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

[David Stockhoff]

On 11/15/2011 9:49 PM, James Wynn wrote:
>
>>> So, I doubt that the "Good-bye" text is a true farewell. But still 
>>> it troubles me.
>>>
>>
>> António Pedro Marques wrote:
>> It's a farewell because he wrote it when he thought he'd be killed 
>> soon. It needn't trouble you.
>
> You might be right. But I don't really think you appreciate why it 
> bothers me. Why doesn't the Rajan say good-bye to Seawrack, or Pig, or 
> any of the other people he has met on his travels? Why only to Horn's 
> family? I can think of two reasons, but I'm not inclined to pick them 
> up unless I can comfortably dispose of Marc's substantial explanation: 
> We are being signalled that (in some way) Horn is dying at this point 
> in the story.


It would be nice to know what "dying" means in this context. Do memories 
remain when a part of you dies? Can a ghost in you simply give up (no 
pun) and retire (yield control) without going anywhere? Can one ghost 
die and another stick around? Can Horn leave and Silk still tell his 
story? We can agree Horn's spirit is ebbing, but we don't know what that 
means physically. Maybe Horn simply fears another death like the one he 
experienced on Green and doesn't want to go on.

Oreb and Babbie are clues to something. Horn seems to be dominant at 
that point, so it makes sense that he is the one to say goodbye---he 
controls the narrative. Oreb is nowhere around, so Silk is quiet, and 
Horn's Babbie was there (in astral form?) to keep him engaged.

If Babbie and Horn shared pieces of each other by Babbie's psychic 
"magic," then Horn's confusion makes sense. Either Horn in Babbie was 
calling Babbie in Horn, to which Horn responded, or the two parts in 
Horn called one another. But I'd guess the voice was real. I don't think 
it was Mucor but the Tree calling both Babbie parts. Babbie came, and 
Horn ran into the trees.

As for the Tree itself, whatever it is: If this is a death scene OR a 
miracle scene, EVERYTHING is significant. A big tree must mean 
something. In a tale of Faerie, it would signify a place where the Other 
Ones are attracted or hang about and have intercourse with humans. This 
is at least that.