Chris/Arinnian And Tabitha/Hrill

The People Of The Wind, VI.

Chris/Arinnian asks Tabitha/Hrill why she speaks Anglic and addresses him by his human name. She reminds him that he and she are human and that they do not have feathers, which are part of the Planha language, and asks him why he minds. His inner reflection on this question is revealing:

"That personal a question...an insult, except between the closest friends, when it becomes an endearment.... No, I suppose she's just thinking human again." (p. 56)

Two Observations, The First Minor, The Second Major

(i) At school, a friend who had borrowed Time Patrol came across a short italicized passage and asked me, "Who says this?" I thought that it was obvious but I explained that Poul Anderson always italicizes inner thoughts to differentiate them clearly from dialogue between his characters. Chris thinks, "That personal a question...," but Tabitha does not hear it. We read it because we are outside their universe and are informed by an omniscient narrator.

(ii) Of course Tabitha is thinking human again, Chris. She is human as she has just reminded you! But Arinnian of Stormgate Choth has an idee fixe. Poul Anderson presents very clearly both the outer and the inner problems faced by his characters.

OK, folks. Food, then an evening elsewhere and some other reading in between.

Laterz.