For a whole year, the Wanderer takes Alawin to visit the Visigoths, then a Christian Gothic settlement within the Empire, then Constantinople, then the Visigoths again. Does Carl devote an entire year of his own lifespan to this? And how much of this time is spent on Time Patrol business?
Among the East Goths themselves, he spends much time, and with some eventual success, persuading them to make preparations to move west. Some invest over there by sending gold, goods and men. Others become ready to depart quickly if necessary. In these matters, Carl is acting in the long term interests of his descendants but surely not serving the aims of the Patrol? If anything, he contradicts those aims by trying to influence the course of events.
We know that versions of a story differ. Carl summarizes the Volsungasaga and the Nibelungenlied to Everard and now we ourselves read the later "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" by Poul Anderson! It is with a sense of irony - or even of humour - that we read a passage in which Carl anxiously asks Hathawulf how well he and his brother get along with their half-brother. Do they ever quarrel? We know that Carl has read a version of the story in which the brothers kill the half-brother. Whatever is really going to happen still lies ahead...
12 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Carl was right to be anxious--polygamous marriage inevitably opens the door for intrigues and quarrels.
Ad astra! Sean
Not necessarily.
Eg., among the Sarmatians, "amazons" -- a Graeco-Roman expression, the Sarmatian word translates literally as "man-killer" -- often were bonded pairs, who'd then marry the same man so they could stay together and their children be brothers and sisters.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Granted, there will be exceptions. But I keep remembering the grisly customs of the Ottoman sultans, murdering or imprisoning their brothers/half brothers.
Ad astra! Sean
When Saruke mentioned the 'sword sister' custom to Filipa Chang, in To Turn the Tide, I wondered whether she would try to persuade Chang to do something similar and if Chang would be willing.
Kaor, Jim!
IIRC, Stirling had Filipa and Saruke thinking of something like that, finding a man who would be the father of their children.
Ad astra! Sean
In the latest book, they do -- he's anonymous... 8-).
I will catch up with all these new books, maybe when they're in paperback.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Paul!
Mr. Stirling: I certainly hope to read your third Antonine book! But I disagree with that anonymity--it makes me think Filipa is hostile to the male sex. To say nothing of how I believe a man should help raise his children--who also have a right to know their father.
Paul: Or you might find good quality used hardbacks of Stirling's books at the Old Pier book shop! (Smiles)
Get well fast!
Ad astra! Sean
I'll look - when I gat there.
get
Sean: OTOH, a -lot- of men impregnate and run.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: Good, I hope you find some of Stirling's books.
Mr. Stirling: Too true, or women who abandon their children, or get them aborted. Or some do a Susan Smith. Evil goes both ways.
Ad astra! Sean
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