In King Olaf's court, the priest Conor presses guests about:
"'...the true and only God...'" (p. 109)
If I had any say in the matter, then that priest would be preaching in a church or in a city square but would not be resident at court and hassling the king's guests! He thinks that his God might return in a few years' time, in 1000 AD. And we have made it to 2025! St. Paul had expected the Second Coming with the completion of his mission to the Gentiles and while some of the disciples were still alive.
Concerning Nornagest, some men at Olaf's court ask:
"...how any man could have fared so widely or been so old." (p. 108)
- a sure sign that we are in the presence of another immortal. Indeed, this chapter would not contribute to the novel if we were not. And Nornagest tells Olaf:
"'I am older than I seem, lord.'" (p. 109)
The time for keeping quiet about mutant longevity has still not arrived.
Nornagest claims to have met Starkadh and to correct errors about him.
This chapter is structured like the previous one. The opening section is unnumbered. Section 1 is a flashback. Section 2 returns us to Nornagest speaking in Olaf's court. The following chapter will take us somewhere else, although only fifty-two years later in this case.
12 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I think you are missing a logical point about that Christian priest: Conor was part of King Olaf's household, and since the king was a zealous convert to Christianity, his chaplain spoke as he did with his full approval.
Also, there were not many Christians in Norway in Olaf's time, almost certainly not enough for churches. So, like St. Paul, missionaries like Conor had to speak where and when they could.
My recollection is that Nornagest's memories goes far back into the Old Stone Age. Which makes me think he was many thousands of years old by Olaf's time.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
That is a factual point, not a logical one. Of course Conor had the king's approval. But I would not have welcomed his harping on the urgency of belief in one God.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree with Conor's urgency while conceding it could be sometimes mistimed.
Was Nornagest so old he even knew some of the last Neanderthals?
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
What makes you think Nornagest might have been that old?
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
My recollection is that, as Nornagest was dying, he recalled the first of the women he loved, so long ago that the tools/weapons she carried were made of stone.
A pity Anderson did not have one of these immortals be a Neanderthal!
Ad astra! Sean
Stone. That's right.
Kaor, Paul!
I still have a soft spot for Neanderthals! (Smiles)
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Alfred Bester's THE COMPUTER CONNECTION has a group of immortals including a Neanderthal, I think: someone who is pre-linguistic.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Never read that one, alas! But I have read Bester's THE STARS MY DESTINATION and another of his stories whose title I can't quite recall.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Paul!
I checked and the other Bester story I read was THE DEMOLISHED MAN, a science fiction crime novel.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: "so long ago that the tools/weapons she carried were made of stone."
However, stone was not replaced by metal for tools until long after the Neanderthals were extinct (aside from a modest genetic contribution to H. Sapiens)
Kaor, Jim!
Just a bit puzzled, but I'm not disagreeing. My vague thought was that, after Homo sapiens branched off from the Neanderthals, both species of Homo co-existed long enough for Neanderthals to survive into the Old Stone Age. I sentimentally thought Nornagest and this young woman were born when there were still a few Neanderthals living.
Yes, it's bee estimated Caucasians and north Asians have the largest amount of surviving Neanderthal DNA.
Ad astra! Sean
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