Old Phoenix POV's

Careful rereading is necessary. The first person narrator of Poul Anderson's "House Rule" informs us that the Peter Abelard whom he sees in the Old Phoenix Inn is:

"...still a whole man."

-Poul Anderson, "House Rule" IN Anderson, Fantasy (New York, September, 1981), pp. 9-20 AT p. 16 -

- i.e., has not been castrated, as he was in our history. 

The first person narrator of Anderson's "Losers' Night" informs us that he has:

"...heard, or seen for myself..."

-"Losers' Night," p. 111. (my emphasis)

- that several legendary, mythical, fictional, literary or historical persons have visited the Old Phoenix and that these include:

"...an Abelard who remained a whole man..." (ibid.)

I had to check. The absence of that phrase, "...or seen for myself...," would have implied different narrators for these two stories.

That narrator is absent from the Old Phoenix passages in A Midsummer Tempest which are all in the third person. Chapter xi begins with Prince Rupert's point of view (pov) but becomes omniscient narrator when he leaves the taproom. In xii, Rupert returns to the taproom and the narrative returns to his pov. In both cases, Valeria Matuchek is present. In the Epilogue, Rupert and his companion, Will, are long gone, Valeria has just finished recounting their story to a larger group of guests and the narration is from her pov.

And that is it for Old Phoenix povs. As Valeria concludes:

"'I hope you've enjoyed my story.'"

-Poul Anderson, A Midsummer Tempest (London, 1975), p. 229.

Here the author addresses his readers.