"Summer drew to an end, the crops in, stubblefields and hay meadows brown, birch leaves yellowing, a nip in the winds, the sky full of southbound wings and wild cries."
-Poul Anderson, Mother Of Kings (New York, 2003), Book Two, Chapter VI, p. 105.
(I am having trouble finding a meaning for "stubblefields.")
This single-sentence description addresses three senses and names two colors. The following sentence informs us of human activities:
"Men readied ships." (ibid.)
Why does summer make them ready ships? On the previous page:
"The wedding called for a real feast, so it was set for fall after harvest..." (p. 104)
Thus, local great men prepare to travel to an important wedding. Some of those left behind travel instead to gather rents, round a ness and reach Atley island. (I am having trouble finding this island.)
"Thus Egil first met Eirik and Gunnhild." (p. 105)
Clearly a significant meeting coinciding with the important wedding but its significance remains to be revealed.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I'm a little puzzled by your puzzlement over "stubblefields." It refers to recently harvested fields of grain where the stubble or parts of stubble of such crops as wheat and barley were left behind by the harvesters.
Sean
Sean,
Yes, it is one of those words that I understand in a general way from context but expect to find defined more precisely somewhere. All that I found was "Stubblefield" as a surname!
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
In my puzzlement over your puzzlement, I clicked on the link and noticed how it got me examples of "Stubblefield" being a surname.
Sean
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