" The term ' rat king' is used to describe a bizarre phenomenon in which a number of rats - 6 to 20... -form a circle, heads out, with their tails knotted together. The entwined group is cared for by other rats in the pack and the animals seem to live for some time after the formation of the king . " Barbara Hodgson
"In psecutione extrema S.R.E. sedebit
Petrus Romanus, qui
pascet oues in mul-
tis tribulationibus :
quibus transactis ci-
uitas septicollis di-
ruetur, & Iudex tre
mêdus iudicabit po
pulum suum. Finis."- st. malachy, attributed.
and so it happens- the rat king whirling around, scattering the faithful about in heaps of fear, screaming in intoxication. the tribulations?- there are always tribulations and it always seems like apocalypse is coming ashore, precariously placed to slide out of your lips like an errant word, a lost thought, a forgotten moment.
they parade the rat king through the village so everyone can have a look- then seal it/them under glass- a pickled punk- the mob frozen in mid-riot.
tails tied together. you are one.
'de labore solis' slips away. but who is 'gloria olivae'?
the tail the rat seems most disturbing.
I thought, gosh, one quick chop with a very sharp razor blade could free them (they can survive fine without a tail). But could they actually then function outside of "the collective?" When I used to write fiction I avoided sci-fi, but this subject has one brewing in my head...