The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains

This is probably part of a personal challenge to find time to read in spite of everything. It could also be a form of escape, because you know, I'd rather be anywhere but where I actually am sometimes. Whichever it is, it led me to find this novelette by Neil Gaiman (whose play on words I am forever in love with) and for that I am glad.

The story is that of a man the size of a child in search of the Misty Isle where a cave exists to house gold of immeasurable volumes. The way is as treacherous as it is hard, and only one man has ever been said to arrive there and back safely, and far wealthier than when he had left. That man is Calum MacInnes. With his aid, the journey progresses, and as it does, snippets of truth are thrown our way, luring us deeper and deeper that before we even realize it, the story is already ended.

Interestingly, I think that a great strength of the story lies in the withholding of truths and the slimness of their revelation. It is that same sense of ambiguity that hooks you in and drives your curiosity about where the story is really headed. In essence, this is a tale of loss and regret, superimposed on a tale of greed and the ultimate lack of meaning of that for which we so earnestly yearn.