(To Dungeon Bunny)
Yes, as did I. (There is no Mr. Kermit Shog, btw. There never was. )

Here is the letter (which you can find via smorgenstern.pkmoutl.net/thebook.html ) :

"Dear Reader,

Thank you for sending in, and, no, this is not the reunion scene, because of a certain roadblock named Kermit Shog.

As soon as bound books were ready, I got a call from my lawyer, Charley--(you may not remember, but Charley's the one I called from California to go down in the blizzard and buy The Princess Bride from the used-book dealer). Anyway, he usually begins with Talmudic humor, wisdom jokes, only this time he just says, "Bill, I think you better get down here, "and before I'm even allowed a 'why?' he adds, "Right away if you can."

Panicked, I zoom down, wondering who could have died, did I flunk my tax audit, what? His secretary lets me into his office and Charley says, "This is Mr. Shog, Bill."

And there he is, sitting in the corner, hands on his briefcase, looking exactly like an oily version of Peter Lorre. I really expected him to say, "Give me the Falcon, you must, or I'll be forced to keeel you."

"Mr. Shog is a lawyer," Charley goes on. And this next was said underlined: "He represents the Morgenstern estate."

Who knew? Who could have dreamed such a thing existed, an estate of a man dead at least a million years that no one ever heard of over here anyway? "Perhaps you will give me the Falcon now, "Mr. Shog said. That's not true. What he said was, "Perhaps you will like a few words with your client alone now," and Charley nodded and out he went, and once he was gone I said, "Charley, my god I never figured--"and he said, "Did Harcourt?"* and I said, "Not that they ever mentioned" and he said, "Ooch," the grunting sound lawyers make when they know they've backed a loser. "What does he want?" I said. "A meeting with Mr. Jovanovich," Charley answered.

Now, William Jovanovich is a pretty busy fella, but it's amazing when you're confronted with a potential multibillion-dollar lawsuit how fast you can wedge in a meeting. We trooped over.

All the Harcourt Brass was there, I'm there, Charley; Mr. Shog, who would sweat in an igloo he's so swarthy, is streaming. Harcourt's lawyer started things: "We're terribly terribly sorry, Mr. Shog. It's an unforgivable oversight, and please accept our sincerest apologies." Mr. Shog said, "That's a beginning, since all you did was defame and ridicule the greatest modern master of Florinese prose who also happened to be for many years a friend of my family." Then the business head of Harcourt said, "All right, how much do you want?"

Biiiig mistake. "Money?" Mr. Shog cried. "You think this is petty blackmail that brings us together? Resurrection is the issue, sir. Morgenstern must be undefiled. You will published the original version." And now a look at me. "In the unabridged form."

I said, "I'm done with it, I swear. True, there's just the reunion scene business we printed up, but there's not liable to be a rush on that, so it's all past as far as I'm concerned." But Mr. Shog wasn't done with me: "You, who dared to defame a master' characters are going to put your words in their mouths? Nossir. No. I say." "It's just a little thing, " I tried; " a couple pages only."

Then Mr. Jovanovich started talking softly. "Bill, I think we might skip sending out the reunion scene just now, don't you think?" I made a nod. Then he turned to Mr. Shog. "We'll print the unabridged. You're a man who is interested in immortality for his client, and there aren't as many of you around in publishing as there used to be. You're a gentleman, sir." "Thank you," from Mr. Shog; "I like to think I am, at least on occasion." For the first time, he smiled. We all smiled. Very buddy-buddy now. Then, an addendum from Mr. Shog: "Oh. Yes. Your first printing of the unabridged will be 100,000 copies."


So far, there are thirteen lawsuits, only eleven involving me directly. Charley promises nothing will come to court and that eventually Harcourt will publish the unabridged. But legal maneuvering takes time. The copyright on Morgensterns runs out in early '78, and all of you who wrote in are having your names put alphabetically on computer, so whichever happens first, the settlement or the year, you'll get your copy.

The last I was told, Kermit Shog was willing to come down on his first printing provided Harcourt agreed to published the sequel to The Princess Bride, which hasn't been translated into English yet, much less published here. The title of the sequel is: Buttercup's Baby: S. Morgenstern's Glorious Examination of Courage Matched Against the Death of the Heart.

I'd never heard of it, naturally, but there's a Ph.D. candidate in Florinese Lit up at Columbia who's going through it now. I'm kind of interested in what he has to say.
--William Goldman


P.S. I'm really sorry about this, but you know the story that ends, "disregard previous wire, letter follows?" Well, you've got to disregard the business about the Morgenstern copyright running out in '78. That was a definite boo-boo but Mr. Shog, being Florinese, has trouble, naturally, with our numbering system. The copyright runs out in '87,, not '78.

Worse, he died. Mr. Shog I mean. (Don't ask how could you tell. It was easy. One morning he just stopped sweating, so there it was.) What makes it worse that the whole affair is now in the hands of his kid, named--wait for it--Mandrake Shog. Mandrake moves with all the verve and speed of a lizard flaked out on a river bank.

The only good thing that's happened in this whole mess is I finally got a shot at reading Buttercup's Baby. Up at Columbia they feel it's definitely superior to The Princess Bride in satirical content. Personally, I don't have the emotional attachment to it, but it's a helluva story, no question.

Give it a look-see when you have a chance.

--August, 1978


P.P.S. This is getting humiliating. Have you been reading in the papers about the trade problems America is having with Japan? Well, maddening as this may be, since it reflects on the reunion scene, we're also having trade problems with Florin which, it turns out, is our leading supplier of Cadminium which, it also turns out, NASA is panting for.

So all Florence-American litigation, which includes the thirteen law suits, has officially been put on hold.

What this means is that the reunion scene, for now, is caught between our need for Cadmium and diplomatic relations between the two countries.

But at least the movie got made. Mandrake Shog was shown it, and word reached me he even smiled once or twice. Hope springs eternal.

--May, 1987"

This info. can also be found there:

"Some people don't seem to appreciate Goldman's abridger's notes. I guess that most of the time this stems from the fact that they think Morgenstern is real and that Goldman's commentary is intrusive. Even knowing it's all Goldman, though, some people still think the asides get in the way of the story. I don't understand these people. I love the fabricated reminiscing, the legal issues, and the insights on his supposed home life. I think it was a brilliant way to frame his story. Keeps the reader straddling fantasy and reality."

"Goldman doesn't have a fat son named Jason or a genius shrink wife named Helen. He was married to Ilene Jones, who seems to have taken most of the pictures of him that appear on the backs of his books. They had two daughters, and it's from these daughters, Jenny and Susanna (seven and four years old at the time, respectively), that the inspiration for The Princess Bride originated. He asked them what they'd like him to write a story about. One said "princesses" and the other said "brides".

"Then that will be the title" he told them."

Found this on Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Goldman ):

"Simon Morgenstern is a pseudonym, a narrative device invented by him to add another layer to The Princess Bride. Goldman claims S. Morgenstern is the original Florinese author of The Princess Bride and credits himself merely as an abridger who is bringing the classic to an American audience. Goldman also wrote The Silent Gondoliers under Morgenstern's name."

Sorry to burst your bubble. Just thought you should know.