The first person narrator travels on horseback through a dusty Middle Eastern countryside where kaftan-wearing men emerge from brick houses and speak Aramaic or Edomite. He eats pitta and cheese and drinks water although:
"It's hard for a Marklander to be without his morning coffee..." (p. 71)
See previous blog discussions of tea and coffee here.
At the gate of Mirzabad, Persian soldiers:
"...bore old-time muzzle-loading rifles and curved short-swords." (p. 72)
The narrator himself bears "...pistol and broadsword." (ibid.)
Poul Anderson conveys the sense of an ancient past but with some elements of a more recent past. History has diverged at some point. Will the narrator encounter a displaced time traveller? Not in this narrative but we must read on to learn the score.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteWhat caught my eye was the narrator missing his morning coffee! Plainly, he came from a part of the world prosperous enough that people there could afford to import coffee.
Ad astra! Sean
In our history coffee came to Europe via a chain that went Ethiopia ==> Yemen ==> northern Middle East ==> Europe.
ReplyDeleteThat's from one country to the next closest; I don't see why it should be different in this alternate.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree. I was thinking it took longer and it was more costly to import coffee in the world of "The House of Sorrows."
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: but coffee seems to be unknown in the Middle East, which is curious.
ReplyDeleteKaor, Mr. Stirling!
ReplyDeleteI recently reread "The House of Sorrows," and you are right, there was no mention at all of coffee being known in Mirzabad/Jerusalem, which is odd. Not even of coffee being so costly only the wealthy could afford it. A rare oversight by Anderson.
Ad astra! Sean