A Child At Sea

Recently, this blog has become an extended meditation on the nature of gods. That was not my intention although it accords with my interests. I simply follow Poul Anderson's texts or, in this case, Poul and Karen Anderson's texts, wherever they lead and they have led us us into many strange places apart from theology.

The Andersons' The King Of Ys, Volume I, culminates in the birth of a child and Volume II begins with the viewpoint of a very young child. If we have read Volume I, then we understand what is happening:

the child is at sea;
a fleet is being blessed;
there were people in bright robes at the docks;
a grey-bearded man with a long spiked pole was frightening;
the child has nine Mothers;
some of them sprinkle oil on the prows;
her robed father has a hammer and a Key.

The story of Ys continues although the viewpoint has changed and everything is new.