"'...started the great change.'"
-Poul Anderson, "Tiger By The Tail" IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender of the Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, February 2010), pp. 241-276 AT p. 245.
In any case, thanks to Flandry, the Scothani, fragmented and defeated, will have to accept a Terran resident. Individual members of their species will join the Terran Navy and fight against the Merseians as shown in "Hunters of the Sky Cave."
The sequel, "Honorable Enemies," is the Captain Flandry instalment that had originally introduced not only the Merseians but also their Chereionite agent, Aycharaych. What we have been seeing in recent posts is how much prior history Poul Anderson subsequently wrote.
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I plan to soon reread the revised version of "Honorable Enemies." I hope those Merseian dancing girls were not omitted from it! (Smiles)
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I don't think they were in there but I'll find out.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I hope that detail was not omitted from the revised version. Leaving it in would be Anderson's way of showing us how Merseians could let their hair down. Figuratively speaking! (Smiles)
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Can yo tell me where the detail is in the original story?
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Here it is, in Section III of the original text of "Honorable Enemies" (AGENT OF THE TERRAN EMPIRE, Chilton Books: 1965, page 68): "Flandry was more than a little drunk when the party ended. Wine flowed freely at a Betelgeusean banquet, together with music, food, and dancing girls of every race present."
Quite different from many human official social functions, where the object was often to make a point of the power and might of the host. IOW, "staid and stuffy," as Aline Chang-Lei said.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
OK. Thanks. The mind does boggle at Merseian dancing girls.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Trying to catch up. A comment of mine disappeared. I agree, it does boggles the mind to think of Merseian dancing girls! I also added that it was a "humanizing" touch, showing how even Merseians of the Roidhunate could relax from that stiff pose of "embodied racial destiny."
Ad astra! Sean
From Sean M. Brooks:
Kaor, Paul!
Ha! It does. But it's also a rather "humanizing" touch, showing how Merseians could relax from that stiff pose of "embodied racial destiny."
All this made me wonder if Leon Ammon had some Merseian prostitutes in his "joy house."
Ad astra! Sean
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