(urth) Roche

[Roy C. Lackey]

JWillard wrote:
>Where I put you, there you lie,
>Never let a stranger spy,
>Like glass grow to any eye,
>Not of me.
>
>Here be safe, never leave it,
>Should a hand come, deceive it,
>Let strange eyes not believe it,
>Till I see."
>
>This bit's always nagged at me, and I think this is why: It almost
>sounds like a hypnotic chant.  A chrisos=gold=sun is hidden then
>protected by this incantation: as the sun in Sev is hidden by some kind
>of post-hypnosis?  So he doesn't see, or others?  Either way, this
>passage has always seemed extra important, and this is all that makes
>sense to me.

I don't really have much to add except to point out that when the
incantation is repeated near the end of CITADEL, "glass" has been replaced
with "grass". I don't know if it is a typo, or an error by Wolfe or
Severian. That and, of course, the hidden coin is false gold. Why would
Vodalus have been carrying a counterfeit coin?

-Roy