Monday 4 November 2019

A Horse's Head

See Nithing-Staff. (Scroll down.)

I am having a familiar experience. I remember reading a passage recently but have not been able to find it when looking back through Poul Anderson's The Golden Slave. Eodan says (something like) that, when he returns home to the North, he will raise a horse's head on a staff to curse Flavius.

We have encountered this kind of curse twice before:

(i) see the above link;

(ii) Eva Gabrielsson did it after Stieg Larsson's death although not with a real horse's head.

Blog readers have once or twice helped the blogger to find remembered passages.

6 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I esp. recall the time I helped you to find where in the stories you could find Dominic Flandry's office in Admiralty Center! Which we see in Chapter VI of WE CLAIM THESE STARS.

Ad astra! Sean

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Btw, I disagreed with what Eva Gabielsson did, cursing someone or more than one person, the way she did. I am aware of my own faults, but I am determined never to malevolently wish evil on anyone or to take pleasure in bad things happening to persons I dislike (no matter how strong that dislike may be). After all, Christ forbade that kind of behavior!

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
I agree. While I would not join in with it, Eva's "curse" (she uses a Norse word for it) was the wish that those who had harmed Stieg would fully realize the consequences of their actions, at which point the "curse" would cease. My approach is that my "karma" (actions and their consequences) is my responsibility and everyone else's is theirs.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

If Eva had skipped using even a fake horse head and simply said she "hoped" those who had harmed Stieg Larsson would understand what they had done, that would be much less objectionable!

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
Ketlan saw Eva at a SEARCHLIGHT gathering in London but didn't speak to her.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And that reminds me of how I once saw Poul Anderson himself from a distance at an SF convention in 1980. Alas, I never got to actually meeting and speaking to him, even briefly!

Ad astra! Sean