Codex text
Simple bunks in the style of the Three Little Empresses, the triplets who were not triplets. Humble in their youths, but a symbol of something more sinister, it was rumored that Empress Merise (6:19 to 6:43 Steel) had given birth to one child, but adopted two look-alikes to protect the lineage from assassination. Wise in a way, but it presented other problems, if we're to believe the outcome of the popular children's skipping rhyme that we associate with the time:
Three little empresses, which of them is true?
A simple glass of almond tea and now there's only two.
Two little empresses, which will be undone?
A dagger from beneath a cloak and now there's only one.
One little empress child, reaping what was sown,
Only she knows which she was, and now she's on the throne.
—Excerpted and torn from A Disposable Walking Tour of the Capital by Philliam, a Bard!