I would like to thank my brother and current curator of The Book of Sorren, for posting this fragment after the removal of the two sentences he insisted be removed from the text. He approved my edits after my acquiescence of his editorial authority. The sentences were subordinate and superficial to the text, and though I did not want to amend this diary more than absolutely necessary, I have done so, and I am under constraints to even hint at the content of the extracted material.
K
I chanced upon this fragment in a very unusual way: It was given to me by an obscure man known to me only as The Professor. Strangely, I have never met this man, nor have I ever spoken to him. My interaction has been only in two pieces of correspondence: Initially, a letter left on my website . . .and secondly, this fragment. Now I find it strange that anyone else in the world would have been researching this subject, at this particular time, but for myself, but I know of no other way to understand it, and though I remain skeptical, I cannot deny what has been presented to me. This fragment looks authentic, but I am not an expert of such matters, and I have no access to radio carbon dating, or linguistic analysis, so I am left to either accept, or to deny what is before me . . .I choose to accept for no other reason than that I can imagine no other reason of creating such a ruse, most especially from a collage professor.
The diary reports that a pastor was visited by a man named Okel, who came to him out of fear, from a chance encounter with a strange man dressed in black, a black hat, and dark, piercing eyes. The man said he was from the Church, and his look, according to Okel, left no room for further explanation. The Churchman identified himself as Melanthros, and that he was looking for a book, as well as a man named Sorren. This is what I have been looking for. I give here a slightly edited version of the fragment relating to this encounter, as it has been preserved within the diary, and I have tried to use the peculiar pronunciations as much as possible, unless the text become too unreadable and useless.
[ . . .”was worken on my nets se, cus I was reparin it cas Fin McCool get traped insid it, cas my fathr told me that when I was aboy . . .”
“Finn Mac Cool, the monster?” I asked him.
“McCool aint no monster,” he responded. {“ . . .”} “Sorry, cas I knows Cryst don’t care bout McCool . . .but when yor out ther on the rech cant be to certn bout magik an wytches.”
“What did the Churchman in black want to know?” I asked him.
“Bout a bok . . .but I telld him I don’t read and don’t evn knows how. But he lookd at me wit thos stely eyes and scard me out of my wits. {the bok be riten by the devil,’} he says to me. {the devil reeds and the devil rites words, so be mindful of the Lord and clos yor eyes when the devil calls.} I didn’t know he was the devil I says to the blak man from the church. And then the blak man says { You may not evn know yourself, but the devl knows you.}
“What name did he give you?” I asked Okel.
“Sed his name was Melanthros. Sed he was a lookn for a man named Sorren and that he was a servnt to the king, but I don’t evn knos the king, so I tells him so. {“ . . .”} But the man in blak says to me to listn to the wind and to lisen to the fishes, and if I evn hers the name Sorren to go and find him at Rushen Abbey . . .and he gav me a coin to help me remember . . .”]
