(urth) Babbie, a Destrier?

[Adam Thornton]

Tom Hopkins wrote:
>
> My problem with this is that in Appendix of Shadow of the Claw, Wolfe 
> is acting as the translator rather than the writer himself. He only 
> knows the facts provided by Severian, and if Destriers were to have 8 
> legs it may be something he were to take for granted, as for him it 
> would be commonplace and known by nearly all; and therefore fail to 
> mention. With animals throughout the books he rarely describes them in 
> depth, merely by name as he assumes we would know what they are. I 
> feel this could be another such case, or maybe merely something Gene 
> Wolfe decided to elaborate on later in another series as nothing 
> contradicts it in the original text.
>

My objection is that down this road lies the Vernor Vinge madness of the 
cheery little hobbit-type aliens with the gootfy names actually
turning out to be GROTESQUE SPACE SPIDERS.

Adam