The banker
There is a banker in "The Prophet's Hair" who comes into possession of a holy relic. He quickly appreciates the infinite worth of such a possession, but in his mind, it becomes difficult for him to fathom his real life. He realizes that he does not have what it takes to keep an object of infinite worth, nor does he have the self-control to get rid of it. To preserve his mind so as not to go insane, he hires a thief to steal it from him when he is not aware.
Yorick
Alas, poor Yorick! This fellow of infinite jest is Hamlet's own jester. This is the man who dies in the turning tides of Danish politics, leading to that iconic scene in Hamlet when the young man holds up the dead skull of Yorick. This is a story written through conjecture as to what it might have been like for young Hamlet to have a court jester who meant a lot to him. In this story, the trickster is responsible for much more than entertainment. Yorick's tale is archetypal.
Christopher Columbus
In "Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabella of Spain Consummate Their Relationship," Christopher is still waiting to hear back a response from the queen as to whether or not she will furnish the supplies for his westward voyage. The unspoken joke is suggested by the title: Christopher is secretly worried not about his voyage but about his own self-esteem. To be rejected by the queen would reflect poorly on himself.
Chekov and Sulu
In "Chekov and Sulu," two undercover spies accept these important allusions as their names. Both Pavel Chekov and Hikaru Sulu are from the Star Trek franchise so that on the surface, the story is about discovering through espionage who was responsible for the assassination of Gandhi, but the meta-narrative value is that through Star Trek fandom, a person discovers something true and essential about murder and human death. The story is markedly meta-narrative.
