Two Hearts (story)

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"Two Hearts" is a novelette written by Peter S. Beagle to be a coda to The Last Unicorn.

Unlike The Last Unicorn, "Two Hearts" is written in first person from the point of view of Sooz, a nine-year old girl who finds her town plagued by a Griffin. Set when King Lir is nearing the end of his years, this story addresses themes of immortality and mortality, life and death, heroics, memory, love, and the order of things.

Two Hearts was first published as the cover story of the October/November 2005 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

It is the 2006 winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novelette, and has been nominated as a short fiction finalist for the World Fantasy Award.

[edit] Plot summary

A young girl named Sooz lives in a village plagued by a griffin who has preyed on the village's sheep and goats for years, but has recently started killing children as well. Sooz embarks on a quest to recruit the King to save her village, and on the way runs into Schmendrick and Molly Grue from The Last Unicorn. Upon reaching the king's castle they find an aged Lir, who on first glance might not seem up to the task of slaying a griffin. Lir adventually accepts the mission and sets off with only the three already mentioned, and no guard or retinue. A great battle takes place in the Midwood and the ending is quite unexpected in a number of ways.

[edit] The metaphor of Two Hearts

The "two hearts" of the title literally represent the two hearts of the griffin: one lion, one eagle. Both must be pierced in order to defeat the beast. But metaphorically the title points to several other sets of hearts: Sooz and her dog, Malka, one heart beating against the other (which isn't); Schmendrick and Molly Grue; and the hearts of the unicorn and Lir. Lir and the unicorn, in human form once called Amalthea, had a cross-fantastical love perhaps unique to Beagle's original work. In this story Lir shows many sign of age and perhaps "unicorn withdrawl," while it would seem that the unicorn herself still has not entirely lost her human experience. Lir and Amalthea still seem connected, and Lir's own "immortality" will rest in the Unicorn forever, as is mentioned in the first book.

[edit] Beagle's reluctance to write

In the introduction to "Two Hearts" in the story collection The Line Between, Peter S. Beagle discusses his decades-long reluctance to write any sequel to The Last Unicorn.