Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2019 6:27:31 GMT -5
The ninth clue, as expected, is contained in the last stanza.
The instruction “hear me all” is the key. It tells us that the solution to the clue involves one or more homophones.
A second homophone provides a confirmer.
Brave …hear” yields “brave hair.” Male Native Americans frequently braid their hair.
While we now have our last clue, some additional entertaining confirmers remain.
In the book, the last sentence before the poem starts is:
“So I wrote a poem containing nine clues that if followed precisely, will lead to the end of my rainbow and the treasure:”
If you take the first letters of the clue, you get BOW, which happens to correspond to the end of the rainBOW and, perhaps, Forrest taking a final BOW to his audience.
Going one step further, the very end of RAINBOW is W. Now go back to the first clue: Begin it where . Thus the puzzle begins and ends with a W. (Recall that the final illustration has the 23 tree stumps. W is the 23d letter of the alphabet.)
This reminds us of Forrest’s fondness for this quote by T.S. Eliot:
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
The solution to the poem, both literally and figuratively, is circular.
The first letters anagram to “GOOD EARTH.” Moreover, if we use our cleaver one last time and cut off the terminal H and replace it in front of EART, we get “GOOD HEART.”
In short, Forrest is sharing with us his love for both the natural world and for the special people in his life. The poem contains multiple references to his family, but some take a little work to find or assemble. One clever example involves reorganizing the capital letters and winding up with, among other things, PB & J. This is a loving reference to his late brother (Skippy) and sister June.
The last two clue letters can be replaced with OS, and it follows that the last four letters spell TAOS, another place that Forrest has always cherished. Perhaps with a mind towards the annoying requirement of the substitution of OO with OS, Forrest, at one point, showered us with a number of clues with two Os.
You climb up to Hanging Lake. When you arrive, you will be at the southern end of the lake on a boardwalk you can see with Google Earth. Presumably you circle around counterclockwise a bit and seek out a rocky path that will take you east ten paces, perhaps to a secluded area not visible from above. You turn 45 degrees to your right and see a blue cloth. Near to it will be a piece of wood or log and reach inside the knot. (By the way, T with OLGA anagrams to AT LOG, and Forrest's repeated references to LOGIC bring to mind LOGIC >>> I C LOG >>> I see log.) You are now, quite literally, in the wood. Out will come your title to the gold, perhaps something woven in a braid.
“But where is the chest?” you ask.
The answer lies in the tenth, and final, clue.
Happy Easter!
The instruction “hear me all” is the key. It tells us that the solution to the clue involves one or more homophones.
We start with
If you are brave and in the wood
and convert this to:
U R BRAVE IN WOOD
This anagrams to:
OUR WOVEN BRAID
A second homophone provides a confirmer.
Brave …hear” yields “brave hair.” Male Native Americans frequently braid their hair.
While we now have our last clue, some additional entertaining confirmers remain.
In the book, the last sentence before the poem starts is:
“So I wrote a poem containing nine clues that if followed precisely, will lead to the end of my rainbow and the treasure:”
If you take the first letters of the clue, you get BOW, which happens to correspond to the end of the rainBOW and, perhaps, Forrest taking a final BOW to his audience.
Going one step further, the very end of RAINBOW is W. Now go back to the first clue: Begin it where . Thus the puzzle begins and ends with a W. (Recall that the final illustration has the 23 tree stumps. W is the 23d letter of the alphabet.)
This reminds us of Forrest’s fondness for this quote by T.S. Eliot:
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
The solution to the poem, both literally and figuratively, is circular.
We are now finished with the poem.
The first clue is Glenwood Springs.
The second clue is Route 70.
The third clue is Dead Horse Creek.
The fourth clue is Hanging Lake.
The fifth clue is East ten paces on a rocky path.
The sixth clue is Turn SE.
The seventh clue is Azure cloth.
The eighth clue is Owl nook.
The ninth clue is Our woven braid.
The first letters anagram to “GOOD EARTH.” Moreover, if we use our cleaver one last time and cut off the terminal H and replace it in front of EART, we get “GOOD HEART.”
In short, Forrest is sharing with us his love for both the natural world and for the special people in his life. The poem contains multiple references to his family, but some take a little work to find or assemble. One clever example involves reorganizing the capital letters and winding up with, among other things, PB & J. This is a loving reference to his late brother (Skippy) and sister June.
The last two clue letters can be replaced with OS, and it follows that the last four letters spell TAOS, another place that Forrest has always cherished. Perhaps with a mind towards the annoying requirement of the substitution of OO with OS, Forrest, at one point, showered us with a number of clues with two Os.
Examples include:
300
Toledo
Ohio
Old outhouses
Idaho or Utah
(The sixth and seventh clues are pretty much on top of one another, and it is possible that their order should be reversed. This would not have much of an impact on finding the treasure, but would result in the last four letters reading AT OO. This might correspond to having reached the end/colophon, which is a double Omega.)
So there you have it.
You climb up to Hanging Lake. When you arrive, you will be at the southern end of the lake on a boardwalk you can see with Google Earth. Presumably you circle around counterclockwise a bit and seek out a rocky path that will take you east ten paces, perhaps to a secluded area not visible from above. You turn 45 degrees to your right and see a blue cloth. Near to it will be a piece of wood or log and reach inside the knot. (By the way, T with OLGA anagrams to AT LOG, and Forrest's repeated references to LOGIC bring to mind LOGIC >>> I C LOG >>> I see log.) You are now, quite literally, in the wood. Out will come your title to the gold, perhaps something woven in a braid.
“But where is the chest?” you ask.
The answer lies in the tenth, and final, clue.
Happy Easter!
