Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0014241, Fri, 1 Dec 2006 12:53:39 -0500

Subject
Riddle: "Lebanese blue of the sky" in Ada?
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Date
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[EDNOTE. Don Johnson sends this riddle. If only I could print the
answer upside down! Instead, scroll down for the solution. SES]

In the ADA passage below WHY the grouping of
"the great weeping cedar" and, a few lines later,--- "Lebanese blue of
the sky"?
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The three of them [Van, Ada, & Lucette] formed a pretty Arcadian
combination as they dropped on the turf under the great weeping cedar,
whose aberrant limbs extended an oriental canopy (propped up here and
there by crutches made of its own flesh like this book) above two black
and one golden-red head as they had above you and me on dark warm nights
when we were reckless, happy children.

Van, sprawling supine, sick with memories, put his hands behind
his nape and slit his eyes at the Lebanese blue of the sky between the
fascicles of the foliage.
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Answer: Because the the tree is the Cedrus libani, i.e., the Lebanon
Cedar a.k.a. the Weeping Cedar

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