The Fifth Head of Cerberus and Mr. Million, adding that its "unseen" heads are his brother David as fourth and, by implication, the fifth and final the narrator's own. Following this logic, the title of the novella therefore refers to the narrator himself, whose story we read. Further parallels between the narrator's family and the mythology of Cerberus can be drawn in numerous other ways throughout this novella. For example, a statue of this mythological creature exists at the front, or "gates" of their family home, which is itself located at 666 Saltimbanque, this number having associations with the underworld dating back to the Greek
Rebellion of the Three Guards Rebellion of the Three Guards The Rebellion of the Three Guards (), or less commonly the Wu Geng Rebellion, was a civil war, instigated by an alliance of discontent Zhou princes, Shang loyalists, vassal states and non-Chinese peoples against the Zhou government under the Duke of Zhou's regency in the latter 11th century BC. After the fall of the Shang dynasty, King Wu of Zhou had appointed his brothers Guanshu, Caishu and Huoshu as the "Three Guards" of the East to secure the newly conquered Shang lands. After his death and his young son King Cheng's coronation, King Wu's brother