(urth) Babbie

James Wynn crushtv at gmail.com
Thu Mar 19 07:29:42 PDT 2009


>Witz: I really think your theory is interesting, but I think it needs the 
>justification for the Neighbor being a greenbuck.

There are casual hints about this on the level of the one Stuart Hamm 
offered, but I don't think it ever gets any clearer than OBW (HB) pg 272
"'My name is Horn.' I offered him my hand.
He took it, and this time I felt his hand and **remembered hard**, and 
seemed to
be covered with short, stiff hairs. Beyond that I will not say. " (emphasis 
mine)

What he remembers here is being a greenbuck. It doesn't sound like a human 
or a tree or a spider. Also, the Raja states that he feels personally 
responsible for Horn's death, and the greenbuck is simply the only candidate 
around when Horn dies:

"We will sail tonight...Would you be willing to make my farewells to Hoof
and Hide?...I've been dreading it--in a sense, I have killed their father,
though the Outsider surely knows that I never meant him the least harm. I
don't want to have to face his sons..." --RTTW (HB) pg 411

Yes, he "in a sense" killed their father by merely accepting that he died 
and that HE is not HIM. But his answer implies that he feels he caused Horn 
actual, unintended harm which could not refer to accepting his death.

> and wow, I didn't know about that whorlmap site. I'll read up there.

Thanks. I admit I've let it go dormant as I've toiled on a more expansive 
project that simply did not fit into a short essay. For example, when I say 
that the Long Sun narrative overlays the myth of Aristaeus, it is not easy 
to offer a short explanation for why he did that. One day...one day...

J 




More information about the Urth mailing list