Re: Questions

From: Peter Larsen <plarsen_at_...>
Date: Thu, 04 Mar 2004 07:27:01 -0500

At 04:27 PM 3/4/2004 +1300, Peter Metcalfe wrote:
>At 05:02 PM 3/3/04 -0500, you wrote:
>
> >At 10:20 AM +1300 3/4/04, Peter Metcalfe wrote:
> > > > True, but my point is that, even if it's hard to collect
> > weregild
> > >>from an usheathed Humakti, all that means is that the feud remains
> open --
> > >>the Humakti doesn't "get away" with it.
>
> > >He does get away with it if the clan is weak.
>
> > Sure, but they'd have to be pretty weak. Or poorly led. Or
> >really distracted.
>
>Which admits that it does happen despite your earlier categorical
>denials that it didn't.

         Which admits it *could* happen, if the Narrator wants to stack the deck against the clan. It certainly shouldn't be a model for general situations. I mean, Harrek shows up on a tula and demands food and lodging for his 5 companions. He refuses to take the Greeting, but the clan feeds him any way -- does this suggest that clans don't take the Greeting seriously? Eventually the failure of the Atlantic Ridge is going to cause catastrophic tsunamis on the US East Coast; that doesn't mean that tsunamis are a common occurrence here or taken much into account....

Peter Larsen

Engineering and Physical Sciences Librarian University of Rhode Island Library
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