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

[Marc Aramini]

Also, I prefer to let the text do its talking, but please take a look at chapter 17 of rttw.  I know Roy's objections: he believes the narrator who claims Babbie was asking for a weapon, but read this:

"So while I was worrying about all that, I bumped into somebody short and hairy and as hard as a rock. ...'It's me, babie.  It's Hoof,'very quick.
something happened then that surprised me as much as just about anything I saw o the Red Sun Whorl, except for that part right at the last.  Because Babbie threw his arms around me and gave ma  great big hug, saying "huh! huh! huh!" and lifted me off my feet." ... " the mate started to argue, and I said, 'bring him at once' He swung at me then, I ducked, and Babbie grabbed his arm and threw him down so fast and hard that he might as well have been a girl's doll.  The lantern fell down and went out. ... Babbie was pointing to his mouth. 'huh-huh-huh.' I thought he wanted Father to change him so he could take, and I did not think Father could do that.  But father knew right away what he wanted."

Babbie is first trying to say Hoof, then Horn.  If you think the narrator understands what's going on, he is asking for a knife, but he is really pointing at his tusk and trying to say Horn.  Where does Babbie show up?  when Horn says good bye sitting under a tree.  How often do we need to see trees conneted with Nieghbors?

Also from chapter 17: "'look through it,' he told me.  I held it up to my eye. ... when I had been looking a while I noticed the limb of a tree floating upright to starboard. ... there was somebody sitting in one of the branches, and it was one of the vanished people.  Father took the ring back and the Vanished Man was gone.  So was the tree he had been sitting in."

If you believe hoof understands the situation, the narrator provided for Horn correctly, but in light of the prophecy, the goodbyes, the actions of Babbie, the presence of a tree and Babbie at the end of obw when Horn says goodbye to his family, it's really really difficult for me to take hoof's assertion that Babbie was only asking for a weapon when he said huh huh huh seriously, or that ideologically tusks are not horns.  I have repeated those quotes about 50 times, but the refutation of the way Babbie acts to both greet Hoof joyfully and try to say his name "hoof", and then to act so quickly when he is threatened has never been serious.  why does Babbie act like Horn a father defending his son there?  He is.