(urth) do the Hierogrammates *care* about the megatherians?

[Jerry Friedman]

> From: Gerry Quinn <gerryq at indigo.ie>

...

> There are some interesting bits in regard  to the name of Frog, incidentally. 
>Early we are told how he got his  name:
> 
> *********************************
> Because they had been found in  the water, the boys were named Fish and Frog
> ....
> "I shall call him Frog,"  said the she-wolf. "For indeed the Butcher angled for 
>frogs, as you said, O my  husband." She believed that she said this in 
>compliment to the he-wolf, because  he had so readily acquiesced to her wishes; 
>but the truth was that the blood of  the people of the mountaintop beyond Urth 
>ran in Frog, and the names of those  who bear the blood cannot be concealed for  
>long.
...

> Just like  the story of the Student, it's a mash-up of ancient and more recent 
>mythology  (somebody noted on some board, perhaps correctly, that the Student 
>also includes  the Battle of Hampton Roads, with the Minotaur becoming the 
>Moniter), combined  with added stories by Wolfe, and futuristic technological 
>trappings.  The  idea is that the tales mutate and pick up elements of the 
>time(s) when they are  re-told.
...

I trust somebody has mentioned Lovecraft's "Shadow Over Innsmouth", with its 
"fish-frog" creatures from under the ocean who mate with people and whose blood 
eventually reveals itself (though I don't think their names do).  They worship 
Cthulhu, who's from "the stars", though I don't think it's clear whether the 
fish-frogs themselves are native to Earth or another planet.
 
James> >  Obviously, ambiguity is built into Wolfe's novels. There's no false 
positive  test. I'm pretty comfortable that I'm right about this. Maybe I should 
get  serious about locating Fish.
> 
> Remus, obviously.

Which brings us, appropriately or not, to the Tar Baby.

Jerry Friedman