Grass And God

Starfarers, 23-24.

On Tahir:

"A large structure stood a hundred meters aside, surrounded by well-tended sward." (24, p. 229)

On another planet, nothing should be taken for granted so what is "sward"? Do not imagine a green lawn. We have already been told that:

"A mossy turf seemed to play the basic role of grass." (23, p. 215)

We have lost count of Poul Anderson's extraterrestrial grass equivalents.

When Zeyd confirms that Tahirian antennae are compasses, he exclaims:

"'Manifold are the works of God.'" (24, p. 230)

But how long will it be before he can express that thought to the Tahirians and hear their equivalent? Communication is not so difficult in CS Lewis's Solar System. Elwin Ransom has to learn a language, of course, but then the Malacandrians/Martians ask in astonishment:

"'Did people in Thulcandra not know that Maleldil the Young had made and still ruled the world? Even a child knew that."

-CS Lewis, Out Of The Silent Planet IN Lewis,  The Cosmic Trilogy (London, 1990), pp. 1-144 AT 11, p. 59.

 

And Lewis, incarnated as a character in his own fiction, later reflects:

 

"I did not even doubt the reality of that mysterious being whom the eldila call Maleldil and to whom they appear to give a total obedience such as no Tellurian dictator can command. I knew what Ransom supposed Maleldil to be."

-CS Lewis, Perelandra IN The Cosmic Trilogy, pp. 145-348 AT 1, p. 155.

 

We cannot be as confident about the Tahirians' metaphysics.