(urth) 5HC

[Lee]

>paleolithic, Caucasoid Pygmies who came to be called the Good People  
>(and who survived, as was eventually shown, in Scandinavia and Erie*(Eire?)


>Barry Ragin: When i first read 5HoC in my twenties, i thought it was a  
>fantasy, and assumed he was making a leprechaun analogy. That's  
>pretty clearly not the case.



Actually I still think you were on the right track. In "Gondwanaland",

"Atlantis" and "Mu" I find hints that some version of Shadow Children

were on Earth even before the evolution of Homo sapiens.


In a discussion here a few years ago on the same topic, David Stockhoff

invoked the concept of "Faerie" folk as a way of understanding some 

underlying themes in Wolfe's work.


As with leprechauns, kelpies, brownies, fairies, elves, trolls, mermaids,

sirens, etc. from mythology, there are categories of Wolfean characters

who are not science and technology based like humans but rely more on 

cleverness, trickery and "magic" in accomplishing their goals. Thus, in

Wolfe's work we have Shadow Children, Inhumi, Aelf, Undines, Neighbors and 

perhaps the hiero-types.


Consider the concept of "changeling" found so commonly in our tales of faerie 

folk. I think it adds focus to the idea of Shadow Children, Abos, Inhumi, Hieros

and others in Wolfe stories imitating human form and even, for Shadow Children/Abos 

replacing specific human beings.


(I sometimes wonder if Wizard/Knight might ultimately be based on the "Changeling"

concept. If an earth boy finds himself in a Faerie world, might there be a 

replacement version of him living on Earth?)