What does the sixpence = ?

[tar-ancalime]

it's surprising how few people really think about current critical theory while they write fiction.

NO!!! Shocking.

For what it's worth (sixpence?), Shippey didn't create this little analogy out of whole cloth. It's a Buddhist story, and I think the meaning is rather different in that context. I seem to recall that the monk looking for the key (to his house, which he'd lost) in the light is the one on the right path: the idea is that it is the seeking of the key that is important, and ever finding it (or not) is utterly beside the point.

Please, please correct me if you've got a better interpretation of this story--like most of the Buddhist stories I've read, this one leaves me scratching my head a little.