(urth) Babbiehorn?: Was: a sincere question mostly for roy

[James Wynn]

On 11/15/2011 5:38 PM, David Stockhoff wrote:
> On 11/15/2011 5:40 PM,
>> On 1/1/2011 3:15 AM,
>>>
>>>
>>>> Marc Aramini wrote:
>>>> Do you or do you not agree that it is likely that Horn winds up in 
>>>> Babbie through the mechanism of the Big Tree at the end of OBW?<
>>>
>>> Roy C. Lackey wrote:
>>> Ican't explain Silkhorn's dreamlike confusion of himself with Babbie 
>>> except to suggest (a) Horn's resurrection in the pit made him 
>>> somehow part Babbie, (b) Babbie is calling him by projecting his own 
>>> name, or (c) someone else is telling him that Babbie is near. That 
>>> is, someone is calling someone but the confusion is merely 
>>> situational/linguistic. Whichever it is, Wolfe is being very careful 
>>> here and it's an important moment.
>>
>> David Stockhoff wrote:
>> I went back a bit further and saw that Marc has actually done a good 
>> bit of work on this general problem. If I understand correctly, his 
>> idea is that Horn left Horn and perhaps went into Babbie. That leaves 
>> only Silk (with a touch of Neighbor?). This makes a lot more sense 
>> than Babbie going into him, and explains why OBWSilk briefly relates 
>> being Babbie but otherwise forgets Babbie. He never knew him anyway. 
>> It also explains (sort of) why the narrator (Horn at that point) is 
>> plainly about to die and then gets up and walks away.
>>
>>

Let's take this on.

The scene occurs after the Rajan has returned from the Whorl with Silk's 
body. After Horn's body was destroyed on Green. Krait is dead. Sinew is 
on Green. He has one eye, which he donated to Pig. The Rajan was 
transported from the Whorl with the Gaonese, and given the title Rajan. 
Now he has fled Gaon with Evensong, his wife. The inhumi (including 
Juganu and Jahlee) are hunting him because he knows their Secret.
He has not yet arrived at Blanco. Nor led a revolution in the Dutch 
town. He does not yet have a staff. He has not yet met Fava.

The Rajan and Evensong are hiding in the boat that is constructed with a 
"little hut of plaited straw". They are hiding in the little hut part.

Now, I want remind you that I now firmly believe that the Mucor that 
stood over Silk in "Lake of the Long Sun"--the Mucor he sees the night 
he sees both an astral Oreb and "Pike's Ghost" is actually the Mucor 
that Horn visited in OBW and asked to psychically go to the Whorl and 
find out where Silk is. This Mucor stood over Silk that night because 
she had met the Rajan in Time-traveling in the dream-travel and he took 
her with him to Silk's room at that very night. It is the Rajan who 
tells her to tell Horn not try to come to "where he is".
The reason this is important (I think) is because it is Mucor who sends 
Babbie with Horn. The question of why she did that has always concerned 
me. I still don't quite know the answer. But one other point is that a 
Hus is a psychic animal. The longer he is with Horn, the more like him 
he becomes. After a while he can even steer Horns boat. And, we are 
told, that the longer he is away from Horn, the more he will return to 
being a wild animal. Okay? These are pieces. Let's see if we can make 
them fit.

The following is the relevant text:

start text**************************
I crawled out of the hut. Our little fire had sunk to a glow so faint 
that I would not have seen it if I had not known where to look. Oreb was 
gone, too, and I was afraid that the inhumi had killed him.

After a time that seemed long to me, three or four hours I would guess, 
when I was practically asleep, too, I heard myself calling Babbie.
Certain that I had been dreaming and had spoken aloud in a dream that I 
could no longer remember, I rubbed my eyes and rolled onto my hands and 
knees. The inhumi had gone. I had no idea how I knew that, but I knew it 
with as much certainty as I have ever known anything.
I crawled out of the hut. Our little fire had sunk to a glow so faint 
that I would not have seen it if I had not known where to look. Oreb was 
gone, too, and I was afraid that the inhumi had killed him.
Someone on shore called again for Babbie, and I understood that he meant 
me; it never so much as occurred to me then that I had sometimes been 
called "Silk" or "Horn." He who called me seemed quite near, and he 
called me with more urgency than Seawrack ever has. I searched the 
shadows under the closest trees for him without result.
End text*****************************


Now at this point, I first thought "Holy cats! Horn has somehow split 
his soul and sent half into Babbie. [I didn't yet know about his trip to 
the Whorl] The person calling is surely Horn. The rest of this tale will 
be told from Babbie's POV. " But no. That is not possible because the 
Narrator is still in human form.

Note that Oreb is nowhere around at this time.

start text************************
I had on my trousers, with Hyacinth's azoth in the waistband, and I got 
my tunic as well and the augur's black robe that Olivine had found in 
some forgotten closet for me; I left behind stockings, boots, sash, and 
the jeweled vest. For a moment I considered taking back my dagger and 
the sword that I am still too weak to use, but the voice from the forest 
was calling to me and there was no more time to waste upon inessentials. 
I waded ashore and set off through the forest at a trot. I have the pen 
case on which I am writing and this rambling account of my failure, with 
a few other possessions, because they were in the pockets of my robe.
endtext**********************************


That's how the Rajan abandoned Evensong. The next part is occurring not 
in the past but at the time of the writing. It is not clear how long it 
has been since he left Evensong on the boat. Note that Oreb has rejoined :

start text**************************
Oreb has been urging me to rise and walk, and in a moment I will. It may 
be that we are lost. I do not know. I have been trying to go northwest, 
that being the direction in which I think New Viron must lie, and I 
believe that I have succeeded pretty well.
end text *********************************


More time passes and then we get to the text that Marc consider's key.

start text******************************
Another halt, and this one must be for the night---a hollow among the 
roots of (what I will say is) just such a tree as we had on Green. It is 
what we call a very big tree here, in other words. I will write, I 
suppose, as long as the light lasts; I have three (no, four) more sheets 
of paper. The light will not last long, however, and I have no way to 
start a fire and nothing to cook if I did. The last time I ate was at 
about this time two days ago with Chota. I am not hungry, but am afraid 
I may become weaker.
If the inhumi find me here and kill me here, then they find me here and 
kill me. That is all there is to it.

Good-bye again, Nettle. I have always loved you. Good-bye, Sinew, my 
son. May the Outsider bless you, as I do. In the years to come, remember 
your father and forget our last quarrel. Good-bye, Hoof. Good-bye, Hide. 
Be good boys. Obey your mother until you are grown, and cherish her always.

I found him in the forest, sitting in the dark under the trees. I could 
not see him. It was too dark to see anything. But I knelt beside him and 
laid my head upon his knee, and he comforted me.
end text*********************************

Okay. NOTICE. This is in fact the Rajan confabulating his identity with 
Babbie. BUT (I think this is important) THIS IS THE SECOND TIME THIS HAS 
HAPPENED. THe hus, remember, is a psychic creature. There is much Horn 
in the hus. Maybe some Silk in the hus too. But based on our experience, 
that does not seem to require a leeching of spirit from the "source".

After this, the Rajan meets Brother and Sister and teaches them to fish. 
He leaves them. Then he has a dream in which "he", Pig, and Hound run 
into an abandoned house. Now it might be significant that the word "Hus" 
is Scandinavian for "house". But as the dream progresses, it is clear 
that the abandoned house is primarily Silk's body. This is a hint 
(propose) that there are three persons Silk's body now...Silk (his 
memories), the Neighbor, and whatever is left of Horn.

Admittedly, I have reasons beyond this particular text to doubt Horn's 
spirit fled into Babbie as the Rajan sat beneath the big tree (yes, it 
was probably a Neighbor). But I don't want to discuss them here. There 
are still two other reasons I doubt it.

1) Arguing that Horn fled into Babbie explains what is happening when 
the Rajan sits under the tree. It doesn't explain what happened on the boat.

2) At the end of OBW, the Rajan relates much that only happens to 
Horn--not Silk. Why does the Rajan still have Horn's memories if his 
body is destroyed and his spirit has left?

So, I doubt that the "Good-bye" text is a true farewell. But still it 
troubles me.

J.

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