(urth) Short Story 110: The Cat

[Gwern Branwen]

On Wed, Aug 27, 2014 at 10:13 AM, Gerry Quinn <gerry at bindweed.com> wrote:
> One other thing: in old age Sancha developed a disagreeable odour, which she
> countered by burning sandalwood.  Any significance?

Hard to say. It could be a reflection of her age and old-person smell:
sandalwood is an old perfume and scented smoke source, but it also has
some medicinal uses including as a fumigant, but it also has a lot of
religious connotations (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandalwood#Uses)
with neopaganism apparently considering it good for exorcism &
purification. So it *could* be there to block the cat spirit,
explaining why the cat doesn't seem to make itself known during the
second stay at the House Absolute.

-- 
gwern
http://www.gwern.net