Absalom and Achitophel advice of the double agent Hushai over the good advice of Achitophel. Achitophel, realising that the rebellion is doomed to failure, goes home and hangs himself. Absalom is killed (against David's explicit commands) after getting caught by his hair in the thick branches of a great oak tree: "His head caught fast in the oak, and he was left hanging between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on" (NRSV 2 Sam. 18:9). The death of his son, Absalom, causes David enormous personal grief. A second allegory in the poem, beginning on line 425, is the
Son of the Tree Son of the Tree Son of the Tree is a science fiction novella by Jack Vance. It was first published in "Thrilling Wonder Stories" magazine, June 1951, and in book form as half of an Ace Double in 1964 together with "The Houses of Iszm". The version that appears in the Ace Double is still less than novel length at about 31,000 words, but is essentially the same as the original magazine version. "Son of the Tree" was re-published as a stand-alone volume in 1974 by Mayflower. One of Vance's earliest efforts, and part science fiction, part espionage story, protagonist