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

[David Stockhoff]

On 11/15/2011 9:31 PM, James Wynn wrote:
>
>>
>
> 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".
>

Agreed. There must be sharing by imitation rather than by feeding.
>
> 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.
>

Aside from the above, we know that the Rajan (Silkhorn) is wounded and 
lost. Horn, at least, despairs and prepares to die. He may only fear the 
inhumi, who never come.

Babbie approaches in some form. Horn comforts him. Later the Rajan 
writes of that encounter from Babbie's perspective as though after a 
brief mind-meld. Now, he gets up and moves on.

 From this, what happened may be very simple: Babbie gave Horn hope. 
However the psychic mirroring/partnering works, it happened, and this 
was the result. We know Horn was part Neighbor and I agree with Marc 
that the bigger trees are more powerful than others. I think it 
participated or facilitated in whatever happened. The question is what 
noun to use for the event: resurrection? encouragement?

Could the Tree have channeled Babbie, knowing it would please Horn?

Note again what I said above: I can'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.