The littlest apprentices

Daniel D Jones · 31 Oct 2006, 18:02 · from 2006-October.txt.gz

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From: ddjones at riddlemaster.org (Daniel D Jones)
Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 14:02:04 -0400
Subject: (urth) The littlest apprentices
In-Reply-To: <20061031163055.20571.qmail at web54403.mail.yahoo.com>
References: <20061031163055.20571.qmail at web54403.mail.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <200610311302.04404.ddjones at riddlemaster.org>

On Tuesday 31 October 2006 11:30, Nathan Spears wrote:
> I wrote as much, albeit much abbreviated.  I should have put together the
> final piece - Severian himself is stating that he breastfed, and obviously
> he is a torturer.  So the only meaning of the phrase "know no breast" can
> be "no longer breastfeed," if the phrase is to apply to him.  At this point
> there is no longer any debate to be had.  One imagines a sort of torturer
> nursery or torturer-adoption program in which wet nurses care for children
> until they are self-sufficient enough to be taken by the guild.

It still leaves the apparent contradiction between the statement that they 
know no breasts and the statement that they take the child from the womb and 
find a wet nurse.  The only definition I'm aware of for a wet nurse is a 
woman who breastfeeds another's child.

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