Subject: (whorl) Babbie and Horn: In A Pig's Eye

From: Robert Borski <rborski at charter.net>
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 14:35:08 +0000

Ian Smith having previously written:

< "I found him in the forest, sitting in the dark under the trees. I could
not see him, it was too dark to see anything. But I knelt beside him, and
lay my head upon his knee, and he comforted me." (OBW p.378)>

<At first I thought this was another Neighbor encounter, but in IGJ Horn
says he hasn't encountered them since they moved him to a new body. It could
also be a particularly obtuse dream sequence, I suppose. Any ideas?>

To which Nick Gevers responded:

<When I read OBW, I was under the impression that the Horn / Babbie
transference was a
trick the Neighbors pulled to allow Horn to escape the inhumi; the latter
have no interest in a hus, and would become confused. Of course, if the
Neighbors are responsible, they are acting remotely, so Horn isn't really
"encountering" them.>

My reading of the scene in question is somewhat different than everyone
else's, I suspect, because I've always seen Babbie as more than a simple
hus.

First off, he's the gift of Circean Mucor, which plays to the Homeric angle
of transformed animals.
("Babbie's more like people," "Babbie's a person," etc., etc.)

Secondly, as Mucor says her goodbye to Horn from the cliff, there is this
passage:

"At the top of the cliff, I saw a small dark figure that seemed almost a
cluster of boys, or two men upon their hands and knees. It vanished, then
reappeared as it made a flying leap from the top of the cliff. For the
moment I thought its target was the sloop, and that it would strike it and
die. It sent up a waterspout five cubits from the tip of the bowsprit,
however, and vanished as if it had sunk like a stone." (OBW, 105)

On the very next page, however, Horn writes:

"I see that when I described my departure from Mucor's Rock, I never
actually mentioned that Babbie came on board, his black snout and little red
eyes breaking water just aft of the rudder, and his stubby forepaws
clutching the gunwale beside me that reminded me unpleasantly of the
leatherskin."

Almost certainly the "cluster of boys, or two men on their hands and knees"
is a Neighbor. Given that "it" jumps into the water, and Babbie suddenly
appears, I don't think it's unreasonable to conclude they're one and the
same.

Thirdly, when Horn is lying in the pit, he records the following
observation:

"I kept my eyes closed, knowing that it would be painful to look at the sun.
It vanished, and I opened them to see what had become of it, and saw
Babbie's familiar, hairy mask peering at me over the edge of the pit." (195)

I maintain that *mask* is the key word here. It's also possible that the
"sharp faces" Horn sees while in the pit (note the plural) are a Neighbor's
(the glittering eyes appear to belong to Krait).
But almost certainly the following passage refers to a Neighbor, although it
is recollected later:

"Once, as I lay there at the bottom of the pit, it seems to me that a man
with a long nose (a tall man or an immense spider) stood over me. I did not
move or even open my eyes, knowing that if I did he would be gone. He
touched my forehead with something he held, and the pit vanished." (203)

The "long nose" attribute, I suspect, may be another clue linking Babbie
with the Neighbor, and for what it's worth a very similar scene to the "He
touched my forehead with something he held" occurrs in GREEN, when Horn is
annointed with sweet-smelling oil by a Neighbor.

Fourthly, and very close to the episode under discussion, Seawrack notes the
following: "When [Babbie] goes into the trees, it will be a real person
going in there. But he won't be a real person for long." (340)

Finally, we reach the scene in question. Horn writes:

"After a time that seemed long to me, three or four hours I would guess,
when I was practically alseep too, I heard myself calling Babbie.

"Certain that I had been dreaming nad had spoken aloud in a dream that I
could no longer remember, I rubbed my eyes and rolled onto my hands and
knees."

Shortly thereafter:

"Someone on shore called again for Babbie, and I understood that he meant
me...He who called me seemed quite near, and he called me with more urgency
than Seawrack ever has."

But how does Horn reach the conclusion that whoever's calling Babbie is
actually calling for him? This seems more an element of dream logic than
anything else, and if I had to bet the farm on anything, I'd wager it's a
misapprehension; that either "Babbie" himself is calling out his name
("Babbie can talk") in order to lure Horn into the woods (perhaps to say
goodbye), or that another Neighbor is calling Babbie. What seems to justify
to most of you the interpretation that Horn has switched personalities with
Babbie is the line about how Horn "knelt beside him and laid my head upon
his knee, and he comforted me." But if Babbie really is a Neighbor, and has
resumed his native form, couldn't this be a Neighbor's knee, given that we
know the Vanished People are all extremely tall?

I'd also like to note what appears to be Horn's last word on the subject,
which takes place during his stay with Brother and Sister. Writes he: "I
asked them about the Vanished Gods. They said there was one in the forest,
so I told them about him." Apparently at least he believes he's seen a
Vanished God--perhaps indicative of some intermediate shape Babbie has
taken, but one not recognizable to Horn as either Neighbor or Babbie.

On a related note I also continue to hold out that Babbie may reappear as
Pig in the final Short Sun book. Babbie, as Mucor tells Incanto, has
returned to her Rock, but given the enormous difficulty this must have
encompassed, crossing leagues of ocean and land, I find it rather difficult
to believe that a mere hus--even an extremely intelligent and resourceful
one--could manage the journey. In other words, if the Neighbors can morph
themselves along theric lines, why not human? Hence perhaps Babbie's return
is actually from the Whorl.

I also find the following line from Blue intriguing: "Because I could not
leave Pig blind, these people were able to bring me here, and so ended any
chance of success I might have had." In adventures still to come, will Horn
donate an eye to Pig and spend the rest of his life half-blind?

Robert Borski

*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.
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---

From: Kevin J. Maroney <kmaroney at ungames.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 15:56:10 +0000

At 02:35 PM 8/23/00 -0500, Robert Borski wrote:
>I maintain that *mask* is the key word here. 

You may be over-reading. Merriam-Webster gives this for "mask": 

4 a : the head or face of an animal (as a fox or dog) b : an area (as the
one around the eyes) of an animal's face that is distinguished by usually
darker coloring 

While it would certainly be like Wolfe to deliberately code meaning into
that word, it's also a perfect example of Wolfe using precisely the right
word where most authors would use an approximation. 

-- 
   Kevin Maroney | Unplugged Games 
   kmaroney at ungames.com | (212) 777-1190

---

From: William Ansley <wansley at warwick.net>
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 23:44:48 +0000

>donate an eye to Pig and spend the rest of his life half-blind?

Wow! I agree with you on this one Robert.

Way back on Tue, 19 Oct 1999, so long ago that I still felt clever 
for figuring out that Olivine was Hammerstone and Marble's daughter, 
I wrote this.

>Horn gave his eye to Pig. And Marble's daughter gave up one of her eyes for
>her mother.
>

[Long passage citing textual evidence that Olivine is Hammerstone and 
Marble's daughter, and other stuff, snipped. Of course I eventually 
realized that the reason no one else had mentioned this idea before 
me was that everyone else had figured it out already and thought is 
was too obvious to mention.]

-- 
William Ansley

---

From: William Ansley <wansley at warwick.net>
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 23:23:25 +0000

>however, and vanished as if it had sunk like a stone." (OBW, 105)

[...]

>appears, I don't think it's unreasonable to conclude they're one and the

Almost certainly, it will surprise no long-time readers of this 
discussion list, least of all you Robert, that I disagree strongly 
with this interpretation. It is just so *unnecessary*!

It is *completely* certain to me that an eight-legged creature 
one-third(?) the height of a man will look more like a cluster of 
(shorter than a man) boys or two men on their hands and knees (short 
- because doubled over - and with eight leg-like - because of 
position - limbs) than a Neighbor, who is as tall as or taller than a 
man and has only four leg-like limbs (and, of course, four arm-like 
ones).

Perhaps the point Wolfe is trying to make here is that, even after 
being on Blue so many years, Horn (and, presumably, most over people 
born on the Whorl) still are not used to the fact that almost all the 
native wildlife has at least twice as many limbs as is "natural." (I 
am sticking with my belief that the leatherskin may have 12 legs, 
which I stated in a message months ago.)

-- 
William Ansley