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NATHAN'S PARABLE AS A TEST OF THE THEORY OF CONCEPTUAL BLENDINGKlopper (1999b: 292-326) uses Natlllln's parable in Turner (1996) as the ideal nanative to testFauconruer and Turner's theory of conceprual blending. Klopper esrablishes that reading the eventsbefore and after Natban's visit to King David along with the parable, we have a surprisingly frankaCcount ofhow David lusted after the wife (Batbsheba) ofone ofhis subjects (Uriah) and how he madeher pregnant. We read how he had the hapless man assassinated so that he could rake her as one of hiswives, and £naIly how he repented and accepted his punishmentwhen confronted with his deceit. it is acompact but powerful tllk: of deceit, rcpcntanee and fmgivcncss. Precisely the elements n:quireddemonstrating how we blend a variety of mental spaces while intexpreting narratives. KJopper showshow a variety of menral spaces intenl.ct in the process of interpreting the parable that Nathan told toDavidNathan tells the parable to David, who asswnes he has got away with deception. When listeningto the parable, David assumes the role of king as judge and pronounces a verdict as if the accused andthe disadv=taged are unknown third parties. Nathan, however, leads Da\Cid to underst=d that he hasascribed the wrong serruuttic roles to the parries. He, David.. is not the judge, but the accused. God isthe judge.Bathsheba is the ewe-lamb and Uriah is the disadvanraged party, not only because Davidestranged his wife from him, but also because he lost his life in the process. David therefore srandsdoubly accu.;ed 0 f adultery and murder.A critical analysis of Fauconruer and Turner's conceptual blending model shows that it IS anappropriate framework to account for a per.;on's cognitrv" capaeity tu interrelate and blend conceptsextracted from his vast conceprual network of knowledge, and to use counterfactual reasoning toconceptualise alternate scenarios ofwhich onc could be the true state ofaffairs, while the other one is aplausible, but false srate of affairs. However, it needs to be adapted in order to account for forms ofnonverbal communication, which accompany and contextualise ,-erbal communication.CoMPUANCE GAININGG