Pale Fire: Illustrated Sports Illustrated Sports Pale Fire Journal | Page 15

Kinbote being one and the same as the exiled King Charles. In fact, there is an
eyewitness account of “being seated within a few yards of the royal box at a
Sport Festival in Onhava…we have a photograph of him at home” (265). This ac-
count was given upon this man laying eyes on Kinbote and immediately recog-
nizing him as the exiled king. In this same conversation Shade knowingly said
“kings do not die – they only disappear, eh Charles” (266), and smiled to him-
self because he figured out Kinbote’s secret. In fact, at a later date he told him
he “guessed [his] secret quite some time ago” (288). After the death of Shade,
Kinbote informatively states that he “may sail back to [his] recovered king-
dom” (301) of Zembla, where he is better known as King Charles. Judges and
fans, we ask you to consider this complexity while you watch the game.
Announcer: This will be one tough match and I know we are all on the edge of
our seats, so…LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
*people/imaginary people/lunatics/half-people play ping-pong*
Judges: Wow! What an amazing day. After long and hard deliberation, we have
come to you with a decision. First, we are upset to announce that we must dis-
qualify Team Etobnik and Lezah on the basis that they cheated at the game.
They had too much in common with Team Couplets but not as much to back
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