In the Danish ballad, Agnete bore seven sons. In Poul Anderson's novel, she had seven children. Three died young. That leaves:
Tauno, male, twenty-one;
Eyjan, female, nineteen;
Kennin, male, sixteen;
Yria, female, youngest.
After the destruction by exorcism of the off-shore merfolk town of Liri, Tauno, Eyjan and Kennin must depart for deeper waters but first they leave the weakest, Yria, with the priest, Knud. Christened as Margrete, Yria receives a soul, becomes physically mortal and forgets her earlier life.
Thus, of Agnete's seven children, three continue their lives as halflings.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Plainly, Anderson thought that while it was possible for a woman to bear seven sons, it was more likely she would also have some daughters among those seven children. Also, a mix of males and females could make for more interesting plot twists.
Ad astra! Sean
The gender of children is a tossup.
On average, roughly 105 boys are born for every 100 girls, with boys having higher mortality at all ages.
But in individual families, you can have long runs of one or the other
My mother had four sons; her mother was the youngest of 13, 7 boys and 6 girls. One of my brothers had 2 sons and a daughter.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Of course I agree that the sex of the children any pair of parents has will be toss up. No argument there. My parents had four sons, my father's parents had three sons and one daughter. And so it goes.
Ad astra! Sean
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