21. Midsummer-2
Oh, what the hell. “Do you know anything about someone named John Barleycorn?” she asks. The archeologist studies her for a moment. “Superficially, a folk character,” she says. “Burns has a poem about him, based on even older poems and songs. A man named John Barleycorn is cut, crushed, burned, and then his blood is drunk by his killers, and it gives them courage and heart.” Poe sees immediately. “So he’s not really a person at all. He’s the plant! Scythed and ground into grain.” “And brewed into delicious beer,” Dr. Davidson says, lifting her own bottle of John Barleycorn’s blood. “It makes for a good drinking song. But in the drinking songs, some might see the imprint of a deeper meaning. An older meaning.” “John Barleycorn is a memory,” Poe murmurs. Dr. Davidson looks surp
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