This phrase echoes Puck's:
Lord, what fools these mortals be
-copied from here. And see here.
By "halfling," Hauau means a human-merman hybrid rather than the meanings given in the Wiki article. See link above.
"'Nay, my jo. You hae your ain doom, I hae mine.'" (ibid.)
I first encountered "jo" at primary school in Scotland in a poem by the national poet of Scotland. "...doom..." here means what the Norns have decreed but I don't think that the Wiki article covers this meaning.
The selkie departs and Book Two closes. Next is "Tupilak."
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I too had my eye caught by Hauau's of HALFLING. It immediately reminded me of how Tolkien's hobbits in THE LORD OF THE RINGS were sometimes called halflings by other characters. Interesting, this use of "halfling" by Anderson, in a context I would not have thought appropriate for it.
I thought it piquant to see a were-seal talking in Scottish dialect!
Sean
Post a Comment