The Tale of the Student and his Son

Publications

• First Publication
  • Embedded in The Claw of the Conciliator, 1980
• Separate publication(s)
  • The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1981

Summary

A student magician creates a son by pure thought, who goes on to rescue maidens from a sea monster.

Analysis

• Wolfe has stated that he intended the pun between an academic thesis and Theseus. This story is very much like that of Theseus and the minotaur.
• Imagining a man into existence is also found in Borges' The Circular Ruins.
• Some have suggested a parallel to the battle of the Merrimac and the Monitor. There's a Monitor/Minotaur pun.