Short Story 110: The Cat

Marc Aramini · 26 Aug 2014, 19:49 · from 2014-August.txt.gz

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From: marcaramini at gmail.com (Marc Aramini)
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 12:49:40 -0700
Subject: (urth) Short Story 110: The Cat
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So is "hooking" that golden fish dangerous?  I always wondered if this was
related to the new sun, though the fish is considered a minor mirror
dweller. Inire might be literally closer to the larva and lemurs mentioned
at the start of the tale than a figure from faerie. I haven't read the end
of new sun in perhaps fourteen years - I need to this week.

On Tuesday, August 26, 2014, Gwern Branwen <gwern at gwern.net> wrote:

> On Tue, Aug 26, 2014 at 3:33 PM, Marc Aramini <marcaramini at gmail.com
> <javascript:;>> wrote:
> > The other issue is that if Inire has done something to get the cat back
> that
> > costs the good part of her soul and innocence, it makes Inire truly a
> > diabolical figure. His strict order to bury the doll with her lead me to
> > speculate it is her callous action of throwing the cat that might have
> done
> > the damage to her innocence, because she is peri-like before Inire ever
> > meddles with her. A very ambiguous mystical description.
>
> Inire is an ambiguous character all along; remember he is not human,
> and is partially responsible for the destruction of Urth and murdering
> millions/billions of people for the sake of a higher goal.
>
> The sort of scenario I had in mind is Inire tells Sancha she has done
> something irreversible, and Sancha angrily demands that Inire do
> *something*, she *loves* her cat above anything, and Inire asks
> whether she's willing to pay the price and she says something like
> (how many stories or movies or novels have we seen this scene in? the
> ill-considered statement to the wizard/magician/god/fae...) 'I don't
> care whether it costs me my childhood, bring back my cat!' And so he
> does.
>
> > '"The people who wrote the mediaeval ballads," answered the priest,
> "knew more about fairies than you do. It isn't only nice things that happen
> in fairyland."
> > "Oh, bosh!" said Flambeau. "Only nice things could happen under such an
> innocent moon. I am for pushing on now and seeing what does really come. We
> may die and rot before we ever see again such a moon or such a mood."
> > "All right," said Father Brown. "I never said it was always wrong to
> enter fairyland. I only said it was always dangerous."'
>
> --
> gwern
> http://www.gwern.net
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