{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/6559", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "urth", "thread": { "id": 6559, "subject": "Short Story 65: Tracking Son", "messages": 4, "voices": 2, "first": "2014-06-08T18:20:23+00:00", "last": "2014-06-08T23:36:59+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Marc Aramini", "address": "marcaramini at gmail.com" }, "date": "2014-06-08T18:20:23+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Short Story 65: Tracking Son", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "TRACKING SONG\n\nThis was published in 1975's* In The Wake of Man* and is included in *The\nIsland of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories.*\n\nBefore we begin, we might as well look at Wolfe’s words about this\nparticular story in a Joan Gordon interview:\n\n“A pivotal story for me is one in which I feel I have succeeded in doing\nwell something I have never really done well before — fairy material in\n?Thag”, a certain religious viewpoint in “Westwind”, the use of second and\nthird person in “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories”, the\nprogression from realism to fantasy in “The Eyeflash Miracles”, even the\nprimitive inventions no one ever actually invented (and which no one now\nnotices) in “Tracking Song”. Just as “Tracking Song” is about uninvented\ninventions of the stone age, “Straw” is about (partly of course) uninvented\ninventions of the middle ages.\n\n“Tracking Song is a wolf totem story, by the way. The protagonist gets his\noriginal orientation from a wolf tribe, then lives in a world in which the\nroles of moose, lion, deer, mink and so on are taken by semi-human beings.\nWolves are winter symbols, or course, and birds symbols of springs.”\n\nThis statement vastly simplifies our guesswork about which groups are\nwhich, so I am going to actually do some basic interpretation of that in\nthe summary. Various Urth List members in the past have speculated on the\nnature of the particular tribes cutthroat encounters, some erroneously, but\nwith Wolfe’s statement it is pretty easy to determine, given the female\ntotem nature of the otter/mink, which tribes are which, even if it might be\nambiguous on a read-through without that interview statement, and the\nWolfewiki seems to be fairly accurate in this regard.\n\n(Wiggiki: Wolves, Lenizee: Deer, Nashwonk: Moose or elk, Mimunka: predatory\ncat such as a lynx, Ketin: Lion, Cim Glowing and Fishcatcher: Mink/Otter,\nPamigaki: Boars, the vampires: cranes/herons [they have blue eyes and are\nunlikely to be bats, and fish with one leg in the water])\n\nSUMMARY:\n\nDAY 1: Cutthroat, so called because of the red mark from ear to ear on his\nthroat, is found in the wake of a Great Sleigh's passing by the Wiggiki\ntribe of hunters. He has a recorder he speaks into and the presentiment\nthat someone may find him dead, “though I do not know why”.\n\nDAY 2: The day begins with the women bringing him possibly medicinal\nsustenance culled from the trees, and Cutthroat indicating he wants to\ncontribute more food than he takes. He familiarizes himself with the\nclub-bow and is surprised at the conglomerate nature of the vegetation, in\nwhich multiple trunks join in a single top. He is deemed too young to hunt\nwith the men, and goes to forage with the women. A screaming “girl” from a\ndifferent tribe distracts them, and Cutthroat uses the clubbow to kill her,\nwith mixed feelings about her beauty and animality. Ketincha, a giant\nlioness-humanoid, is angered that her prey has been taken from her, but\ndoes not attack. Red Kluy, a matron of the Wiggiki, indicates that Ketincha\nand her mate Ketin used to have a son, who has gone away (probably because\nhe reached maturity and could not be part of his father's pride). Cutthroat\neventually eats some of the meat, and realizes his facial hair is growing,\nand disappears to shave so that it does not give him away as significantly\ndifferent.\n\nDAY 3:\n\nCutthroat joins the men in a hunting endeavor to go after the large\nNashwonk, who lives in solitary fashion. Cutthroat comes across the huge,\nlong legged humanoid first, sitting in his chair, which doubles as a weapon\nwith multiple sharp points tied together by “man” sinew. The Wiggiki and\nthe Nashwonk Mankiller engage in combat. The leader of the Wiggikki hunting\nparty, Longknife, manages to hamstring and incapacitate Nashwonk, who does\nsucceed in crippling the Wiggiki Firerock. They succeed in killing the\nNashwonk and creating a sled to transport his meat back to the tribe. Here\na statement by Longknife presages the quest that will dominate Cutthroat's\ndestiny: “after we crossed Nashwonk's path we had to go where he led.” This\nis where Cutthroat begins to obsess about the Great Sleigh's path, with its\ncrushed snow. Longknife indicates that Cutthroat came from that huge\ntraveling vehicle. Longknife has a discussion prompting Cutthroat to leave\nso he is not eaten at this point which brings up the idea of laws, and the\nattitudes of the Great Sleigh as well.\n\n“The people of the Great Sleigh do not agree, but by our ancient law, every\nmeat may be eaten but man's meat — The great law is hunger — those who\nbreak it die.” It is clear the people of the Great Sleigh have at least\nhinted to the Wiggiki to cease consuming other sentient meat. At this point\nLongknife posits that Cutthroat might be cousin to Ketin rather than a\n“man”. Cutthroat bargains his share of Nashwonk's meat for a sail.\n\nDAY 4: Cutthroat returns his clubbow and leaves. He estimates the Great\nSleigh is 60 hours in advance and learns how to sail his sledge. It is\nmentioned that there are two moons in the sky and he digs a hole in the\nsnow after midnight in which to rest.\n\nDAY 5: Cutthroat almost freezes in the night and knows he must never sleep\nthus in the snow again. He finds plants under the snow on an open slope\nfacing south. He cooks them using hot stones, but longs for fat. He runs\ninto the short, porcine Pamigaka, who extend their curved blades in\nfriendship so that he might teach them wisdom.\n\nThey take him to their home and indicate that they eat the prey of Wiggikki\nas the Wiggikki leave them behind in the snow. They serve the largest\nportion of a burrowing animal (the Pummanga) to him. They live in a brush\nlodge that Cutthroat deems less satisfactory than the round skin tents of\nthe Wiggikki. Eggseeker, the chief Pamigaka, indicates that Cutthroat is of\nthe sled, and that they all resemble the Wiggikki, but they are not cruel\nas the Wiggikki are. The possibly lynx-like Mimmunka attacks, bargaining\nfor the weakest of the Pamigaka. He wields a polearm ending in cruel hooks\nmade from ribs.\n\nHere the idea of laws come up again, and Eggseeker mentions that it is\ntheir law to preserve their kind from the beginning. Eggseeker attacks and\nis mortally injured. A younger male named Whiteapple does not go after\nMimmunka as he flees.\n\nWhiteapple reveals the people of the Great Sleigh are letting everyone know\nabout the changing temperature and used their technology that shows a\nprojection of the future planet. They showed a future with the men of the\nGreat Sleigh walking peacefully with the Lenizee and the Pamigaka, but they\nmust not eat foods that are not commonly found, and endangered species such\nas a particular bird which will be disturbed by the climate changes must be\nleft alone. Whiteapple wonders if the law can “reach behind itself” in\nculpability, since they have hunted those birds often. Eggseeker laments\nthat he had not expected to die in front of a fire.\n\nDAY 6: Cutthroat indicates Eggseeker died in the night and the cheerful\nmood of the tribe in anticipation of the funeral feast. Cutthroat leaves\nwhen they begin cutting up his body. He runs into Cim Glowing, a mink or\notter semi-human, running along the track seeking the Great Sleigh. He\nelects not to pass her even though he feels he might catch the Great\nSleigh, and notes the stick which she holds. She jumps aboard with him and\nreveals that she seeks it because her mate Fischcatcher is dead. When she\ncomments on Cutthroat's strength in pushing the sled, he remarks that he\nwas heavier once (gravity from a different planet, no doubt) She reveals\nthat he looks a little bit off from the other people on the Great Sleigh\ndue to his wide mouth and teeth, though perhaps it is just his expression —\nthat he is more like one of them [the semi-human beasts].\n\nThose of the Great Sleigh cured her mate Fishcatcher after she struck him\nin the face with her strange endieva wand (only agreeing to help because\ntheir own presence and the hope she had as a result was causing her\ntorment). Yet no doubt in another cruel mating, she strikes him again and\nkills him, so Cim goes to be a slave and menial for the people of the Great\nSleigh. She is named after something that blows from tree to tree “like a\nsoft star” by her mother, according to her story. Cutthroat speculates he\nwould have overtaken the Sleigh if he didn't pick up Cim. She kills some\nfish by placing the wand in the water. [While she claims it is poisoned,\nthings killed by it are soon safe to touch and eat, and speculation that it\nis electrical in nature has been raised, though this does not fit well with\nWolfe's statement about Stone Age weapons.]\n\nDAY 7: He notes that Cim rekindles the fire several times during the night.\nBoth moons are in the sky when he goes to get more wood, and upon his\nreturn he sees a group of shadows abducting Cim. He strikes one only to\nrealize he strikes metal, and is struck down. He is injured in the chest\nand reposes in the snow for several hours, though he thinks it was “only\nsomething like the blow from a whip or the sting of an insect”. He notes\nthat whatever injured him did not exit his body. He decides to chase Cim\nover the fear that he has been exiled from the Great Sleigh or stolen those\nclothes. He takes Cim's endieva wand, the most puzzling of the semi-human\nweapons on the planet made of wood on the handle with a striking end that\nis “black, with eight or ten stubby projections like thorns, which are\nnearly white”.\n\nDAY 8: Here Cutthroat may lose track of time because of the lack of clear\nday and night. He relates that he killed a snow monkey with the wand by\nhitting it, and it took about half a minute for it to seize up and die.\nHowever, he is still able to eat it. He follows the trail of the kidnappers\ninto the crevice of a cliff. The air in the cave grows gradually warmer\nuntil Cutthroat opens his coveralls. He notes that he feels closer to the\nGreat Sleigh — no doubt because the atmosphere and temperature are similar.\nHe encounters the vampires with their meter long wing spans and fights them\noff with the wand, but his coveralls are ripped along the right forearm.\nThey are described with long webbed fingers, long legs, dark blue eyes, and\ncruel pointed teeth. They stand on one leg and grab fish with the other,\nleading me to believe that they might be closer to herons or cranes than\nbats.\n\nDAY 9: Cutthroat notes the underground towers and buildings with no walls\nor roofs, skeletons of metal. The floor is composed of smooth shingle and\nthe buildings exude light. He encounters silent machines. The towers seem\nto have grown from the floor organically. It is clear that the decay is\nvastly ancient, with even metal rusting away unless it is of a very stable\nalloy. He enters the skeleton of a building and finds a machine balancing\non wheels with hooked and toothed hands, and it responds to him, and it\nspeaks the same language he uses, though it has, as Cutthroat explains,\n“complexities in the pronunciation of certain words that I will not try to\nreproduce.” Cutthroat says it does not seem strange to him to talk to a\nmachine, though he knows Longknife would be terrified — further indication\nthat he truly does belong with the advanced people of the Great Sleigh.\n\nHe asks how long it has stood there and for food. The machine picks him up\nand takes him, scaring a vampire in the process. When the food storage unit\nfails to admit Cutthroat, the machine rips its door open. He retrieves a\nbox of white cubes meant to be dissolved for nourishment and returns to the\ncrevice where he spent the previous night.\n\nDAY 10: By far the longest and most eventful entry, Cutthroat begins by\nnoting that he has three of the machines by the end of the day. He names\nthe first machine Roller and begins the day by descending to encounter one\nof the creatures that took Cim. The creature is partially machine, and the\nendieva wand has no effect on it until he grazes the fleshly cheek, at\nwhich point the creature's eyes lose focus and the “human” part dies. The\nmachine part continues to scrabble after him, reluctant to die. Cutthroat\nleaves and, hot from the struggle, slips his body out of the coverall on\ntop to cool off. He claims this makes the cave comfortable and “now I\nbelieve this was extremely important” - probably because it makes Mantru\nfail to realize that he is from off- world and the Great Sleigh, seeing him\nwithout the atmospheric suit covering him, making Mantru respond\ndifferently to him.\n\nHe soon notices that the ground he walks upon is damp (is this due to his\nbiological presence free from the coveralls, or simply because the Min wash\nit and decorate it with stone flowers at Mantru's bidding?). Only the\nstreet is humid in that way, and he notices “kluy” lying on the street.\nThere are more stone decorative flowers on this street, and he goes to a\ndifferent street to see that it has not been washed, and there are no\nflowers there. In front of him, he sees one of the half-mechanical Min\nlurch out of the building and place a pole with parallel horns in the\ncenter of the street. He takes up the staff, which feels as if he had\ntouched a snake. He resists the urge to drop it and believes that if he had\nhe would have been killed.\n\nThe Min come out en masse and prostrate themselves before him. They take\nhim to a new building made from the salvage of the towers, with spiny\nturrets and balconies. The Min indicate they are taking him to the place of\npurity, and he questions whether they do not consider themselves perfect.\nHe then realizes that they might be the remnants of men. They ask if he\nknows of any women, indicating that Cim Glowing is not a human woman. He\nmeets the fat dwarf Mantru in his cushioned throne room with Cim chained to\nhis chair.\n\nHe notes that Cutthroat will die of a chest wound, and the Min offer to\ntreat him. The dwarf tells them to take and treat his wound and let him\nknow when Cutthroat dies. Cutthroat insists on taking Cim, and the dwarf\nallows it. The Min indicate that they believe on of his lungs is punctured\nand offer to replace it with a mechanical one. Here Cim says, “I think\nthere used to be far fewer of them — but they divided themselves and filled\nthe gaps with those things that are unliving,” which the creature denies.\n\nThe Min tell Cutthroat they bow to Mantru because they believe him to be\nthe last man, but Cutthroat asks how they do not know if a group of true\npeople live outside. Here Cutthroat knows there is something behind his\namnesia, but the Min speculate that he grew up in an isolated valley and\nwatched everyone die “and knew that when the last was gone you would be\nalone, ringed by the beast men who grub roots or gorge themselves on blood.\nAnd at length, when that day came, your mind failed you, and you wandered\naway from your valley and the old woman dead by her fire. Then the Wiggikki\nfound you. Now you are happy, because you see no difference between the\nbeasts and yourself. But we will make you whole again.” [This is\nimplausible for a host of reasons, including his Great Sleigh equipment,\nknowledge of being heavier, and a whole host of other reasons including his\nknowledge of what things like trees should be].\n\nHere the Min indicate Cutthroat has moral force over the beasts, and\nCutthroat denies it. The Min want to heal Cutthroat's perceptions of his\nequality with the beasts, so they take him to battle the lion Kettin.\n\nHowever, they converse rather than battle. Ketin has heard of him from a\nvictim he calls “friend”, and as Ketin approaches to attack, Cutthroat\nwarns him of his weapon and the plot to make him see Cim and Ketin as\ndifferent from himself. Cutthroat knows there must be a trap door in the\nceiling for Mantru's amusement to cast those beneath him into a pit to do\nbattle, and declares the place “pretentious, unplanned, seemingly built on\nwhim, of parts stripped from better buildings put up long before it.\nChildish.”\n\nHere Cutthroat notes that the semi-humans walk on the side of the rooms and\nthe humans like Mantru and he walk in the middle. They climb into the\nthrone room from the opening in the ceiling, Ketin aiding them. They go to\nlook for Ketin and Cim's clothing. They escape into the city and the Min do\nnot pursue them. Cutthroat realizes that the city is a storage facility\nwith the builders once living on the surface. He finds Roller again and\norders him to find more working machines. The two he finds are soon\nnicknamed Dragon and Bug. He sends them in to disassemble the dwarf's\ncastle and find clothes. The Min bargain with him to stop the\ndeconstruction. Here, Cutthroat goes against Cim's agreement with them,\nsaying “She is an animal — her word is not even binding on herself, much\nless on me.” Mantru arrives and orders the machines to stop: “We are the\nonly ones left — you should not have tried to destroy my home.”\n\nCutthroat voices his displeasure at being set up to fight Ketin, and Mantru\nclaims his vizier was behind it, though they knew Cutthroat could kill\nKetin easily. Here Mantru stutters in his desire for the future, and simply\nsays that he hopes a human woman will be brought that they can share. He\nnotes that the beasts are becoming more human.\n\nHere Cutthroat challenges what the dwarf wants (possibly to be fixed or to\nsee the return of those who have gone) and Mantru says, “If you laugh at me\n— I will kill you.” He wants to crush the beasts and erect new cities to\nthe stars. At this point Cutthroat pulls up his tunic and the sight of it\nangers Mantru, thinking that he is being abandoned by those he has hoped\nand waited for. He attacks, and their staffs seem to telescope and\nintertwine. Cutthroat notes the cold — probably because it is powered by\nhis body's own energy. His staff kills the dwarf and drains Mantru. Cim and\nKetin do not see the staves telescope, merely the two men pointing at each\nother with them. The Min will build a tomb for Mantru.\n\nThey flee the city and return to the outside, riding the machines. He\norders the machines to close the cave behind him. Ketin says that he will\nonly follow their quest for the Great Sleigh to kill food for them.\n\nCutthroat finally realizes that when he speaks into the device he is\ncommunicating with the Great Sleigh. “I do not understand why you will not\nspeak to me, but it is enough to know that you are there.”\n\nDAY 11: Cutthroat dreams of being injured by the Min's rocket and when he\nawakes the machine Bug no longer functions. Ketin leaves to hunt for them\nafter they find the track of the Great Sleigh. He brings back a tall\nbeautiful woman for them to eat and wants none for himself. The hole in\nCutthroat's suit from the “vampire” bite allow cold into the entire suit\nand this exacerbates his side wound.\n\nDAY 12: Ketin is gone and he hears the sounds of the Wiggikki tracking\nsong, though sung by another band. He cannot run as fast as he did due to\nhis injury. Cim eats the woman's leg, but Cutthroat lives off the cubes\ntaken from the city. She praises his knife.\n\nDAY 13: Roller and Dragon freeze and cease functioning. The Pamigaka\nWhiteapple joins them. People of the tribes are talking about the quest of\nCutthroat (supposedly followed by monsters — the machines) for the Great\nSleigh and he has followed them. Cutthroat hears the someone walking in the\nnight and keeps his weapon nearby, though it is only the Wiggikki\nCrookedleg. He hears breathing through the black box, and wonders, “Am I\nbeing tested” If I pass, do the right thing, if only once, will you talk to\nme then?\n\nDAY 14: The day seems subconsciously significant to Cutthroat. He was\nplagued with terrible dreams of killing the Min with the endieva wand and\nbeing hailed as king. In the dream he struck over and over but the Min\nwould not die. “I was frantic and ashamed, guilty because I was killing\nsomeone who only wished to be my friend — yet, at the same time, I wanted\nhim to die at once so that no one need know.” He realizes that the Great\nSleigh is picking up speed. He tells Cim and Whiteapple to go alone, but\nthey refuse, and Whteapple forages for herbs so they can eat.\n\nIn the night Cim talks into the black recorder and says that she loves him,\nbut not as she could love Fishcatcher, and that she does not wish to waste\nher life chasing the Sleigh if they cannot overtake it soon, following too\nfar where her rivers and lakes will be gone from the possibility of return\nas the tracks fade behind her. She leaves in the night.\n\nDAY 15: Cutthroat realizes Cim is gone without a struggle and has taken the\nendieva wand. Cutthroat speculates that the power of the staff has made him\nweak, that it draws from some kind of vital life force and that this is\nresponsible too for Mantru's twisted small shape. Crookedleg comes and\nCutthroat is very pleased, though he only spent three days with the\nWiggikki. He reports that Cim was weeping as she left, and this causes\nCutthroat to wish her well. They proceed with Crookedleg's larger sledge.\n\nDAY 16: Cutthroat calls this day the happiest of his life, probably because\nhe left the staff weapon behind.\n\nDAY 17: In light of the increasing warmth, Cutthroat and his group continue\nand have a feast of the small cubes, herbs, and a snow monkey. When he\ncannot sleep, Cutthroat goes outside and sees “a tremendous silvery cloud —\nblotting out the stars — a reflector of bright, finely divided metal dust\nwrapping the night side of the world. The false sun is the reflection of\nthe real sun”, reflecting its light back to the planet.\n\nDAY 18: The temperature is above freezing, and they eventually abandon\ntheir sledge. The water is rapidly melting, and Cutthroat tries to explain\nto his companions what is going on.\n\nDAY 19: Cutthroat gets Crookedleg and Whiteapple to go forward without him\nby showing fear that they will eat him, though they have no intention to do\nso. He wants them to reach the Sleigh and tell them of him, which will be\n“the next best thing to having overtaken [it himself]?. He sees the false\nreflected sun lying on his back. He also sees something large coming, and\nfinishes his narrative with ?I know who you are now. This small planet is\nround, and you have come back, and the time for talking into this black box\nis over. I am going to talk to you face to face. Who is that tall man with\nyou” I think he has — wings?\n\nDISCUSSION:\n\nPROBLEMATIC NAMES: The names of the tribes are a headache to some degree —\nsome seem culled from various Native American and other languages, but\nthere seems no solid “meaning” attached to the majority of them in a way\nthat seems unusual for Wolfe. For example, Ketin is Kurdish for fall, but a\nrandom Kurdish word seems almost coincidental. The others look Native\nAmerican but are perhaps pulled from no set uniform linguistic system.\n(Nash wonk appeared in a translation of the psalms as, I think, He hath,\nbut I am uncertain, and Pami and gaka signify “who” and ?wings? in\ndifferent dialects, little of which makes cogent sense and, I think, might\njustly be called reaching).\n\nIndividual names are much more easy to discuss, some obvious and some based\non geology, with unusual ones like Flashing Aa indicating a form of\nbasaltic lava rock or the name Firerock (problematic names include Red Kluy\nand Cim. Kluy are the stone flowers found underground — is that another\nmineral name like Firerock and Aa?) Incidentally, the cooking stones might\nperhaps be similar to charcoal in their properties, and it seems that the\nKluy flowers underground might contribute to the warmth underground, given\nthe heating and cooking properties of these stones throughout the story\n\nTHE IDENTITY OF CUTTHROAT:\n\nSince Cutthroat begins as a cipher, it seems that it is worthwhile to touch\non who and what he is. Every tribe accepts him almost as one of their own\nat first, especially the Wiggikki. It is only when he grows facial hair\nthat they realize he is not just a juvenile of their tribe, but they still\nwarn him to leave. In light of the scar on his neck, there have been\nseveral explanations posited for his amnesia. Since this is a totem story,\nit certainly plays with some Native American ideas. One possible\ntranslation for the Sioux tribe can mean “cut-throats”, though it is also\nclaimed that “little snakes” is another acceptable translation. I really\ndon't feel that Sioux history casts any light on what is going on in the\nstory, so we will leave this as a vague association, though perhaps the\nSioux Uprising is the most well documented occurrence in our history of the\ntribe.\n\nBack to the story, one of the first things to consider, from his name, is\nthat Cutthroat has actually been cast out as a criminal, Cain style, from\nthe Great Sleigh. Borski's *Long and Short of It* spends most of its focus\non “Tracking Song” on this feature, indicating that he comes from the\neastern lands (east of Eden) and ponders the possibility that he has been\ncast out as a criminal, then drawing parallels with the mark on his neck\nwith the mark that informs biblical people to not kill Cain lest vengeance\nbe revisited upon them seven fold. This does resonate with the idea that in\nthe event that an “enchanted person” is killed, the enchantment will “flee\nup the weapon” to inflict the killer. Borski reads the final winged man as\nthe guardian to the Garden of Eden, keeping the once-murderous Cutthroat\nfrom his earthly paradise. (Borski makes much of the resemblance between\nKetin and Cutthroat, according to the Wiggikki, but does not mention that\nthe Pamigaka note his [and all inhabitants of the Great Sleigh's]\nresemblance to the Wiggikki — perhaps because all of these tribes are\n“semi-human” at this point — they see the echo of humanity in Cutthroat).\nDespite these narrative resonances with the story of Cain, Cutthroat's\ninnate behavior is to shun consuming flesh and to reconcile the different\ntribes as he casts off weapon after weapon, so I have never considered this\nthe best fit for his character. However, he does dwell on the guilt of\nkilling several other semi-humans over the course of the narrative in his\ndreams, living them over and over in dreams, and perhaps this is indicative\nof some form of guilt, and does ponder if this is a test or he is a\ncriminal. Cutthroat deeply regrets the murders that he commits through\nnecessity over the course of the story, yet Borski's schema rather\nprecludes the idea of redemption. (I do think he is undergoing a test, but\nnot necessarily HIS test).\n\nWhat of the scar? He resembles the Wiggikki according to both the Pamigaka\nand Cim Glowing, and the Pamigaka further assert that ALL the “men” of the\nGreat Sleigh resemble the Wiggiki, leading some Urth List speculation to\nposit that Cutthroat is still below humans and is a raised version of the\ndomestic dog. (Yet as already said, to the Wiggiki he brings to mind the\nlion Ketin). One explanation posits that “Tracking Song” is a retelling of *The\nCall of the Wild*, with thematic inversions (of course, we know the\nthematic reversal already exists in London's own *White Fang*). (This\nconclusion would indicate that thus those who run the Great Sleigh are\nsemi-human dogs while the very tall man with wings is the only true\nhuman/post-human). I do not feel that Cutthroat's universal initial\nacceptance as human jives very well with this approach. Perhaps his\nfeatures and face were modified slightly to wolf-like semi-humanity,\nhowever, possibly explaining the scar — though not a good explanation.\n\n*Call of the Wild* features a dog being called to the bestial savagery of\nthe natural world in becoming a wolf, and *White Fang*, its opposite, shows\na wolf approaching domestication. The cold setting, the noose around the\nneck of the dog (the mark around Cutthroat's neck), a pack of wolves\nbringing down prey, and several other resonances have been explored before\non the Urth List. (Matthew Groves delineates these narrative connections\nhere: http://lists.urth.net/pipermail/urth-urth.net/2007-June/007757.html).\nThis reading of Tracking Song shows a progression away from animal patterns\ninto humanity as Cutthroat leaves each tribe and also abandons their\nweapons, finally giving up even the weapons of “true” men (It also shows a\nprogression from tools of violence to abandoning them).\n\nTaking it even further, Michael Andre-Driussi at one point speculated that\nour narrator might be less than human himself, but closer to human than the\nother animals (who all consider themselves somewhat human anyway). One line\nof speculation makes much of his resemblance to Kettin and the statement\nCim makes that Cutthroat could be one of the native semi-humans rather than\na member of the Great Sleigh. It seems unlikely that the Great Sleigh has\ntaken one semi-human sample, the child of the lion, and altered it, given\nall the facts that Cutthroat subconsciously remembers about being heavier\non another world (higher gravity) and how trees in reality were different\nthan his ideal understanding of trees. I believe the child of Ketin simply\nhad to leave at maturity to become nomadic, insufficient to challenge his\nfather, as male lions must at maturity.\n\nIf Cutthroat is an emissary, a blank slate whom the people of the Great\nSleigh are using to test if there is any chance that their creation is\n“good”, then his amnesia is perhaps cultivated to see how the tribes will\ntreat someone who has no knowledge of the world. He has the tools necessary\nto record his experiences and live, but no context at all. The test\nCutthroat ponders might not be his test at all, but that of the people he\nencounters.\n\nMy own conclusion is that he is meant to be a mirror, probing the\npopulation of the planet for the recolonization of true humans, perhaps but\nnot necessarily altered surgically to remove conscious memories and\nslightly modify his features, but nevertheless he still grows facial hair\nand has the means to remove them as well as a device which he intuitively\nunderstands has some two way functionality for communication with those in\nthe Sleigh. They precede him and he then follows to see if the natives are\nfollowing the “laws” given by the Great Sleigh.\n\nThe identity of the tall man with wings: his height jives with the height\nof the natives of the planet, and the turning to spring perhaps do indicate\nthe time of the bird-man, and in light of the fact that Cutthroat knows the\npeople of the Great Sleigh but not the tall man, it seems that he could be\nthe new native species symbolizing and suited to Spring. However, he could\njust as easily be like a post-human angel a step above all that has come\nbefore, towards a transcendent future.\n\nTHE SYMBOLIC QUEST FOR THE UNKNOWABLE/REDEMPTION\n\nCutthroat spends all his time chasing the Sleigh, and at times working with\nthose around him while dwelling on those he was forced to destroy. He casts\naside the weapons one by one, injured and ailing, until he sends the\nsemi-humans forward to meet the Sleigh without him, accepting his fate. It\nis only at that point, against all narrative logic, that the Sleigh catches\nup to him. Is this a metaphor for the spiritual world, chasing an\nimpossible ideal only to have it inexorably catch up with you and appear\nfrom nowhere when life is done? It also seems that this works with the\nsilent nature of the Deity in our world: laws clearly delineated to those\nwho came before, but we ourselves never get to see these miracles and\ninstead, if we are so inclined, chase the spiritual trail like a chimera,\npraying at times to a completely silent God, when the only answer (whether\nwe can comprehend it or not) might come in death when we can go no further\ndown the path." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "From a narrative standpoint, was Cutthroat supposed to follow the Sleigh?" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "In chasing the Sleigh, has he unconsciously eliminated a feasible meeting\npoint? It is possible that he has abandoned his unknown mission, and that\nthe Sleigh might have picked him up (say, after 14 days) if he did not\nstray so far from its natural path? Or does his excitement at the 14 days\nresonate with the artificial warming satellite in the sky and its\nactivation?\n\nIn allegorical terms, the theme of brotherhood and understanding and a\nputting aside of weapons and a cutthroat mentality are obvious, but are\nCutthroat's distractions in seeking out Cim and descending for three days\ninto the abandoned city necessary or extraneous and interfering?\n\nTHE TERRAFORMED PLANET\n\nFirst we might as well get the basic SFnal idea out in the open: Cutthroat\nwas once heavier, has superior technology, speaks the language, is\nsurprised by the trees on the planet but understands the idea of trees, and\nthere is indication atmospheric experiments are being used on the low\ngravity planet to heat it from a cold wintery state to something more\ntolerable to humanity. I feel that just as basic animals were raised to\nsentience in “Sonya, Crane Wessleman, and Kittee” and “The Hero as Werwolf”\nthrough genetic manipulation, these tribes are exactly the same:\nterrestrially earthen in nature, but modified “up” in the image of man as\nKittee and the dog policeman were in their respective Wolfe stories. They\nall speak a slight variation of the language Cutthroat knows, and he\nunderstands intuitively how to use his advanced technology, and even\nbelieves eventually that those on the Sleigh are listening to his reports.\nHis strength and shorter stature from growing up on a higher gravity world\ncertainly assure us that he comes from the Sleigh and was probably sent to\nobserve how the tribes would react to a man. The other possibility is that\nhe was intentionally exiled for some transgression, but his intrinsic\nactions lead us to believe that Cutthroat is misnamed. The creatures are\ntaller in all probability from being raised on this low gravity\nenvironment.\n\nTHE TOTEM PROGRESSION:\n\nAs Wolfe said, this is a totem story beginning in winter with the wolves\nwho hunt as a pack, but who accept Cutthroat as one of them, albeit a\nchild. They use the clubbow to hunt, with the women gathering the strange\nflowers under the snow, and this system of choice meat being given to the\nmost successful hunter does not have the class stratification we see in the\nlater boar/Pamigaka people, who first apportion food to esteemed guess and\nthose of high social class, with social pariah's getting little, as well as\nlittle protection from the others. We might as well look at the basic\nassociations of these animals, since Wolfe brings it up in his Gordon\ninterview.\n\nFirst, the Wiggiki — he begins by being accepted as one of the pack, and\nthe wolf totem implies being guided or misguided by instinct. As Gene\nclaims, it is a winter symbol. It also indicates the need for freedom and a\nlack of trust in someone or yourself. Once again I could find very little\nclear derivation of the words, but the tracking song is repeated towards\nthe end of his search, the same song from a different tribe.\n\nThe Wiggiki consume a deer, the Lenizee. The totem deer invokes gentleness,\ninnocence, and vigilance, with the ability to change directions and\nregenerate. This sets Cutthroat on a different path to some degree. The\nfemale lion appears here, and the lion presages both strength and a\nthreatening event, which will be repeated with Ketin later as they forge an\nalliance under the throne room of Mantru rather than kill each other.\n\nAfter this the Wigikki hunt down the Nashwonk, with its long legs and\nbranching chair weapon, like a many pointed antler. The moose supposedly\nsignifies movement and acknowledges truth, and involves identity. Its\ncrushing power changes Firerock to Crookedleg, and after this Cutthroat\nmust leave the Wiggiki because of his facial hair, which he has tried to\nconceal until this point. (The moose may also represent the equinox, where\nthe day and night are equal).\n\nAfter this he encounters the more rigidly structured pigs or boars, the\nPamigaka. Boars can indicate organization, endurance, and self reliance.\nTheir social structure is different than the Wiggikki, but more fair than\nthe tyranny of Mantru and his Min, who completely disregard the beasts as\nfar inferior to human.\n\nWhen he encounters Cim Glowing, as a mink or otter, she represents the\nfeminine principle and guidance, togetherness, and playfulness. Cim comes\nfrom the water. However, in reality minks are brutal in their mating, and\nher repeated striking of Fishcatcher with the endieva wand, which she calls\n“poisoned” is perhaps motivated by their brutality towards each other. She\neventually returns to the water before she forever risks losing her natural\nenvironment.\n\nThe warm cave begins the progression to encountering both high technology\nand a debased remnant of humanity, and his orders to the machines are to\ndismantle the social structure Mantru has created with his half organic and\nhalf mechanical (or mineral, I suppose) “Min”. (Sean Whalen once posited\nthat this story of the Min echoed the Native American myth of a bear living\nin a cave with half its body made of flint, and that they were thus bears,\nthough I find it perhaps more thematically appealing if these are minimized\nfalse men as their name phonetically implies, becoming less and less human\nas the other animals have become more and more human — they do not seem to\nbe part and parcel of the beasts that Mantru so resents). The vampires\nCutthroat encounters in the cave have blue eyes and stand on one leg to\nfish, and seem in that regard more birdlike, approaching the spring totems\nthat Wolfe spoke of in the Gordon interview. Indeed, the cave is warm to\nthe point of making Cutthroat's atmospheric suit superfluous and\nuncomfortable. I think they are more like herons or cranes, associated with\na lesson in self reliance, but herons are also associated with the\nunderworld.\n\nFinally, we end with a Pamigaka and Wiggiki tribesman unified to go forward\nwithout Cutthroat, who has even gotten the cooperation of the lion to hunt\nfor him. This unity leads to the final angelic vision of the Great Sleigh\nand the tall man with wings, both the spring totem symbol and the rather\nJudeo-Christian image of the higher world combined in a final incredulous\nobservation as Cutthroat knows that the time for talking into his black box\nhas ended, and that he can speak with those he has sought in vain face to\nface.\n\nLITERARY ALLUSIONS:\n\nThe Aenied\n\nThe opening poem is from the Fifth book of Virgil's* Aeneid, *which, as we\nknow involves a long quest to establish a new homeland to the\ndisenfranchised losers of the Trojan War:\n\n\n?Now is the seventh winter since Troy fell, and we\n\nStill search beneath unfriendly stars, through every sea\n\nAnd desert isle, for Italy's retreating strand.\n\nIn context: the goddess Iris descends during games being held at Sicily and\ntakes the guise of the mortal elderly Beroe to stir up the women, tired of\ntraveling endlessly, and declares that it is time to establish a new city\nand for them to stop searching, that the remnants of Troy have wandered too\nlong. She incites them to grab brands and begin burning the ships, and they\nrecognize that she is too strong to be the mortal woman Beroe.\n\nSince the ships are lost, save four, Aeneas must leave many of his people\nthere in Sicily to establish a new city. Perhaps this echoes Cutthroat\ndescending to the lower species and being accepted as one of them as man\nprepares to make his new home here on this planet. Of course, he also seeks\nafter the Sleigh interminably in much the same way those ships of the quote\nsought Italy's retreating strand, and in the same way that the machines,\nthe min, and Mantru are waiting for something which may never come. It\ncould very well be that the goddess' masquerade as a “lower” being is\nechoed as well.\n\nCONCLUSIONS\n\nI feel that “Tracking Song” is a theme story that can be extrapolated a bit\nin several directions. First we have the basic facts: an amnesiac in an\natmospheric suit is dropped on a cold planet with a one way communicator to\nhis ostensible origin point. He immediately feels that “if someone comes\nfor me, and finds me dead, he will understand. I feel that someone may,\nthough I do not know why.” In other words, his innate understanding of his\nmission is one tantamount to a suicidal one. The Sleigh is going around\nindoctrinating the various tribes and testing the idea of men returning and\nwalking among them in harmony, as well as instructing them on how to deal\nwith the coming ecological changes, so they have left a “guinea pig” behind\nto see how he is treated. Every tribe/group speaks the same language and\nhas a similar body language for ascent, the touching of the chin, as does\nthis man, nicknamed Cutthroat because of the scar on his neck. They have\nlaws in place in addition to the new instructions from the Great Sleigh,\nand these laws probably originated with those who raised each tribe from\nanimality in the first place.\n\nBy the end, it is clear that the machines respond to Cutthroat as a true\nman, as they do to the aptly named dwarf “Mantru” — or “man true”, though\nhe has been twisted by his use of the staff’s power, according to\nCutthroat’s speculation. Thus, debased as Mantru is, he is not someone that\nhas been manipulated genetically from animality but a true descendent of\nman. Cutthroat is the mirror through which the masters on the Sleigh can\nlook at the planet and see if their creation is “good”.\n\nRELIGIOUS ALLUSIONS:\n\nAt one point Damien Broderick speculated that the significance Cutthroat\nfelt on the 14th day echoed the 14 stations of the cross, with a piercing\nof the suit on the ninth day echoing the piercing of the side at the 9th\nstation (though in reality that occurs on the 8th day), etc. However, the\nnarrative continuing past this point to 19 days problematizes this\nassociation. His conciliatory efforts between the different tribes seems to\nportend a united effort for the future: the different semi-human tribes are\nbanding together to live under the law and help one another, seeing all the\ndifferent species as “human”.\n\nHe does descend into the cave for three days before sealing it behind him.\n\nI do feel that the metaphor for a life of seeking the higher is pretty\nclearly implicit in the quest of Cutthroat for the ever retreating Sleigh —\nhe cannot catch up with it in seeking it. Beginning life as a blank slate,\nhe comes to understand nature and predation, the psychology of a hunting\ngroup, the structure of classes, the totalitarian whims of a pathetic\nruler, all while seeking his ideal. His feminine ideal seems to have a\ncommon goal for a time, but ultimately does not persevere to the Sleigh.\nOnly when he sends others forward and abandons himself to never reaching\nhis goal through death does he find it — much as a person might search for\nanswers all their lives only to have them forever beyond their reach,\nthough at the end it is the cycle of life continuing and death that finds\nthem individually.\n\nIt is clear from the treatment Cutthroat receives that cooperation amongst\nall these tribes is possible and perhaps likely, and that they will welcome\nhumans as one of their own. Spring has come to the planet — beneath the\ncaves it is clear that the suit he wears was designed to make men\ncomfortable, an atmosphere the city maintains. The deep city cave is the\nonly place where his suit becomes uncomfortably warm, similar to the one\ninside his suit.\n\nUNANSWERED QUESTIONS:\nI believe Cutthroat to be a true human, but is he? Has his head been\naltered to look more like the natives, thus the scar? Has he been exiled\nfor some sin? From his natural character and following his instincts, I\nwould have to say no - his innate sense of fairness and good does not\nindicate is intrinsically murderous, though he does dream of slaying the\nMin and Mantru while he holds the weapon.\n\nIs he really seeing the Great Sleigh? I think his impending death has\nprompted them to return and the Sleigh has accelerated greatly over the\nmelting snow in light of his obviously deteriorating conditions — it speeds\nup after he casts aside the weapons.\n\nWhat is the significance of the 14th day? Does he know that is how long the\nSleigh should take to circumnavigate the world if he stays in the same\nlocation instead of seeking after it? Is it because he knows that on the 14\nth day the heating of the world from the satellite in the sky that reflects\nthe sun will begin in earnest? Something else?\n\nI feel that the rough mink-like mating explains Cim's (double!) murder of\nFishcatcher.\n\nAre the mineral-flower kluys in the underground city a reaction to\nCutthroat opening his suit? Probably not — the Min seem to have washed and\nplaced the flowers there for the approaching visitor. Do they detect human\nlife and “humidify” the air to create a warm and welcoming environment, or\njust serve as decoration? It seems that the import of Cutthroat opening his\nsuit is more likely that later Mantru fails to recognize him as a member of\nthe Great Sleigh until he pulls it on and says he is leaving, inciting the\nmurderous rage of the dwarf.\n\nCONNECTIONS TO OTHER WORKS:\n\n“Tracking Song” takes the science fantasy approach Wolfe is most famous for\nin New Sun and casts it back to the stone age, but the theme of mankind\nseeking to survive after probable planetary desuetude and impoverishment is\na pretty ubiquitous theme in his far future fiction. I feel that this story\nis in a definite moral dialog with “The Hero as Werwolf” and “Silhouette”.\nThe underground or twisted dwarf recurs in a few Wolfe stories as well." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Gwern Branwen", "address": "gwern at gwern.net" }, "date": "2014-06-08T21:50:27+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Short Story 65: Tracking Son", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "An impressive overview as expected, but one point felt under-addressed." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": "On Sun, Jun 8, 2014 at 2:20 PM, Marc Aramini wrote:\n“A pivotal story for me is one in which I feel I have succeeded in doing\nwell something I have never really done well before — fairy material in\n?Thag”, a certain religious viewpoint in “Westwind”, the use of second and\nthird person in “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories”, the\nprogression from realism to fantasy in “The Eyeflash Miracles”, even the\nprimitive inventions no one ever actually invented (and which no one now\nnotices) in “Tracking Song”. Just as “Tracking Song” is about uninvented\ninventions of the stone age, “Straw” is about (partly of course) uninvented\ninventions of the middle ages." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Wolfe seems to think that the 'uninvented inventions' are a major\ntheme of the story, but you hardly mention them. What are they? Just\nthe endieva wand & club-bows? And how is 'Tracking Song' *about* them?" }, { "kind": "sig", "depth": 0, "text": "gwern\nhttp://www.gwern.net" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Marc Aramini", "address": "marcaramini at gmail.com" }, "date": "2014-06-08T23:33:04+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Short Story 65: Tracking Son", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "As far as I can tell, these inventions include the cooking bag with the\nheated firerocks for traveling cooking, the club-bow, the man-sinew\nreinforced chair weapon that Nashwonk uses, the curved hook blade of the\nPamigaka and the polearm of the Mimmunka, the brush lodges the Pamigaka\nlive under, the sleds themselves with their tacking sails, and the\ninexplicable endieva wand (is it a mineral? a fast dissipating poison?\nStill wouldn't seem feasible to eat something recently killed by it) ...\n\nIt seems to me that the ingenuity displayed by these semi-humans in their\nability to use tools makes them much more than animals who can speak, and\nthat their facility in creating the tools is in some way a step towards\nhumanity, though I feel that saying that the story is \"about\" uninvented\ninventions of the stone age is overstating the importance of these things -\nthe Great Sleigh is clearly high tech, as is the equipment of Mantru and\nCutthroat.\n\nThe sorrow Eggseeker expresses over killing the birds who will soon be\nendangered shows that consciousness of living an acceptable life that seems\nvery far from savage." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On Sun, Jun 8, 2014 at 2:50 PM, Gwern Branwen wrote:\nAn impressive overview as expected, but one point felt under-addressed.\n\nOn Sun, Jun 8, 2014 at 2:20 PM, Marc Aramini \nwrote:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 3, "text": "“A pivotal story for me is one in which I feel I have succeeded in doing\nwell something I have never really done well before — fairy material in\n?Thag”, a certain religious viewpoint in “Westwind”, the use of second\nand\nthird person in “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories”, the\nprogression from realism to fantasy in “The Eyeflash Miracles”, even the\nprimitive inventions no one ever actually invented (and which no one now\nnotices) in “Tracking Song”. Just as “Tracking Song” is about uninvented\ninventions of the stone age, “Straw” is about (partly of course)" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "uninvented\ninventions of the middle ages.\n\nWolfe seems to think that the 'uninvented inventions' are a major\ntheme of the story, but you hardly mention them. What are they? Just\nthe endieva wand & club-bows? And how is 'Tracking Song' *about* them?\n\n--\ngwern\nhttp://www.gwern.net\n_______________________________________________" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Marc Aramini", "address": "marcaramini at gmail.com" }, "date": "2014-06-08T23:36:59+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Short Story 65: Tracking Son", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Also, the mineral Kluy flowers underground are a bit mysterious -\ndecoration for Cutthroat's approach or actually useful for some purpose?\nThey are only found on the wet street." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On Sun, Jun 8, 2014 at 2:50 PM, Gwern Branwen wrote:\nAn impressive overview as expected, but one point felt under-addressed.\n\nOn Sun, Jun 8, 2014 at 2:20 PM, Marc Aramini \nwrote:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 3, "text": "“A pivotal story for me is one in which I feel I have succeeded in doing\nwell something I have never really done well before — fairy material in\n?Thag”, a certain religious viewpoint in “Westwind”, the use of second\nand\nthird person in “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories”, the\nprogression from realism to fantasy in “The Eyeflash Miracles”, even the\nprimitive inventions no one ever actually invented (and which no one now\nnotices) in “Tracking Song”. Just as “Tracking Song” is about uninvented\ninventions of the stone age, “Straw” is about (partly of course)" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "uninvented\ninventions of the middle ages.\n\nWolfe seems to think that the 'uninvented inventions' are a major\ntheme of the story, but you hardly mention them. What are they? Just\nthe endieva wand & club-bows? And how is 'Tracking Song' *about* them?\n\n--\ngwern\nhttp://www.gwern.net\n_______________________________________________" } ] } ] }