When the Saracen, Sir Carahue, had joined Holger and his companions, he:
"...added they had better acquire a mule, on which Hugi could ride with ample food supplies." (p. 113)
- and the following chapter confirms that this has been done.
Thus, I am paid back for suggesting here that the attached cover illustration was inaccurate: a price to be paid for posting while reading although I willingly pay it.
However, surely, to be fully accurate, this illustration should show Carahue now travelling alongside Holger, dwarf and swan?
In any case, that is my lot for this evening. I relax by returning to other reading that (usually) does not require me to think about posting.
Tomorrow is another day and all that.
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
At least this is one of the better cover illustrations I've seen for any of Anderson's stories.
Ad astra! Sean
Note that the horse-trappings on the cover were similar to those used on parades and tournaments -- not what you'd have your horse wear when you were going cross-country.
Maybe they did it that way in the Carolingian universe, though?
(I've also heard that Viking horned helmets were worn only on ceremonial occasions.)
No, the Vikings didn't -have- horned helmets. Bronze Age people in Scandinavia did, for ceremonial purposes.
Mr. Stirling: But Chapter 1 of THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS shows a bewildered discovered the war horse Papillon wearing those ceremonial horse trappings.
Incidentally, altho a trained and lethally deadly war charger in combat situations, Papillon was a vastly more friendly horse than Rudi/Artos' Epona or the malicious horse shot by that French cavalryman after Waterloo. But that means Papillon was trained gently and carefully, probably by Holger himself.
Ad astra! Sean
Correction: "...Chapter 1 of THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS shows how a bewildered Holger discovered the war horse..."
Sean
The cloth trappings were for swank. They actually hindered -- and potentially tripped -- the horse.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
At least those horse trappings soon became harmlessly useless. Mention was later made of them being sadly tattered. Due to hard daily use.
Ad astra! Sean
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