Inferno
An exploration into the work of Dante led to a prose version of the first part of The Divine Comedy. Surprisingly, the project led me to see how Tolkien’s books might have been inspired by the narrative poem.
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”
I
A ghastly snarl stirred me from an otherwise deep and restful sleep, and I rose to find myself lying in some mystic or hallowed wood. Fear of an unseen beast belied the fact that I was no longer in my home nor my bed. I rose to my feet, forced to presume that I had been carried off into this sinister forest through my own sleepwalking, which was sometimes my ill fate. However, I quickly grew concerned that I had come there by some other devious means. I scanned the treeline for the creature responsible for the vicious snarl, wondering if it were all some nightmare. But that growl had been too ferocious and this night too detailed to be surreal.
Listening intently, I moved forward with caution in an attempt to quiet the crushing sound of dry leaves. Then, surveying the forest with only the benefit of the light from a waning moon, I looked up toward a silhouette of spindly, fingerlike branches set against the shimmering stars. The moon illuminated only a small space about me, then the wood faded into the most startling dark. Despite this, I found that my initial excitement had subsided, and I was beginning to feel the slight chill in the air….