"What?"
"Which. Version?" Autor repeats. "Which version of The Prince and the Raven have you already covered and which version do you want to look at now?"
"There...there's more than one?"
Even Fakir has to wince at himself before Autor's exasperated sigh.
"My god, this is what you're working on for your thesis and you don't even know those bare basics? You should stick with ballet exclusively."
"Are you just going to rub my ignorance in my face or are you actually going to help?"
"Hmph. Fine."
With that, Autor retreats into the bookshelves. When he returns, he's carrying at least a dozen books. Fakir's eyes widen at the stack.
"All of these are...?"
Autor snorts. "No. But if you're covering The Prince and the Raven, you'll have to cover some other works with it. Especially where Drosselmeyer's version is concerned."
The music student takes a book from the top of one stack and sets it in front of Fakir with a heavy thump. Sure enough, it's Drosselmeyer's Prinz und Rabe.
"Who else wrote The Prince and the Raven?"
"Perrault wrote a story with the same basic story and elements. That inspired a salon piece by Madame d'Aulnoy," Autor explains, adjusting his glasses. "Those stories are experiencing a renewed popularity since they're more complete and self-contained than Drosselmeyer's mess of a tale. But Drosselmeyer has his share of fans with his fairy tale universe."
"You're a real Drosselmeyer fan, aren't you?" Fakir asks, fingers curled in front of his mouth to better hide his knowing expression.
Autor coughs and adjusts his glasses.
"Hn. What's this about a fairy tale universe?"
The musician, grateful for the shift in topic, goes back to the stacks and retrieves three books. "The characters in Prinz und Rabe, as Drosselmeyer wrote it, are composite characters."
He sets the books out before Fakir, two on Arthurian legend and one on Swan Lake.
"Would you believe Drosselmeyer's Knight is from the family that keeps the Holy Grail? Or that his brother-in-law was nearly doomed to the same fate as Odette?"