Elendil
Guess they are both protecting the cups, and their contents. from harm.
Experiments with "Eye Rhythms" in the Dodal
Herzog
Elendil said:
That makes a lot of sense. One stands guard while the other defends and protects. Very nice
Elendil
Herzog said:
Especially if a lot has been invested in the cups and their contents. The cups are protected in the image on their own card by those vine-like enclosures ('cultivated' around them) and since there are nine of them there has been abundant increase. None of this has happened without effort or engagement.
The phrase 'They will beat their swords into plowshares' (Isaiah 2:4) springs to mind...
FWIW.
Elendil
Rasa
maybe the knight and the king are the same person, younger and older versions?
I see the wise face of the king on the shoulder of the knight; it's already part of him, though he may not be listening to it.
The knight's sword is poised to pierce aggressively, a sharp tongue maybe? He doesn't know how to talk to people. The king holds it vertical; ready and proper, and gazes towards all those cups.. maybe the cups are also a part of him (the rhyming flowers on cups and clothing), maybe he is trying to not be overwhelmed by a lot of emotions or relationships. He is trying to process those emotional things with his mind and his words, but they threaten to overwhelm him.
His younger self might have ran away, but perhaps all those cups have piled up and can no longer be turned away from.
I see the wise face of the king on the shoulder of the knight; it's already part of him, though he may not be listening to it.
The knight's sword is poised to pierce aggressively, a sharp tongue maybe? He doesn't know how to talk to people. The king holds it vertical; ready and proper, and gazes towards all those cups.. maybe the cups are also a part of him (the rhyming flowers on cups and clothing), maybe he is trying to not be overwhelmed by a lot of emotions or relationships. He is trying to process those emotional things with his mind and his words, but they threaten to overwhelm him.
His younger self might have ran away, but perhaps all those cups have piled up and can no longer be turned away from.
conversus
the most striking of the Rhymes to me is that the King and Knight are mirror images of each other--on two levels : one in repose ; one in action. The King bears Justice's Sword upright in his right hand, while the Knight bears his Sword in his Left. This suggests to me seriously focused effort.
The King sits enthroned <doing all that justice> while all the while cognizant of the emotional or spiritual fullness towards his left.
The King seems unusually flanked by heart-action.
The outcome ; the goal ; the prize ; the capital in question seems to be be great emotional/spiritual fullness.
Was there a model question posed?
CED
Edited to add : Rasa, I wish I had put it that way!
The King sits enthroned <doing all that justice> while all the while cognizant of the emotional or spiritual fullness towards his left.
The King seems unusually flanked by heart-action.
The outcome ; the goal ; the prize ; the capital in question seems to be be great emotional/spiritual fullness.
Was there a model question posed?
CED
Edited to add : Rasa, I wish I had put it that way!
Rasa
thank you... and I like the way that you put it, too. 
Le Fanu
erm... no. But isn't it amazing how just that juxtaposition of an upright sword then a tilting sword, on which much of this reading hangs, can be so full of significance? It is like the hinge of the whole reading, I think.conversus said:
Elendil
Le Fanu said:
A sword is a sword is a sword - but it is how it is used and for what it is used that counts...
Le Fanu
But just a slight tilt can mean so much.
Herzog
Le Fanu said:
Absolutely. Once you point a sword at someone, you better plan on using it
