The merman Vanimen stays with Father Tomislav in the zadruga which is a small hamlet with cultivated fields but surrounded by forest, a day's journey from Skradin. The villagers farm, cut timber, burn charcoal, hunt and trap. Their thatched, wooden, one- or two-roomed, houses stand above the ground with animal stalls below. Also:
"Granaries stood about, small, slat-sided, elevated on skinny boles whose roots made birdlike feet, as on Baba Yaga's famous abode." (p. 118)
Baba Yaga's abode appears in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. See image. Also, in Gaiman's The Books Of Magic, Tim Hunter, who resembles and parallels Harry Potter (see here), escapes from Baba Yaga by tripping her mobile house and making it fall.
7 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Not having read any of the works of Neil Gaiman I am quite unable to comment on your remarks about him and his works.
Sean
I remember reading stories about Baba Yaga when I was a very small child. Interestingly, she had a hut that was much larger on the inside than it appeared to be from outside, much like a certain well-know Tardis. I wonder if the creator of Dr Who knew of the Baba Yaga stories...
Hi, Ketlan!
LTNS! Interestingly, I remember seeing something like that about the Last Homely House East of the Sea in Tolkien's THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Some characters say Elrond's house keeps seeming to be larger than it looks.
Sean
Sean,
Another to me unfamiliar abbreviation: LTNS!
Paul.
@Paul LTNS = Long Time No See
@Sean It's a good few years since I read the Hobbit and LotR but I have to say I don't remember the Last Homely House at all. Must be time for a re-read - always a joy with Tolkien.
And I recently referred to Gaiman's Worlds' End Inn which seemed to a guy to have got bigger while he was in it.
Hi, Ketlan and Paul!
Ketlan: I know what you mean! Despite having so many other books I want to reread, some of them by Poul Anderson, THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS are others I wish to reread. You can descriptions of Elrond's House in "A Short Rest" (THE HOBBIT) or "Many Meetings" (Chapter One of Book II of LOTR).
Paul: I see Ketlan already explained what that bit of cyber jargon I used, "LTNS", means! (Smiles)
Sean
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