No. 121. Cynar. All week he'd been working at his stylized artichoke. It was made of wood covered thinly with plaster and then cloaked up in so much resin it was almost slippery to the touch. Although he greatly enjoyed the bitter Italian liqueur, Cynar, the origins of the piece actually lay in his enchantment with the ancient Greek story of a girl from the island of Zinari who, inadvertently awakening the libidinous appetites of the insatiable Zeus, was carried her off to his airy Olympian boudoir as a plaything during times of his wife Hera's absences. The girl's name was Cynara. As the story goes, poor Cynara grew homesick for her family and, ignoring the high honour Zeus had seemingly bestowed upon her, fled back to her parents. Zeus was predictably angry and turned Cynara into a perennial thistle--the artichoke.