"The sound of hooves fell hollow beneath the moon and the clustered stars."
-Poul Anderson, "The Three-Cornered Wheel" IN Anderson, The Van Rijn Method (Riverdale, NY, 2009), pp. 199-261 AT IV, p. 237.
Hooves - on Earth, horses' hooves - can sound threatening, triumphant or festive. To Schuster, the fastigas' hooves sound hollow because the Chief Consecrate has just threatened him.
On Vanessa, David Falkayn is alone among enemies:
"As he walked to the compound, he felt their eyes bore at his back. His boots made a loud, lonely noise beneath the wind."
-Poul Anderson, "A Sun Invisible" IN The Van Rijn Method, pp. 263-315 AT II, p. 273.
Again, the boots sound lonely only because Falkayn is. More characteristically, Falkayn would feel confident and the sound of his walk would express that.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I wonder how many other SF writers "put in" so much symbolism in simple SOUNDS? Not many, altho I think Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Stirling were among them.
Sean
Tho' horses' hooves on a pavement -do- sound hollow, or somewhat 'resonant'.
This is because a hoof is hollow -- it has a hard rim around about 3/4 of its circumference, but the interior is raised. Hence the hollow "clop" sound as it comes down; the sound is bouncing around inside for a bit.
And hence the old practice (referenced by Monty Python) of using two halves of a coconut to imitate the clopping sound.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
I used to take riding lessons and I still remember the hollowly clopping sounds made by the hooves of horses when they were walking on pavements.
Sean
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