Arabian Nights - thoughts on the Old man and the hind
Pedophile. (claonaire)
That's my first thought. This guy married his cousin when she was 12 years old and boasts about how he's not only a relative and her husband but that she regarded him as a father-figure as well. It makes me happy that it was a boy-child that he got upon his female servant.
Oddly enough, since he had the raising of his wife, my second thought is 'henpecked much?' (fear fon spòig, piteag) He seems to give into or placate his wife more than is healthy, which makes me think that she was probably more strong-willed than he.
Which makes me curious as to why she behaved as she did? My thought was that she was jealous of the attention her husband/father was giving to the boy and, by extension, to the boy's mother. Sibling rivalry, if you will. I think this because, while it was the boy's mother who died, she seems to be a very ... peripheral character. The boy seems to bear the brunt of most of the wife's anger. He was the first one transformed, his mother seems to have been an afterthought. One the one hand, wifey did tell her husband that his female servant was dead. She told him that the boy was a run-away. But on the other hand, it's possible that she was thinking that if he had the hope of his son returning, he might not attempt to reproduce again?
On to another character - the steward's daughter. If she knew that the calf and cow were the boy and his mother, why did she wait to tell anyone? If the old man hadn't lost his nerve, he would have killed the boy, or had him killed as he had the boy's mother sacrificed at festival. I can understand her bargaining with the old man to change the boy back, by marrying the lad, her humble origins were obscured in a way that simple wealth would not; and better to make sure that the jealous witch was out of the picture before she joined the family. But still, I wonder, why did she allow the transformed cow and calf to be selected as sacrifice?
I have the story as a text file, if anyone is interested.
And speaking of stories, I'll post the story of Golly the giant when I get word that the snail-mail copies of it have arrived. The mother of the inspiration for the story has returned to livejournal and I don't want to spoil it for either of them.
That's my first thought. This guy married his cousin when she was 12 years old and boasts about how he's not only a relative and her husband but that she regarded him as a father-figure as well. It makes me happy that it was a boy-child that he got upon his female servant.
Oddly enough, since he had the raising of his wife, my second thought is 'henpecked much?' (fear fon spòig, piteag) He seems to give into or placate his wife more than is healthy, which makes me think that she was probably more strong-willed than he.
Which makes me curious as to why she behaved as she did? My thought was that she was jealous of the attention her husband/father was giving to the boy and, by extension, to the boy's mother. Sibling rivalry, if you will. I think this because, while it was the boy's mother who died, she seems to be a very ... peripheral character. The boy seems to bear the brunt of most of the wife's anger. He was the first one transformed, his mother seems to have been an afterthought. One the one hand, wifey did tell her husband that his female servant was dead. She told him that the boy was a run-away. But on the other hand, it's possible that she was thinking that if he had the hope of his son returning, he might not attempt to reproduce again?
On to another character - the steward's daughter. If she knew that the calf and cow were the boy and his mother, why did she wait to tell anyone? If the old man hadn't lost his nerve, he would have killed the boy, or had him killed as he had the boy's mother sacrificed at festival. I can understand her bargaining with the old man to change the boy back, by marrying the lad, her humble origins were obscured in a way that simple wealth would not; and better to make sure that the jealous witch was out of the picture before she joined the family. But still, I wonder, why did she allow the transformed cow and calf to be selected as sacrifice?
I have the story as a text file, if anyone is interested.
And speaking of stories, I'll post the story of Golly the giant when I get word that the snail-mail copies of it have arrived. The mother of the inspiration for the story has returned to livejournal and I don't want to spoil it for either of them.