And Another:

Tony Ellis · 19 Jul 2007, 22:40 · from 2007-July.txt.gz

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From: tonyellis69 at btopenworld.com (Tony Ellis)
Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 23:40:16 +0100
Subject: (urth) And Another:
Message-ID: <9a33123d0707191540s58d1bcb3j3883cd86df218bf4 at mail.gmail.com>

Paul B wrote:
>I think it's nigh impossible for someone to infer from what Severian said to
>Roche that undines were involved unless they knew what actually happened
>down there.

I'm not saying the boatman infers that undines are involved. I don't
imagine he knows what an undine is. But if he has previously heard a
woman's voice coming out of the water, or glimpsed something, then it
would explain why he immediately jumps to the conclusion that a woman
is what Severian has seen.

>As for the old man, it's not clear what his current job is, but he sure is
>poor, and he does own a boat of sorts that would still require tar to keep
>afloat.

You're still not very likely to get tar-stained clothes poling a
little boat around a lake. And in any case, no mention is made of
Dorcas's husband having tar-stained clothes. The fact that Severian
notices the river boatman's clothes are tar-stained but makes no such
observation about the old man in the Gardens is another reason to
assume they are two different people.

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