[Cephalopod]

Hey guys, I got a message from Howard and also got the parchment.

Here's the message:

Quote:

So, I have evntuall got my scanner working - it had overheatd [again] and my desire to get it working almot damaged the parchment itself. Please find attaced the scanned imag. If you can make any sense of it - please let me know, at you convenince. ? Thanking you in advance Howard.

There are some letters missing.

Spoiler (Rollover to View):

They spell "eyes here."

And hopefully the parchment is attached (this is my first time trying an attachment).

[nomad]

I found those Axelrod references a bit too persistent to be unrelated and took a liberty to look it up. And yep, I got something: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_Innocence

Quote:

Song of Innocence is a 1968 album by David Axelrod. The album was inspired by Songs of Innocence, a collection of poems by English poet William Blake.

'Songs of Innocence and of Experience' is the name of the book which had 'The Echoing Green' in it, and there is also the second album named 'Song of Experience'. Not sure if we are to make something out of it though, I think it's just one more Blake reference.

[draghkar]

has anyone seen the new parchment yet?

[draghkar]

Well done..

[Zobot257]

Now that WAS an impressive puzzle. Kudos, guys! I would have never solved that.

[JehosephatDostoevsky]

aha! I knew something didn't quite sit right. The poem just seemed a bit... detached from the story? It just didn't feel like an end in and of itself to me. Excited to see what this new parchment is.

Nice one on working out that message, completely missed it meself

[Cephalopod]

I got the same email as above in response to an email I sent a while back with one addition:

Quote:

One question - is it just the poem in that message - seems odd to put all those extra letters in the message.

So maybe there is still something else in the puzzle.

Edit: And there is more.

Spoiler (Rollover to View):

If you remove the letters of the poem from the note, then read each column from top to bottom (beginning with the left column and moving right), it gives: Greetings (g) greatnephew of mine you may be wondering how I knew you of all people would be decoding this. Despite warning everyone away from my own path please do not ask any further but allow this to be your answer it is not worth it (t)he green should be believed and you should put it far from your mind forevermore. Please heed this warning your kin Gerald. The letters in parentheses are two places the pattern didn't quite work for me.

Edit 2: Sent Howard an email with this info, and he responded:

Quote:

My thanks. - Though now, now I wonder even more about my great granduncle... Especially since my return from Avebury and found an odd parchment in my postal box [I travel a lot and therefore have a PO Box - it makes life easier] I will be able to share once I have looked at it in some depth - though thank you all once again - please pas on my thanks to everyone who has helped so far. How DID my G Uncle know I'd be reading it - he's been dead for some years now... Howard

[draghkar]

sent him the following mail:

draghkar wrote:

Hi Howard, Hope you arrived safe and sound back in London, anything interesting in Avebury?? I did some research on the blake poem: The poem talks about merry sounds and images which accompany the children playing outdoors. Then, an old man happily remembers when he enjoyed playing with his friends during his own childhood. The last stanza depicts the little ones being weary when the sun has descended and going to their mothers' laps. No more playing is expected, for it is time to take a break after a long day enjoying games. The poem follows the structure of a day— 'the sun does arise' in the beginning of the first verse, and 'the sun does descend' in the middle of the third verse. The poem is the contrast of innocence and experience, but also the contrast between perception of joys and sorrows. What is happening on the Green will happen again, shown by the 'old folk' who watch the children and reminisce about their own childhood on the Green. The whole poem is written in 6 sentences with much repetition. The poem could also be attributed to the life of a person— birth, life, death. this reminds me of something I was told when I was young: "That what was, is.. that what is, will be.." is that what you were looking for? Regards, D.

Hope that might speed things up a bit..

[draghkar]

some nice images for the poem:

[draghkar]

send the following a while back:

draghkar wrote:

Hi Howard, How was your trip?? did you learn somewting new?? when was the last time you spoke with your uncle?? the one that you have the book from... I hope you remember.. have you ever heard of green magic? Hope to hear from you soon.

Got a reply today...

howard wrote:

Hi Draghkar We never really spoke - he was my great-uncle. Green magic - yes that is what I am researching - it seems quite indepth - unsure how to proceed but wil try very soon. Sorry not been in touch but it has been busy ehre - the library has asked me to investigate some papers and I've had to come down to Avebury to pick them up. Heading to London tomorrow where I'll be able to talk once more. Howard.

Got a seperate mail to, which answers to the answer to the riddle:

howard wrote:

I am researching green magic at the moment - Blake does seem to contain quite a few references to 'green' it seems, but I don't have much time to examine it - could you find out any more meaning to his poems for me with green in the content.Sorry not been in touch but it has been busy here- the library has asked me to investigate some papers and I've had to come down to Avebury to pick them up. Heading to London tomorrow where I'll be able to talk once more. Howard.

so this leads to 2 things..

1.) we will get more interaction from tomorrow..
2.) We were right with blake, and need more references to him and green magic...

going to research blake now...

[Zobot257]

I'm not really sure how there would be...

[draghkar]

you think there is more to it??

[JehosephatDostoevsky]

nope maybe he's waiting for us to solve the puzzle? :/

[draghkar]

anyone hear from howard?

[JehosephatDostoevsky]

so... what now? I assume we're waiting for the next puzzle?

In the meantime, I e-mailed Howard a few days ago, just to try get some background info on where he works (I've never heard of the British Library having 'offshoots' before). So just a little background whilst we wait for something else to come up:

Quote:

Hello Jehosephat The BL offshoot is not a public access library, nor indeed do we publicise the outbranches. The BL have different 'sections' to deal with certain areas of research for other organisations from which we get funding. The one I work for deals primarily with older texts, and ones that may not necessarily appear in catalogues of standard publication. Hope this helps Howard.