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Bonnivard (1496-15 70) in the castle of Chillon, on Lake Geneva.

Prisoner of Zenda The Prisoner of Zenda is the title of a book by Anthony Hope, published in 1894. The novel follows the adventures of Rudolf Rassendyll, an Englishman who bears a striking resemblance to the King of Ruritania. When the King is kidnapped, Rassendyll impersonates him, helps to rescue him from his imprisonment in the castle of Zenda, and thwarts a plot to usurp him.

Edna: Oh, I'm dead chokka! Cook, wash, clean—that's all I do—I never go anywhere. I'm like the bleeding Prisoner of Zenda.

TERENCE DAVIES A Modest Pageant, 1992

Samson In the Old Testament, the Book of Judges relates how Samson, known for his great strength, was betrayed by his lover, Delilah, who discovered that the secret of his strength lay in his hair and had it cut off while he slept. As a result of this betrayal, Samson was captured by the Philistines, blinded, and taken to Gaza. During his captivity, his hair grew back and, being brought out to make sport for the Philistines during a religious celebration, he called on God for strength and pulled down the pillars of the Philistines' temple, destroying himself and a large number of Philistines. • See special entry • SAMSON on p. 336.

Like imprisoned Samson, I would rather remain all my life in the mill-house, grinding for my very bread, than be brought forth to make sport for the Philistine lords and ladies

WALTER SCOTT The Bride of Lammermoor, 1819

I fell to plotting ways of short-circuiting the machine. Perhaps if I shifted my body about so that the two nodes would come together—No, not only was there no room, but it might electrocute me. I shuddered. Whoever else I was, I was no Samson. I had no desire to destroy myself even if it destroyed the machine; I wanted freedom, not destruction.

RALPH ELLISON Invisible Man, 1952

Oscar Wilde The Irish writer Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was imprisoned for two years in Reading gaol (1895-7) f°r homosexual offences. His poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), concerning the trial and execution of the murderer Charles Thomas Wooldridge, is based on his experiences there and criticizes the prison's harsh conditions.

Should I extend the week's grace to a fortnight? Convince myself that the poor woman would need more than a week to prepare for the biggest culture-shock since Oscar Wilde had gone inside?

RICHARD HALEY Thoroughfare of Stones, 1995

Change

Classical mythology is rich in tales of physical transformation, many of which were retold by Ovid in his Metamorphoses. This theme is illustrated mainly by such shape-changers, both voluntary and involuntary, but also

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when the frog demands to sleep in her bed, she throws it against the wall. As the frog falls, he turns into a handsome prince. By later fairy tale convention, a frog is transformed into a prince after being kissed by a princess.

The princess had started to kiss the frog, and chickened out. The transformation was

only half complete. The man's wide, lipless mouth was Batrachian, and so were his eyes—small and protuberant, set back in a sloping forehead. His sleek shining black hair looked like a satin skullcap. His figure was upright but frog-shaped; even the skillful tailoring of his navy blazer and gray slacks could not conceal a barrel-shaped torso and short, stubby limbs.

ELIZABETH PETERS Naked Once More, 1989

I don't mean I've done a sudden transformation. I'm not a frog that's been kissed by a princess or whatever the fairy tale is.

JULIAN BARNES Talking It Over, 1991

lo In Greek mythology, lo was a mortal woman and priestess of Hera with whom Zeus fell in love. In order to protect lo from the jealousy of his wife, Hera, Zeus turned her into a heifer. Hera was not deceived, and sent a stinging insect to goad the heifer, which fled to Egypt where Zeus returned her to human form.

Jekyll and Hyde In Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (i886), Dr Jekyll discovers a drug that allows him to create a separate personality, Mr Hyde, through which he can express the evil side of his character. Periodically, he changes from the worthy physician into the evil Hyde, and eventually Hyde gains the upper hand over Jekyll. The term 'Jekyll and Hyde' can thus be used to refer to someone whose personality appears to undergo an abrupt transformation, particularly from gentleness to aggressiveness or violence.

I just said a double thing. I said I would rob a bank. And then I said I hate corruption. Hmmm. Jekyll and Hyde.

STUDS TERKEL American Dreams: Lost and Found, 1980

I told her that she had had a lucky escape from my father, but she defended him, saying, 'He is another person when he is on his own with me. He is so sweet and kind.' Yes, and so was Dr Jekyll.

SUE TOWNSEND The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole, 1984

Under normal circumstances Bruce was a happy drinker, not one of those sad Jekyll and Hyde characters who turn into social psychopaths with their third glass.

BEN ELTON Popcorn, 1996

Clark Kent and Superman Clark Kent appears to be a shy bespectacled reporter for the Daily Planet newspaper. However, when trouble threatens he transforms himself into Superman, a superhero from the planet Krypton who is able to fly and has superhuman strength. Originally a US comic book character, Superman has also appeared in a series of successful films. Clark Kent's transformation takes place out of sight and typically in a telephone box, from which he emerges fully garbed in cape and tights as Superman.

'Fire away,' he said, all business. We might just have met. I was impressed by this Clark Kent-like transformation: from admirer to news hound in half a minute, and no need to pop into a telephone booth.

LAUREN HENDERSON The Black Rubber Dress, 1997

Lot's wife According to Gen. 19: 24, God destroyed the towns of Sodom and

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commit oneself to changing to a new course, leaving no possibility of turning back.

He had crossed his Rubicon—not perhaps very heroically or dramatically, but then it is only in dramas that people act dramatically.

SAMUEL BUTLER The Way of All Flesh, 1903

Another depressing development for Laurence is that his children know about the split now. I think that's a kind of Rubicon as far as he's concerned. As long as they didn't know, there was always the possibility that he and Sally might get back together again with no serious damage done, no embarrassment, no loss of face.

DAVID LODGE Therapy, 1995

Rumpelstiltskin In the Grimms' fairy story, a miller claims that his daughter can spin straw into gold. The king locks the girl into a room with a pile of straw and a spinning wheel, promising to marry her if she can accomplish the task. Rumpelstiltskin appears and spins the straw into gold, asking for her necklace in payment. He performs this feat for the girl twice more, requiring in payment first her ring and then, when she has no more jewellery, her first child.

If his father had been a demonstrative man, if he had been able to show the affection for Sonny that he almost certainly felt, it would have been easier. But for Alex, affection was swamped, always, by the apprehension that something Sonny did might diminish the standing of his father in the eyes of the school. Like Rumpelstiltskin, Sonny spun gold out of straw. He developed a charm and an assurance—not to mention a talent for cricket—that eventually won the other boys' respect.

MICHELLE SPRING Running for Shelter, 1994

because she was convinced he was Rumpelstiltskin, the man who could spin twenty- four-carat gold out of the dry straw of her life.

VAL MCDERMID The Wire in the Blood, 1997

Saul/Paul Saul of Tarsus, a persecutor of the Christians, became known as Paul after his conversion to Christianity on the road to Damascus. • See DAMAS-

CUS (THE ROAD TO).

'You start Saul, and end up Paul,' my grandfather had often said. 'When you're a youngun, you Saul, but let life whup your head a bit and you starts to trying to be Paul—though you still Sauls around on the side!

RALPH ELLISON Invisible Man, 1952

I remember a dramatic scene. I was Paul on the road to Damascus... I was walking towards the museum along Fifth Avenue, thirty blocks, because there was a victory parade . . . I kept walking, and there was a long-haired kid, nearer the bleachers, being assailed by this guy. The guy was yelling from the top of the bleachers: 'You guys ought to be eliminated. In a democracy like this, you're not fit.' I stopped and thought: If this is what Vietnam is doing to us, it's time it was over. I was anti-war from that day on.

STUDS TERKEL American Dreams: Lost and Found, 1980

Superman • See CLARK KENT

Ugly Duckling In Hans Christian Andersen's fairy story The Ugly Duckling (1846), a cygnet in a brood of ducklings is mocked by the other ducks and hens for his drab appearance. He runs away, struggles through the winter,