A fascinating, vengeance-themed episode here, containing allusions to Old Testament figures and featuring a quote from of one of history's most famous philosopher-poets.
Omar Khayyam, born in 11th Century Persia, used "The Bird of Time" as a metaphor for the fleeting nature of Life, exhorting us to savour fully it while we can.
A gentleman named Stryker, whom Paladin finds hanging by the wrists (and saves from a slow and agonizing death) wants to "savour" only one more thing in his so-called twilight years: shooting Ahab Tyson, the fugitive who killed Stryker's sole brother.
Tyson, the object of Paladin's arrest warrant, is now a sheep farmer whose only employee is a mysterious youth armed with an archaic- style slingshot; Tyson is wounded in an ambush launched by Stryker and his hirelings before Paladin can drive them off.
Paladin gets Tyson to a nearby Veterinarian who "has patched up more human animals than the other kind", and learns that Tyson, because of his wound and his age, hasn't much earthly time left either. Tyson also has something he longs to "savour" -- a trip to the town where he left his beloved wife, and where he committed the killings for which he was slated to hang. Paladin and the Veterinarian (a bit of an Irish fatalist) see that Tyler gets his final wish.
In the end only two men walk away, and one of them, Paladin, muses on the closing lines of Khayyam's most famous verse. The Bird of Time may indeed have "only a short way to flutter" -- but manages some amazing aerobatics before it lands!
Omar Khayyam, born in 11th Century Persia, used "The Bird of Time" as a metaphor for the fleeting nature of Life, exhorting us to savour fully it while we can.
A gentleman named Stryker, whom Paladin finds hanging by the wrists (and saves from a slow and agonizing death) wants to "savour" only one more thing in his so-called twilight years: shooting Ahab Tyson, the fugitive who killed Stryker's sole brother.
Tyson, the object of Paladin's arrest warrant, is now a sheep farmer whose only employee is a mysterious youth armed with an archaic- style slingshot; Tyson is wounded in an ambush launched by Stryker and his hirelings before Paladin can drive them off.
Paladin gets Tyson to a nearby Veterinarian who "has patched up more human animals than the other kind", and learns that Tyson, because of his wound and his age, hasn't much earthly time left either. Tyson also has something he longs to "savour" -- a trip to the town where he left his beloved wife, and where he committed the killings for which he was slated to hang. Paladin and the Veterinarian (a bit of an Irish fatalist) see that Tyler gets his final wish.
In the end only two men walk away, and one of them, Paladin, muses on the closing lines of Khayyam's most famous verse. The Bird of Time may indeed have "only a short way to flutter" -- but manages some amazing aerobatics before it lands!
