivered to Smash Ogre and Tandy.

  * Hugo delivered to Magician Humfrey and the Gorgon.

  * Zombie Master and Millie the Ghost move south and build New Castle Zombie.

  * Prince Naldo Naga delivered to King Nabob in Mount Etamin.

  * Nextwave (Fourteenth).

  1067 Princess Irene marries Magician Dor.

  * Chain of kings during the NextWave: Trent

  Dor

  Zombie Master

  Humfrey

  Bink

  Arnolde Centaur,

  Iris

  Irene

  Chameleon Mare Imbrium

  * Mare Imbrium becomes a Day Mare.

  * King Trent abdicates and retires with Iris to North Village.

  * Dor assumes throne.

  1068 Wira put to sleep at age sixteen.

  * Stork manages to bring Magician Grey to Magician Murphy and Sorceress Vadne in Mundania.

  1069 Sorceress-Princess Ivy found under cabbage leaf by King Dor and Queen Irene. (Sometimes the stork can't get into a castle and can't wait for it to open.)

  * Princess Nada Naga delivered to King Nabob in Mount Etamin.

  1072 Gap Chasm Forget Spell, shaken by the Time of No Magic, fragments, spinning off forget whorls.

  * Magician Humfrey and the Gap Dragon (Stanley Steamer) youthened to infancy in a slight mishap.

  * Chem Centaur has an informal liaison with Xap Hippogryph.

  * Lady Gap Dragon, Stacey Steamer, takes over post.

  * Wiggle swarm.

  * Hardy Harpy marries Glory Goblin.

  * Xav
ier marries Zora Zombie.

  1073 Chex, a winged centaur filly, foaled by Chem Centaur. Because her sire is of the animal kingdom, she grows and matures quite rapidly for a centaur.

  1074 Magician-Prince Dolph found under cabbage leaf by King Dor and Queen Irene.

  * Jordan the Ghost and Threnody (Renee) restored to life and married.

  * Stanley Steamer accidentally banished by a leftover spell.

  1077 Grundy goes with Snortimer, the Monster Under Ivy's bed, on a Quest to find Stanley Steamer.

  * Stacey Steamer changes her name to Stella.

  * Grundy rescues Rapunzel from the Sea Hag, with the aid of the Monster of the Sea.

  * Snortimer remains to protect the fauns and nymphs, in lieu of Stanley Steamer, who returns to Ivy.

  * Grundy Golem bests the Sea Hag, who is banished to the Brain Coral storage. Grundy shows the Demon X(A/N)1 how to play to win.

  * Godiva Goblin marries Chief Gouty Goblin.

  * Grundy marries Rapunzel.

  * Gwendolyn Goblin delivered to Gouty and Godiva Goblin.

  * Jenny Elf born in the World of Two Moons.

  1078 Lacuna marries Vernon, retroactively.

  1079 Gobble Goblin sneaked to Gouty Goblin and a tart.

  1080 Good Magician Humfrey's dose of Lethe elixir wears off, and he remembers Rose of Roogna and goes to rescue her from Hell. The Gorgon and Hugo join him in the dream realm.

  * Latia Curse Fiend leaves Gateway Castle in Lake Ogre-Chobee to help Esk Ogre and the voles.

  * Esk finds Marrow Bones and Bria Brassie on the Lost Path in the gourd.

  * Vale of the Voles and the Kiss-Mee River restored. (Unfortunately the Kissimmee River in Florida, Mundania, remains hostage to the will of the Armed Corps of Engines, so is not affectionate.)

  * Esk Ogre marries Bria Brassie.

  * Ryver retroactively delivered to Lacuna and Vernon.

  1083 Prince Dolph undertakes a Quest to find Good Magician Humfrey, accompanied by Marrow Bones.

  * Vida Vila wishes to marry Prince Dolph, but he is too young.

  * Marrow and Dolph find Gracile (Grace'l) Ossein on the Isle of Illusion.

  * Melantha (Mela) Merwoman captures Dolph. To win free, Dolph undertakes to recover the firewater opal from Draco Dragon.

  * Cheiron Centaur marries Chex Centaur in a ceremony performed by the Simurgh before the winged monsters. All present swear to protect the foal of this union, whose life will change the course of the history of Xanth.

  * The goblins of Mount Etamin raid Draco's nest and abduct Marrow Bones.

  * King Nabob Naga betroths his daughter, Princess Nada, to Prince Dolph, making a naga-human alliance. The naga rescue Marrow and the dragon's treasure. Marrow and Dolph return two firewater opals to Mela.

  * Dolph and Nada enter Mundania through the gourd and meet Turn Key, who provides a way to locate the Heaven Cent.

  * Marrow, Grace'l, and Dolph use a hypnogourd to enter the realm of dreams and find the sleeping Princess. Only it turns out to be Electra, awakened after 847 years; she got time off for good behavior.

  * The Night Stallion puts Grace'l Ossein on trial, with Dolph as defense attorney. Dolph succeeds, barely, in vindicating her, and gains the respect of the Stallion.

  * Jot and Tittle, twins, delivered retroactively to Lacuna and Vernon.

  1085 Che Centaur foaled to Cheiron and Chex Centaur.

  * Com-Pewter acquires a Castle Roogna magic mirror from a traveler.

  1086 Princess Ivy, Princess Nada, and Electra recover the magic mirror from the evil machine.

  * Ivy invokes the Heaven Cent and is transported to Mundania, where she meets Grey Murphy and brings him to Xanth.

  * Grey and Ivy encounter the Goblinate of the Golden Horde led by Grotesk Goblin, and rescue Donkey Centaur. Ivy affiances Grey.

  * Grey learns his talent at Mount Parnassus: he is a Magician of Nullification.

  * Corn-Pewter's plot to take over Xanth using Grey Murphy is revealed.

  * Magician Murphy and Sorceress Vadne return to Xanth, and Murphy lays his curse on the geis on Grey to serve Com-Pewter. The geis is thus fouled up, and Grey is freed to work for Magician Humfrey.

  1089 Che Centaur is foalnapped by the goblins of Goblin Mountain.

  * Jenny Elf and Sammy Cat come to Xanth from the World of Two Moons and give comfort to Che.

  * Siege of Goblin Mountain, resolved when Che agrees to be Gwenny Goblin's companion, and Gwenny and Jenny go to live with Che's family.

  * Prince Dolph marries Electra as she turns eighteen in normal-living time.

  1090 Humfrey rescues five and a half wives from Hell, in a fashion.

  * Lacuna's change of life.

  Author's Note

  This is not an ordinary Xanth Note. Do not read beyond this page if you are squeamish.

  Oh, there are some credits for puns and notions, but I discourage these now, as Xanth is not quite as punny as it once was. As Xanth enters its teens—this is number thirteen—it is maturing, developing new awarenesses, touching on more serious matters, and putting aside some of its childish things, though with luck it will never grow up enough to join the Adult Conspiracy. So fans who send in puns are unlikely to see them in Xanth. But some did appear in this novel.

  Arthur Hoover fired off the .22 and other caliber shells. Bob Leonardi had the heart attack. Chris Cha stuck me with the traffic jam. Margaret Drennan got the stage fright. Chris Swanson saw the see shells and got bogged down in the corkscrew swamp, Plant City, Crystal River, horseshoe beach, and Cross City, all of which strange places show up in Mundane Florida by a suspicious coincidence. Becky Shoenberg and Asia Lynn drank the red whine. Shelly Poirer unwrapped the cheesecloth. And Ramiro Gonzalez, Jr. interpreted the Good Magician's Answer for the naga folk, just barely in time; I had already recorded the scene the wrong way when I received his letter.

  I have regarded Xanth as the least consequential of the writing I do. It's easy, fun, and popular, but the critics revile it, and it's hard to find anybody who likes it except the readers and booksellers. I have been told that I should never have done more than the first Xanth novel, and disgust abounds about this business of having as many as nine novels in a trilogy. I guess I thought a trilogy was three multiplied by three. So here I am with the fourth novel of the second Xanth trilogy, not having learned better.

  But there have been some slight indications that there is more to Xanth than meets the Mundane eye. One naturally expects great literature as defined by the critics to achieve permanence and be read by following generations, while the junk is quickly forgotten. But Xanth is violating that rule too, and refusing to be forgotten. Every Xanth novel remains in print and continues selling well, and Xanth-related things like calendars and statuettes and game books are appearing. Some day there could even be a movie, if the motion picture companies ever catch on to what folk like. Also, there seems to be some genuine human benefit deriving from Xanth. So if literature were to be defined not by the critics, but by permanence and relevance to the interests of real people, Xanth might score better than it has.

  For example, there has been more than one person who read Xanth to alleviate the discomfort of illness, including chemotherapy treatments. There was a girl who was taken into a barn, attacked with a hammer, and raped. She didn't dare tell, but the experience shattered her. Then someone showed her Ogre, Ogre, which addresses a similar problem, and where the girl finds comfort at last with an ogre. This Mundane girl found an ogre (they aren't nearly as horrendous as they look, when you get to know one), and her life mended, and she wrote to tell me about it. There was the girl who survived an auto accident but lost her ability to remember things; she was a Xanth reader, and I attended her birthday party, and I think it helped her to remember. There are the mothers who have written to tell me that their children had no interest in reading until introduced to Xanth. There are the teachers who have told me similar things. I suspect that literacy is the most important skill for today's p
erson; learning to read is vital, and it's getting harder to get folk to read. This sort of thing is causing me to reconsider the value of Xanth; it may be more than just passing entertainment.

  And Jenny—yes, there is a real girl, Jenny Gildwarg, twelve years old, whose ordinary life abruptly became extraordinary, but not in a nice way. Jenny has a separate story, which for our purpose begins Dismember 9, 1988. Jenny is much like Jenny Elf in the novel, only her ears are round and her hands have five fingers. On this day she was walking home from school with several of her friends. She stopped at an intersection, looked both ways, and waited for a car to pass. The car slowed and stopped, and the driver motioned to the children to cross. They did so. Another car was approaching the intersection, but the driver was intoxicated and impatient; he passed the stopped car and took off. He struck Jenny and hurled her a fair distance. That was almost the end of her life.

  A driver behind that one witnessed the accident, radioed for assistance, and ran out to help. The police and ambulance arrived promptly. They arrested the drunk driver, who was belligerent and had to be handcuffed. They administered first aid to Jenny and made ready to rush her to the hospital. The mother of one of the other children saw the whole thing, and came to tell Jenny's folks. A family friend went to the scene and identified her for the police and ambulance crew. He came home to report that there was a lot of blood, but that she was still breathing.

  I am trying to restrain myself, but it's difficult to stifle my attitude about drunk driving. That man was convicted on all counts, including reckless driving and nonappearance (bail jumping); he paid court costs, and got a suspended sentence. Chances are that by the time this sees print, that driver will have forgotten this episode; with luck he may already have notched another pedestrian on his bumper. Who can measure the grief brought to innocents because this soused burro-sphincter couldn't wait his turn?

  Jenny's folks scrambled to get to the hospital, where they learned that Jenny was in critical condition and comatose. The doctors worked on her for several hours to get her stabilized. Then she was flown by helicopter to the emergency ward of another hospital, where they worked on her for another several hours and transferred her to a children's hospital. At this point Jenny's folks were told that she would probably die; she had only a 15 per cent chance of survival. Her father had a heart attack, which he survived; her mother hung grimly on, helped by the support of good friends and family, but months later she was suffering things like bleeding ulcers and staying out of the hospital herself more by defiance than sense.