Johns had learned about the legend from his friend, mythographer Joseph Campbell. In one story, the hero must spend the night on a "perilous bed" whose wheels rest on a floor of slick, polished jasper. Every time he approaches the bed, it ricochets off the walls and across the floor. After finally getting on the bed, the hero is pelted with arrows and attacked by a "burly churl" and a lion. The legend seems to stand for the pitfalls of the erotic life.

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