(urth) And Another:

[Paul B]

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.  The boatman from Citadel remarked how unique it was that he
heard those voices on the river, so the undine phenomenon is probably not
widely known at all.  Furthermore, asked in response to Severian's mention
of a name, Malrubius, which should rule out an undine since average
Commonwealthers seem too afraid of them to do something like learn their
names.
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.

On 7/19/07, Tony Ellis <tonyellis69 at btopenworld.com> wrote:
>
> Paul B wrote:
> > at that point he's questioned by "An old man, a boatman from his
> tar-stained
> > clothes" about it, the man asks whether he actually saw a woman.  Of
> course
> > Severian does see the undine, and hears Thecla, but doesn't answer.
> The
> > puzzling thing is the identity of the man, and how he knows what he
> does.
> > Let me know what you think!
>
> and Dan'l:
> >Yes. The old man is ... I'm forgetting his name, but Dorcas' husband,
> >and Sev's own grandfather, whom he meets again in the Gardens.
>
> This has been said before, and I'm not quite clear why everyone seems
> so certain. Yes, Dorcas's husband is looking for a woman underwater,
> and yes, he says that some bodies end up in the river, but isn't it a
> bit odd that Severian doesn't recognise the old man when he sees him
> again in the Gardens? And why would Dorcas's husband be wearing the
> tar-stained garb of a river boatman, when he's an ex-shopkeeper who
> owns a tiny skiff?
>
> I've always assumed that the old man in tar-stained clothes, if he's
> spent his life on the river, has occasionally glimpsed, or heard, an
> undine - just as the boatman in CotA has. So when Severian is fished
> out of Gyoll saying he's seen someone underwater, the old boatman
> assumes - correctly, as it happens - that Severian has seen the same
> thing.
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