“I’m fairly certain that I was born in Lyonesse.”
“That’s in France, right?”
“No, you’re thinking of Lyons. Lyonesse is somewhere in Meinong’s Jungle.”
“Oh. I should probably know where that is, huh?”
“Its okay if you don’t. Not many people do. The jungle isn’t really anywhere in particular, nor is it exactly a jungle. It does contain a number of other jungles, though. The best way to put it, I think, is that Meinong’s Jungle simply isn’t.”
It took him a moment to realize that her sentence had ended. “Isn’t what?”
“Isn’t.”
His eyes were visibly strained. “I’m not sure that I follow.”
“Think of it this way. Where we are,“ she gestured widely with her hands, “The universe as we know it, is the place where everything that currently exists is. There is a similar space which, at any given moment, contains everything that doesn’t exist, whether or not it did so previously or someday will. That place is Meinong's Jungle, the tangled mass of everything that isn’t. In fact, it's isn't itself. That’s where I’m from.”
“It contains everything that doesn’t exist? Like, Everything everything?”
“Yep. It’s got everything from Atlantis to Xanadu.”
“Hmm.” He thought for a moment. “If there really is such a fantastical place, then how did you get from there to here?”
She shrugged. “The same way that you did, I suppose.”
Meinong's Jungle must be crossed by all those who travel from one world to another.
Cuttlefish can swim freely between the rivers of Meinong's Jungle and the oceans of Earth.
Meanwhile, the jungle's parrot population has been mysteriously decreasing.