Cloud Cuckoo Land

Zeno’s Translation. Zeno’s translation of Cloud Cuckoo Land continues to deteriorate, as most of the original text was destroyed before Zeno got his hands on it. However, from what is available, it seems that Aethon is still a crow and is flying around Cloud Cuckoo Land. In particular, the food that is present all over the place amazes him.

Zeno. Back in Idaho, Zeno continues living his mundane life after his brief trip to London. Much of his free time is spent caring for Mrs. Boydstun, whose health has significantly worsened. In his free time, Zeno works on learning Greek using the book Rex gave him. Overall, Zeno is a lousy translator and finds himself struggling to translate even fairly basic passages. Largely, he keeps going because it is the thing that connects him to Rex. Zeno regularly corresponds with Rex, but only to discuss issues of translation. He decides against telling Rex his true feelings, and his letters are almost too professional.

One day, Zeno sends a letter and, for a long time, does not receive a response. He fears he must have done something to alienate Rex and ruin their relationship. However, the news he ultimately receives is far worse. Hillary sends Zeno a short letter letting him know that Rex died of a heart attack in Egypt while working on a new translation. In the letter, Hillary tells Zeno that Rex always felt a special kinship to him.

Rex’s death leaves Zeno feeling numb. In the coming days and weeks, he spends nearly all of his time with Mrs. Boydstun, who is deathly ill. Eventually, after a long struggle, she dies, and Zeno holds a funeral for her. Following her death, Zeno adopts a dog, which he names Luther. Luther keeps Zeno company in his free time, often while Zeno is translating Greek, a practice he continues in honor of Rex.

Konstance. Flashing forward to Konstance’s travels on the Argos, she is on her 276th day inside Vault One. Via the owl drop-box, Konstance finds that she is able to enter a physical version of the Lakeport Public Library. The date of this version of the library is February 20th, 2020. Konstance walks inside the library and looks around. Eventually, she makes her way up to the children’s section on the second floor, which has the set Zeno and the children constructed for their Cloud Cuckoo Land production. On top of the set is Zeno’s name, which Konstance recognizes.

Zeno. Returning to Zeno’s past, Zeno is finally getting better at translating Greek. He has made it through a full book of The Iliad and has translated parts of other notable works of Greek literature and culture. Much time goes by as Zeno continues to teach himself. After many years, Luther dies. After Luther’s death, Zeno gets another dog and names him Nestor. Around this time, Zeno retires and spends all of his free time volunteering at the Lakeport Public Library.

In 2019, Sharif, who knows about Zeno’s interest in Greek language and culture, shows Zeno a newly published article. The article describes an ancient manuscript that was long thought to be indecipherable. However, modern technology has allowed scholars to read it with relative clarity. This particular manuscript originally comes from a library in Urbino. The manuscript makes Zeno think of Rex, who always dreamed of finding lost works of world literature.

Sharif tells Zeno that the manuscript is now available online and offers to get it for him. Zeno happily accepts the offer and begins his translation immediately. Although the project is exciting, Zeno quickly discovers that the task is far more daunting than he realized. He cannot decide on the right word for much of what he comes across and, to make matters worse, much of the manuscript is still missing and out of order.