Kangaroo mouse. Muad’dib. An animal admired by the Fremen, seen as a figure on the planet’s second moon, as well as a constellation. A cunning earth-spirit hopping through their mythology. This diminutive creature can teach all of us lessons in desert survival. The Fremen word can mean “the mouse” but also “the Teacher”.
Muad’dib has a more personal connotation for me — less scholarly, less explainable. If you stare into mirror long enough, disassociation sets in. The face you see becomes a stranger. You float out of your body and identity. I feel the same disassociation when I look at muad’dib. Something uncanny. As if, in another time, another reality, it’s the symbol of…
No. I lost it. It’s on the tip of my mind, but the harder I grip it, the more it escapes like sand through squeezing fingers.