The Hunting of the Ri

In 1874 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll-author of Alice in Wonderland) wrote a delightful little satirical book called The Hunting of the Snark (An Agony in 8 Fits)-one of the longest and best-sustained nonsense verses in the English language. The epic poem describes with infinite humor the impossible voyage of an improbable crew in search of an inconceivable creature, the Snark

-warning them all to "beware of the day,

  If your Snark be a Boojum! For then

   You will softly and suddenly vanish away,

  And never be met with again!"

Fast forward 110 years to 1984, when an intrepid crew of 13 bold explorers from the Ecosophical Research Association (a subsidiary of the Neo-Pagan Church of All Worlds), having just signed a 4-year lease agreement with the Ringling Bros./Barnum & Baily Circus for several of Oberon & Morning Glory's authentic Living Unicorns, decided that for their next adventure they should mount a diving and underwater filming expedition to the island of New Ireland, just north of New Guinea, in search of real Mermaids-called Ri or Ilkai by the natives.

A report on the Ri-complete with the obligatory out-of-focus black & white photos common to reports of Bigfoot, Nessie and UFOs-had been published in the 1982 Journal of the International Society of Cryptozoology, of which Oberon, Morning Glory and Tom Williams were members.

Not surprisingly, Carroll's book seemed an appropriate inspiration for this adventure, and during the voyage-undertaken in February-March of 1985-Morning Glory felt compelled to narrate the journey in the style of The Hunting of the Snark, utilizing the amusing syntax of the native "Tok Pisin" patois we were all learning.

Not to be outdone, Oberon undertook to illustrate Morning Glory's verses in the style of Henry Holiday's classic illustrations in Carroll's book, drawing the expedition members in the style of the cartoon characters in a popular New Guinea comic strip called Grass Roots.

However, Morning Glory never completed the poem. The reason for this is explained in the full account. Everyone who read it begged her to finish it, but she never did, and she died of cancer on May 13, 2014.

Now, just 40 years after the adventure, Oberon has decided to publish the full saga-including Morning Glory's unfinished epic poem, THE HUNTING OF THE RI with Oberon's charming illustrations.