No worries,
Pattertwig's Pal.
Pattertwig's Pal wrote:The clothes they gave him certainly aren't giantish. I assumed that the sword came with the outfit. Where ever that came from.
Actually, that description of their clothing, isn't the only reason or place I needed to check about the sword. I did have a vague memory that Scrubb lost something or other on the giant bridge. But though I did check, I couldn't find any support for that incident in my British edition of the book, either, and now I wonder where else I saw or heard about that particular incident? In the BBC TV version, perhaps?
If Eustace definitely had dropped his sword when on the Giant Bridge, the sword he had when leaving Harfang could well have come with the clothes if the clothes had belonged previously to some Narnian champion who had gone in search of Prince Rilian. In which case the giants really were in the habit of stealing guests' clothes and belongings. But how many Narnian champions were likely to have been carrying gold-hilted swords, even if close to Caspian, himself? For that matter, how many of the seekers would have been humans at all?
A recent and more likely Harfang visitor, who could have left it, might have been LOTGK's silent knight companion. In which case, the sword technically belonged to the silent knight, which means that Eustace, if asked about the sword, and if he thought about it, could have claimed he had a duty to return it to its proper owner.
But I don't want to get ahead of myself.
I did note in the previous chapter and my previous post on this thread that Jill was obviously wearing the LOTGK's hand-me-downs, and that she already assumed as much the previous night.
No, such swords with golden hilts aren't common, even where Crown Jewels are kept and where swords, like crowns and other items like sceptres etc, have names, tradition and symbolism attached. I don't know which ones, if any, did have fully golden hilts, as opposed to mainly golden decoration, and would have thought such swords would have been somewhat impractical, due to weightiness, and that they were mainly for display and prestige in important ceremonial occasions.
But I doubt such swords were all that common even in Narnia. I'm a bit surprised that such a sword would have been left out in Eustace's room even at Cair Paravel. Unless Glimfeather or someone else had suggested to the chamber maids that Eustace was no ordinary visitor to Cair Paravel
.
Now back to the questions.
1. Do you agree that “Scrubb and Puddleglum both did their best, but girls do that kind of thing better than boys. Even boys do it better than Marsh-wiggles?”I'd imagine Scrubb would not be able to play that sort of part in helping to soothe any giantish suspicions nearly as well as Jill. We learn in VDT that he doesn't have the sort of background where social skills were a big priority. His mother, in particular, didn't seem the sort to put herself out to please anyone, and in the environment of Experiment House, where co-operation and social skills are less important than pandering to the bullies, he hasn't had the opportunity to develop any. And dressed the way he was, including that sword, he doesn't really look the part of a harmless little boy, curious about his surroundings. Puddleglum is in an even worse position, due to what we saw of the dour and pessimistic outlook of his fellow Marshwiggles, which is not how children are expected to be. Besides, Puddleglum is some sort of cold-blooded froggy being, that is to say, he keeps his sang froid most of the time. Does he also retain his sword at this point?
2. What clues does Lewis give the reader that the gentle giants are not safe and that the children and Puddleglum are in danger? So-called gentle giants aren't safe? Let me count the ways.....
1. Aslan's telling Jill about the signs in the first place.
2.The fact she and Eustace were to go north to the
Ruined City of the Giants. Do we know the history of that city, and why it was ruined? No?
3. Eustace and Jill's briefing at the Parliament of Owls, where they were told that none of those searching for Rilian ever came back.
4. Eustace's own recollection to Puddleglum that Caspian had beaten the giants to the north of Narnia - which giants, and would these beaten giants really be friendly?
5. Their departure across the Shribble - C.S.Lewis' careful words do suggest not only the travellers' loneliness, but that they could be seen picking their way. By whom?
6. The behaviour of the Ettinsmoor giants.
7. The dilapidated Giants' bridge and the sort of carvings it is decorated with.
8. Meeting LOTGK and her armoured companion, plus her attempts to draw a distinction between the Ettinsmoor giants and the Harfang giants.
9.The fact that LOTGK knew very well where the Ruined City was but was disinclined to tell the children and Puddleglum where it was, directing them to Harfang, instead.
10. Puddleglum's misgivings about staying with giants, friendly or not.
11. The reception Puddleglum, Eustace and Jill got at Harfang, from the way playful Giants got Puddleglum drunk, to the body language of the Giants' King and Queen in their throne room.
12. Jill's dream about that toy horse, Aslan and the signs.
13. The fact their rooms were locked overnight, that Eustace and Puddleglum were escorted to Jill's room and that the nurse shut the door after leaving them all in Jill's room.
14. The sniggering and false sympathy shown by various giants to Jill and Eustace - "poor little things", indeed!
15. And to clinch it there was luncheon....
Right from the beginning there is a slow escalation of the danger Puddleglum, Eustace and Jill were in. And now they are really "in the soup", or, if they don't watch out, "in the man pie". They had better pay heed to that sign about "under me", soon.
3. If you were in the place of the children and Puddleglum, do you think you would have suspected you were about to be eaten? Yes. Once I'd heard about the Talking Stag, I'd certainly get suspicious. I'm not surprised that Puddleglum, all along, wasn't so easily taken in by LOTGK's talk of "gentle" giants. Even Jill might remember worrying about Aslan eating her, though Aslan is a lot more trustworthy than the Giants. But up to that point, so far, the hospitality offered to them was impeccable. They didn't have any good reason so far to think the Giants were into eating their guests, and that they were to be the entree in the Autumn festivities. Let alone any inkling that the Harfang Giants were no better than the Ettinsmoor Giants in moral reasoning, even if they wore fancier clothes.
Once Puddleglum learned about the Talking Stag, and expressed his utter loathing of eating his fellow Old Narnians, who could talk back to him, the inference must be drawn that the Giants eat anything that moves, regardless of the victim's opinion, and totally without any moral scruples about what they ate.
By the way, how did the Talking Stag fall into the hands of the Harfang Giants?By way of Ettinsmoor, do you think?I agree that Harfang is still a fair way from Ettinsmoor and the Narnian border. Perhaps the Harfang giants belonged to the same group of giants as those at Ettinsmoor, so I think that Ettinsmoor was just a border posting and Harfang was headquarters.
4. On the same day, the children and Puddleglum realize they have eaten talking stag and that “Man” and “Marsh-wiggle” appear in the giants’ cookbook. Which discovery was more disturbing to you?Actually what I found most disturbing was the children and Puddleglum's realisation that they were eating Talking Stag, and how it challenged the principles and the attitudes of each of the travellers to what they ate. Jill had never tried venison before, since even in this world, venison is an expensive meat, being game, and only obtained by those with the right wildlife training, farming knowhow, and permissions, granted by those whose social status, and income allows such game- hunting on their own land. Or farming and importation where deer are not native. So Jill's attitude, being a stranger to Narnia, was most likely to resemble that of readers.
Even Eustace who had an animal friend from Narnia, and agreed it was a rotten thing to do to the Talking Stag, had not thought before that incident of the stag being a talking, thinking, and reasoning being before being killed, and the situation still took time to sink in. Whereas Puddleglum was a native Narnian, who saw the Stag as an equal, and thought of eating another native Narnian, as anathema to him.
8. Do you think the pursuing hounds were normal or giant-sized?Normal sized and not necessarily talking dogs either. Though not as small as chihuahuas or Scottish terriers of course. Some dogs, like great Danes, Rottweillers or Dalmatians would be big enough for giants, anyway, especially beagles and other specialised hunting dogs.
I'll answer the other five questions later, to keep my posts shorter.