Salica's first story

maa32 · 02 Jan 2002, 01:59 · from whorl-v0013.mbox · original

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From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Subject: Salica's first story
Date: Tue, 01 Jan 2002 18:59:30 -0700
Message-ID: <whorl-v0013-whorl.v012.n178.4 at digest.urth.net>
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Have we been able to account for the presence of the strego with the talkin=
g=20
bird in Inclito's mother's first story?  What does that story reflect in th=
e=20
work as a whole?  Here is my association, if anybody has any ideas I'd love=
 to=20
go over them.

In the story, a bunch of husbands are killed by a fang in a boot long after=20
the original grave desecrator has been destroyed.  The moral seemed to be t=
hat=20
while all the men resembled the first husband to Salica, to the first=20
husband's ghost they resembled  the evil suitor; therefore, that while=20
everyone thinks the narrator resembles Silk, he thinks he is someone else. =
 I=20
would like to go deeper than that.

The names of the suitor's in translation are weird:
they mean Helmet, Soldier, Joy, Solemnity, etc., and Silk and Oreb seem to =
be=20
in it.  Ok.  Where do helmets, soldiers, and figures of Joy and Solemnity=20
occur in one scene elsewhere in the text?

Well, it seems to me that all these figures are joined in Return to the Who=
rl=20
when Pig, Silk, and Hound study the statues of the gods.  In it, Sphigx is=20
represented by a helmet and it is explained at great length that this is to=20
conceal her from the Trivigaunti, who habitually destroy her image.  The go=
ds=20
that are discussed at length are Feasting Phea (joy), Molpe (sorrow), and=20
Quadrifons, as well as Scylla through Oreb and Pas through Silver or Silent=20
Silk.  And Pig was a soldier.  How does Salica's story reveal anything abou=
t=20
the situation of the gods?  In it, we learn that someone is striking from=20
beyond the grave (and in the other scene, we learn that Heirax, the god of=20
death, is dead).=20
We know that a significant portion of Silk is trapped in Pig and cannot be=20
returned to Mainframe until Pig gets an eye back. We know that Scylla wants=
 to=20
get to "Blue Mainframe".  In the story, the Strego warns Casco not to strik=
e=20
at the grave.  Does Silk need to get back to Pas to stop a desecration from=20
occuring?  Or does he need to get back so that he can send his spirit into =
the=20
body of Silk, from which Silk's original spirit has been displaced by his=20
tragedy and replaced by all that remains of Horn? (Unless Horn's spirit ent=
ers=20
Babbie - off the immediate subject: have we figured out who the two fanged=20
("with fangs bigger than a man's wrist") green mankiller that approaches th=
e=20
narrator in several passages in the last two books actually was? the=20
description of Babbie in Return to the Whorl with huge tusks thicker than a=20
man's wrist seems to parallel that description very strangely. And how do w=
e=20
account for the passage at the very end of On Blue's Waters where the narra=
tor=20
seems to be Babbie?)

Marc Aramini

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