I set out to answer the question regarding Coyote Makes a Deal with the King of England and its syntax. I attempted to read the story on my own, and while doing so, I heard it the way I thought it would sound if I were to read it aloud. That’s normal enough, everyone has thoughts. I did find the syntax to be a little strange, but I felt it would flow smoothly.

Then I read it aloud to a friend. Not having someone on hand to read to at all times, I did it over Skype conference. This experience was… interesting. The way I read it was probably way too fast, but I felt the way it was written on the page compelled me to keep a quick pace. Thus, I kept tripping over my words, misreading things, having to stop and repeat bits and pieces I’d flubbed. And then there was the running commentary. We had some trouble getting through the story, as its more conversational style made it, in the case of myself and my friend this time, a bit easy to get lost in the narrative. So I often stopped to summarize so we were clear on what was happening and various other remarks. I am a terrible joker, so there were times when I may or may not have been a little mean to the text. For example, Robinson often repeats details, like when God is giving Coyote instructions about how he’ll arrive on the English beach on a boat, and he mentions the fact that he’ll arrive on the boat about three times. I quoted The Emperor’s New Groove. (“The poison. the poison meant specifically to kill Kuzco. Kuzco’s poison.”) We’d often repeat the words “Kuzco’s poison” when we got to a part where the narrator fixated on a detail, this proving once and for all that I am a terrible person. Looking back, I should have taken it more seriously, but I felt I was hanging out with my friend. There was also the “which queen of England is he referring to exactly, and that is not how the inheritance works in the English monarchy” incident. Essentially, in reading it aloud I imbued the text with my own irrelevant thoughts, and allowed that to colour the performance.

I really wish I could hear Robinson himself tell the story. The syntax makes me wonder if there’s a specific cadence and speed that one needs to hit in telling this story for it to get across correctly. Wendy says, in a bit of conversation shortly after the story, that no one tells stories quite like Harry does. I doubt I managed to tell it that way, in fact I think I got it catastrophically wrong, so I’m not entirely sure if the syntax really does preserve the original teller’s essence.