Nornagest And The Wind (What Else?)

The Boat Of A Million Years, V, 1-2.

Nornagest does not conceal that he is unusually old but does conceal how old, except to Starkadh who refuses to cooperate.

After a battle, Nornagest composes a verse which ends:

"...the wind called souls away." (p. 112)

He tells Starkadh:

"'I feel myself grow ever wearier of roving the earth among the winds.'" (p. 123)

When he wills himself dead:

"The candleflame flickered to naught. Nornagest lay still. Through the hall sounded a wind of the oncoming winter." (p. 131)

Before that, there is one of Poul Anderson's frequent Biblical quotations:

"Come unto me, all ye that labor..." etc (p. 130)

- and another right at the end of the novel:

"When I consider thy heavens..." etc (XIX, pp. 599-600)

Nornagest

The Boat Of A Million Years, V.

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.

Olaf And Nornagest

Sometimes I remember having read a phrase in one of Poul Anderson's works and would like to quote that particular phrase here but cannot find it in the text. Something that Hanno thought about his footsteps through time? This is a reminder of how rich Anderson's texts are. It is impossible, while reading, to note everything that might come to seem worthy of recollection later. Find a passage that describes a natural scene or that imparts a lot of information and try to summarize that passage. You will appreciate the details more for having summarized them and will also write something that might encourage others to read or reread.

The Boat Of A Million Years, Chapter V, returns us to familiar Andersonian territory. It begins:

"It is told in the saga of Olaf Tryggvason how Nornagest came to him when he was at Nidharos and abode some while in the king's hall..." (p. 108)

Anderson is at home among sagas, Olafs etc. It is as if Boat is to incorporate multiply diverse historical milieus. 

Is Nornagest another of Anderson's "immortals" that can be identified with a character to be found in earlier literature? 

The Story Of Aliyat

The Boat Of A Million Years, IV.

This chapter is a novel in content although not in length. It could easily have been expanded. In the unnumbered opening section, Aliyat makes her first appearance when she surreptitiously asks the caravan master, Nebozabad, for help. She reminds him that he has known her family all his life and he then recalls more than thirty years of experiences although the ensuing extended flashback is narrated from her point of view, not from his.

Sections I-14 are a flashback, recapitulating Aliyat's life until her flight from the city immediately before her appeal to Nebozabad. Sections 15-16 recount her successful escape with his help. Aliyat and her family had done their best to conceal or play down her unprecedented youthfulness and longevity. After she had been widowed, her son, now himself a grandfather, arranged for her second marriage to a merchant who subsequently adopted the religion of the Muslim conquerors. He took a second wife and concubines and arranged to catch his embarrassingly young older wife in adultery so that he could rid himself of her while keeping her property. A skilled survivor, Aliyat escapes. She will go out into the world and will eventually meet other immortals. Another building block has been added to the history of the Survivors. Maybe one of the gods goes with Aliyat?

Powers

The Boat Of A Million Years, IV, 12.

In Tadmor/Palmyra, the Arabs plan to turn the ancient temple of Bel into a fortress but Aliyat, nominally Christian and now Muslim, wonders:

"But were those Powers entirely dead? (p. 101)

She lists:

Bel of the storm;

Jaribol of the sun;

Aglibol of the moon;

Ashtoreth of begettings and births.

If, for the sake of argument or fiction, we grant the gods some measure of existence, then what becomes of them when they are no longer worshiped? Do they die or cease to exist or can they still be accessed? The Sandman knows. See Where Do Gods Go? Death adds in another volume of The Sandman that old gods linger for a long time in a dream country. This makes some sense. That is where they really are.

Aliyat

The Boat Of A Million Years, IV, Death In Palmyra, 1-16, pp. 70-107, 641 A.D.

This chapter covers forty years. First, there are Zarathustrans in Persia. Then:

"...afar in Makkah Muhammad ibn Abdallah saw visions, preached..." (7, p. 88)

The text summarizes how the Prophet flees, prevails, renames a city and dies:

"...as master of Arabia." (ibid.)

Khalifa Omar's troops capture Jerusalem, subjugate Syria and penetrate deep into Persia.

Against this historical background, Aliyat becomes a great-grandmother yet remains physically young and realizes that:

"...a new city lay ahead, and beyond it all the world and time.

"A woman who was ageless had one way, if none else, to live onward in freedom." (p. 107)

There is more than this to Aliyat's story but not tonight.

Hanno And Rufus

The Boat Of  Million Years, III, The Comrade.

Although the Roman Empire is unravelling, as in Poul and Karen Anderson's The King Of Ys, Hanno, now Lugo, lives comfortably in Burdigala/Bordeaux with his young wife, Cordelia, and their children. However, he hears of a man called Rufus who still looks young even after his wife has died of old age. Lugo rescues Rufus from a mob. The two trade stories. It seems that Rufus is a young immortal. Lugo is about twelve hundred years old. They must join forces. Therefore, they must travel to Britannia, where Lugo buried money several generations previously, and must not return. Lugo has already made financial provision for Cordelia in case he ever fails to return...

Hanno/Lugo must gather immortals and find out what they can do together. In this respect, he exactly parallels Jack Havig, the mutant time traveler in Poul Anderson's There Will Be Time. Although we do find some such parallels, these works differ considerably. Of necessity, many chapters of Boat are taken up with the handful of immortals finding each other. Each historical period is realized in detail, as in Anderson's Time Patrol series.

Eventually, Hanno's immortals and Havig's time travelers will make a big difference to the galaxy in their respective timelines.

Tu Chan And The Wind

The Boat Of A Million Years, II.

Tu Shan refers to:

"'Hsi Wang Mu, Mother of the West...'" (p. 45)

- and her peaches of immortality although it is clear that he himself does not take this mythological story seriously.

He, Tu Chan, is perfectly sensible and honest. He seeks the Tao and an explanation for his own unaging longevity. He has not yet learned to conceal that longevity although perhaps he is starting to realize that need by the end of this chapter. Having attracted Imperial attention, he decides to leave for parts unknown:

"'West into the mountains...'" (p. 45)

- like Lao Tzu before him. Moving west, he might meet others - Hanno is the only other immortal that we know, or at least suspect, so far.

As readers sensitized to the role of the wind in Poul Anderson's texts, we anticipate its arrival and are not disappointed. When the inspector and the subprefect walk down to meet Tu Shan:

"A wind had arisen. It boomed from the north, cooling the air, driving clouds before it whose shadows went like sickles across the land." (p.40)

Not a gentle wind. Booming is not a good sign, especially not when sending sickle-like shadows.

When Tu Shan has declined the invitation to become an Imperial adviser and the nobles as well as the audience of commoners have withdrawn:

"Tu Shan and his disciples stood alone by the well. The wind blustered through silence. Shadows came and went." (p. 45)

Again, this wind threatens, instead of confirming that all is well, which wind can also do. Indeed, Tu Shan says:

"'...it is well to be gone. This wind smells of trouble.'" (ibid.)

The brashest young disciple says that the master can tell and must often "'...have caught that scent in his many years.'" (ibid.)

Sure, but Tu Shan is assessing the whole situation, not just smelling the wind. He says:

"'The times are evil.'" (p. 46)

As often, the wind has the last word. Tu Shan continues:

"'We must seek a place apart, and the Tao.'

"They walked onward through the wind." (ibid.)

The reference to "disciples" does not mean that Tu Shan is misleading or exploiting anyone. Quite the contrary. Three young men have come to him and he has declined others. He repeatedly warns the three that he has no inspiration or secret. He is marked out only by his agelessness and he himself seeks to understand that. They can either listen or leave with his blessing.

The three Ways of China are conservative Confucianism, anarchic Taoism and imported Buddhism. I have read persuasive explanations that Zen is a Buddhist-Taoist synthesis.

A Taoist sage, asked how he would fare under Mao, replied, "Would it not be laughable if a lifelong follower of the Lord Lao were to fear change?" However, Taoists deal in cyclical seasonal changes, not in historical turning points incorporating violent social upheavals. But, in general, the sage was right not to fear change.

Masterless Wanderers

The Boat Of A Million Years, II.

The subprefect complains of "'Masterless wanderers...'" (p. 36) who:

do no useful work;

beg;

wheedle;

claim tremendous powers;

are said to have cured the sick, exorcised demons, raised the dead etc;

avail themselves of men's purses and women's bodies;

convince their victims that this is the Way;

then move elsewhere.

How many such charlatans have there been? 

This is an interesting perspective: society runs as it should only if everyone either has or is a "master"? Yes. That was the idea for a long time.

I knew a guy called Jim who claimed to have founded a new philosophy but it turned out to be a joke. 

The new philosophy: attachment to anything material prevents spiritual liberation.

The way to liberation: give all your property to Jim who will self-sacrificingly take all this bad karma on himself.

My doctrinal amendment: everyone's sacrifice will have been in vain unless Jim consumes all of the wealth himself. (He thought that maybe he needed my help with the doctrines. I replied that I would need my cut and he responded that this would be ok.)

Please do not take any of the above seriously!

"The Person Who Names Himself..."

The Boat Of A Million Years, II.

On its first reading, Boat... moves rather slowly, of necessity. A range of characters must be introduced in disparate milieus and must overcome a number of obstacles before they can come together. If two immortals are concealing their longevity, then how can they learn anything of each other? On later readings, an individual's name has significance as soon as it is introduced. Thus, the Chinese Imperial court has heard travelers' tales of a Taoist whose:

"'...virtue appears to have brought him great longevity... Actual immortality?'" (p. 36)

When the subprefect responds:

"'Oh... I understand. The person who names himself Tu Shan.'" (ibid.)

- this name means a very great deal if, as in the present case, we have just reread Chapter XIX first! We now want to be reminded of how Tu Shan was first introduced and also to reread whatever account he gives of himself to an Imperial inspector. Meanwhile, as always, we appreciate Poul Anderson's descriptions of nature:

"...leaves full of sunlight. Willows along irrigation canals..." (p. 33)

We are not hastening through the text and can pause to notice details. We glimpse the patience of the immortals...