A Not Discovery

On page 133 of Pale Fire, when the King is recounting his tale of escape from Zembla, their is a sentence that goes: "A remembered spread of colored sand bore the thirty-year old patterned imprint of Oleg's shoe, as immortal as the tracks of an Egyptian Child's tame Gazelle made thirty centuries ago on blue Nilotic bricks drying in the sun."

Knowing Nabokov's tendency to seed his works with obscure references, the last part of that sentence (as immortal as the tracks of an Egyptian Child's tame Gazelle made thirty centuries ago on blue Nilotic bricks drying in the sun.") struck me as sounding like an allude to a real event, something out of Egyptian Mythology perhaps, or some archeological find.

Alas, it is not. After some time researching and finding nothing, I was forced to conclude that Nabokov was not referring to a specific event, but only painting a general picture.

Not a total loss, however, as I discovered that wealthy Egyptians did keep gazelles as pets (weird, right?). Its not earth-shattering as far as discoveries go, its not really even a discovery, but I put some time into it, so I thought I would share.