Tripping the light fandango

Tripping the light fandango

You encounter a large, ghostly stone face in Whitey's grove. You inspect it, and find it to be a slightly-too-dark shade of pale.

A flick of the wrist, a quick incantation, and all is resolved.

You gain 20 Mysteriousness.

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Occurred at Whitey's Grove.

References

• The adventure title and description cite Procul Harem's 1967 hit A Whiter Shade of Pale, specifically the lyrics "We skipped the light Fandango" and "That her face, at first just ghostly / Turned a whiter shade of pale." What those lyrics actually mean, however, is still anyone's guess.
• The title also references the phrase, 'tripping the light fantastic'. The phrase is thought to originate from a poem by John Milton, L'Allegro, with the words, "Come, and trip it, as you go / On the light fantastic toe." (The best-known example of the exact phrase, however, is from the 1894 song "The Sidewalks of New York": "Boys and girls together / Me and Mamie O'Rourke / tripped the light fantastic / on the sidewalks of New York.") In context, it means to dance lightly and with extravagance, as 'trip' at one point meant move nimbly or to dance.
• Combining the two references yields the title, 'Tripping the light fandango', although it might have yielded 'skipping the light fantastic'.
• In Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox invites Trillian to "Trip the light fantastic." Although, we have already confirmed this is from an older instance of the phrase. Of course, it's likely that Jick thinks of one line in Hitchhiker's Guide before thinking of where that phrase in that book originated. Possible, but unlikely.