Re: Red Sheep

From: Nick Brooke <Nick_Brooke_at_compuserve.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 1998 22:20:42 +0100



Peter Whitelaw asks:

> Has the Lunar Empire managed to arrange affairs such that sheep bred
> within the glowline grow red wool?

Not routinely, though I could easily imagine this being done as a sorcerous one-off. It'd be magical, not natural, and certainly not widespread -- after all, white wool is more useful (though less pricey) than red, isn't it?

Note that to the Romans, a return to the Golden Age would have been heralded by sheep whose wool didn't need to be dyed -- as it'd already be the right colour. (Source: Virgil, the "Messianic Eclogue"). (It'd also have included the complete evaporation of the sea, so nobody ever needed to risk shipwreck again, FWIW).

So this is more a Neat Economic Trick or a Ominous Portent, than an Everyday Feature of Pelorian Life, if you ask me.

Nick
:::: web: <http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Nick_Brooke>


Powered by hypermail