Horn's height and 8-legged elephants

Yves Meynard · 21 Dec 1999, 21:52 · from whorl-v0010.mbox · original

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From: ymeynard at globetrotter.qc.ca (Yves Meynard)
Subject: (whorl) Horn's height and 8-legged elephants
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 21:52:24
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I thought I'd muddy the (too-) quiescent waters...

The hypothesis that Horn is actually in Silk's body is appealing; yet it
seems contradicted by the very beginning of NtLS:

"With a slight shock of insight, Silk realized [...] that Horn's [...] eyes
were very nearly level with his." (p.15)

Horn isn't even fully grown then (or is he?). Yet OBW states that Horn has
grown quite noticeably (I can't find the figure he gives -- it is in
cubits, which confuses the issue further, but I think to recall a good 6
inches were implied). Perhaps (gasp!) Wolfe is being inconsistent, perhaps
this isn't Silk's body, or perhaps I'm just hopelessly confused. Any
thoughts?

On another matter: animals native to Blue have names that either *appear*
made up (what's the etymology of "hus"?) or that are descriptive, in which
case they are portmanteau words ("felwolf", "breakbull", "leatherskin").
This does not apply to cows and elephants. It is mentioned that cow embryos
were brought aboard the landers. Is the same true of elephants? I would
tend to assume so, since otherwise wouldn't another name have been chosen?
"Olifants", "Mamouths", whatever? But how come they have eight legs and
twin trunks? I recall Wolfe expressing credence in a form of Lamarckism,
whereby living beings would evolve to fit an existing environment (but not
"of their own will"). Could this be an explanation?

Again, any thoughts (or contemptuous put-downs :-) are welcome.

Yves Meynard

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