“It was like an old Puca comedy: one person falls into the quicksand, drags another in after him, then a third, then a fourth—until they all vanish to their deaths. Who could help laughing at a thing like that, especially when the actors were not Puca themselves but had been given parts in a play that was real?” The Reefs of Earth (1968)
Reading large chunks of Lafferty is anything but straightforward. It’s not just that his thinking is wildly inventive, sharp, and lateral—it’s that his stories and novels demand intense rereading, and there’s never enough time to do them full justice. The threat of a Puca comedy is never far away.
When I want to understand a writer, I start at both the beginning and the end of the career, then work toward the middle with surgical strikes at key points. This method has served me well in studying Lafferty, though it has led to some unexpected consequences—chief among them being that Sindbad: The Thirteenth Voyage (1989), one of his least-read works, became a crow’s nest from which to survey the full sweep of his ideas and artistry. To those unfamiliar with the novel, this might seem odd, but it helped me recognize how Serpent’s Egg (1987), East of Laughter (1988), and Sindbad are Lafferty’s late meditation on the nature of fiction.
Beginning with Sindbad was also a lot of fun. I’ve long admired The Arabian Nights, particularly in Richard Burton’s translation, and have always agreed with G. K. Chesterton that “there is in the unruffled life of an Arabian Nights tale a great deal of what we call happiness” (Charles Dickens: A Critical Study). Which brings me to the point of this post. As I worked through Sindbad, I relied on a remarkable scholarly tool: H. M. El-Shamy’s A Motif Index of The Thousand and One Nights. Keyed to various translations, it’s a dream for anyone who loves The Nights—and a double delight for those who enjoy the madness of Stith Thompson’s motif indexes, which are both rigorous and more than half-mad in their relentless pursuit of classification.
The dogged passion for cataloging narrative elements is what makes Thompson (1885–1976) such a fascinating figure. He was an American folklorist now mainly remembered for his Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, an ambitious attempt to classify recurring narrative elements in folktales, myths, and legends. Influenced by the Finnish method of comparative folklore study, he raised the stakes, aiming to systematize all folk tales into a comprehensive reference. First published between 1932 and 1936 and later revised, his index became the foundational tool for folklore research. It allowed scholars to trace the transmission and evolution of motifs across cultures. (Below is a copy of the revised Index if you want to check it out.)
Using an Arabian Nights folklore index while reading Lafferty's Sindbad sparked a question: what if there were a Lafferty motif index? I experimented with building a retrieval-augmented generation system to construct one, but I was never satisfied with the results, though I went ahead and created a motif set for all the short stories. Still, I’d love to see a proper Lafferty motif index—and I might try again.
Here’s what my partially finished "Days of Grass, Days of Straw" (1973) looks like:
A0–A99. The prophets wrestle God directly, highlighting an act of creation shared with the deity.
A900. The floating mountain and grass-choked main street emphasize mythically altered geography.
A1172.1. The story’s rain and sun dances suggest a ritual control of light and weather.
B. The presence of buffalo, dogs, and eagles in surreal roles underscores the narrative’s animal significance.
D. All aspects of existence (coins, telephones, daily life) operate under a pervasive magical logic.
D1193. The buckskin “telephone bag” behaves as a quasi-magical sack used for communication.
E. Death is prominently featured (with blood blessings and dismemberment) in a spiritually charged context.
F. The entire setting abounds in marvels, from leather-built cities to spontaneous cosmic battles.
F110. Christopher’s shift from the normal city day to the “grass day” world constitutes a terrestrial otherworld journey.
F160. The story details the unfamiliar qualities of this alternate realm, including its dizzying vitality.
F170. Various out-of-count intervals and mountain wrestling scenes function as miscellaneous otherworld motifs.
F171.0.1. Strange occurrences (floating mountain, bizarre currency) are enigmas of another domain partially explained by prophets.
F440.1. “Days of grass” can be read as a symbolic presence of a vegetation spirit animating the land.
F710. The roaring river on higher ground alters its “tune,” signifying an extraordinary body of water.
F750. The hovering mountain that never reaches the earth demonstrates an extraordinary landform.
F760. The buckskin-built urban space, teeming with grass, exemplifies an extraordinary city.
F770. Buildings made of painted hides and walls rolled up at will illustrate singular architectural marvels.
F790. The shimmering day and thunderous mountain clashes constitute extraordinary weather and sky phenomena.H (General). The prophets’ contests with God fulfill the role of daunting ritual trials.
H1200. Characters undertake a profound quest (ascension and cosmic knowledge) involving mortal risk.
H1225. Wrestling the divine is a pursuit of the strongest possible adversary.
H1250. Entering the “days of grass” can be viewed as a quest to another world.
H1376. The quest for “which day is this?” serves as an allegory for deeper existential searching.
L. Ascending to prophet-status or collapsing into “straw-man” form reflects abrupt reversals of fortune.
M. Wrestling God to extract new days effectively ordains the future’s shape.
N (General). Chance governs who stumbles into these extra days or wins the struggle on the mountain.
N100. The presence of “days of grass” or “days of straw” implies fate’s random influence over human experience.
N770. Surreal encounters and revelations initiate an unforeseen sequence of grand adventures.
770.0.1. Gathering at the roast dog stall becomes the feast that triggers Christopher’s deeper involvement.
P. The buckskin economy, communal hunts, and pipe-smoke “change” reveal an alternate social system.
Q. Success earns cosmic potency on the mountain; failure leads to brutal ejection or straw transformation.
T. Christopher and Helen’s passionate union enacts the fertility integral to grass days.
U (General). Juxtaposing dull straw days with vibrant grass days questions the essence of being fully alive.
U100. The story’s contrasting temporal modes underline the complex dualities inherent in existence.
U110. Seemingly mundane spaces prove deceptively surreal, inverting standard appearances.
V. The direct wrestle with God foregrounds a potent religious or theurgical dimension.
W. The strength or frailty of a character’s spirit (courage versus collapse) is central to identity.
W121. Buford’s cowardice leads him to become a mere scarecrow of straw.X. Incongruities like a bale-of-rags telephone and buffalo coinage inject continuous surreal humor.
Z. The repeated ballad lines and references to holy skins create a formulaic ritual framework.
Z0. Repeated phrases and stylized naming of days constitute a formulistic pattern.
Z72. Seasonal references (Indian Summer, Blue-Goose Autumn) operate as year-based formulas.
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