> >David Weihe wrote
>The flip side, of course, is that it is dangerous to accept as a guest
>someone much higher than you if you cannot adequately protect him. There
>is probably an optional form of the Greeting used to grant someone the
>right to enter and stay for a while but warning him that he must look to
>his *own* safety, for these cases.
This seems to mean the hosts recognize that they're not strong enough to look to their guest's safety, and thus actually put themselves in a lower position. If your guest's enemy comes into your house, you may hide under the table, but that's clearly bad for your reputation. But the option surely exists.
> > Does it mean that if the guest refuses to repay, the host is
> > no longer obligated to him and may feud with him?
>
>As I said, it is below the level of lawsuit. It is up to them to
>settle the matter between themselves, just like a bet between two
>brothers.
>From bjm10_at_cornell.edu
>I would say that incuring a weregild liability that the host must pay
>would qualify as an act that would abrogate the guest-host relationship.
Another opinion, another clan. Or maybe one clan, two solutions.
The Greeting has bound them, and then they shared water and meat and salt... Even for the occasional Orlanthi bad guys, this is not something to overlook. If an Orlanthi wants to do harm to a clan, he probably won't do it when bound by hospitality. And if he does so by accident, maybe the host has to pay for him, but he could also try to defend his guest in front of the council (in order to pay less cows?). Personally i like the favor system and the role played by reputation in the whole affair. But if the guest is from a country like Aggar the host hardly ever heard about, he might as well consider the relationship broken and politely ask him to go away, because he hasn't much to gain from a favor or whatever.
If the host kills his guest or if his guest kills another clan-member, the relationship is probablye broken - in the former case that's obvious and in the latter case it's much better than create further complications... but clearly the host shall have to atone, and will fear that a curse might fall on his house (or the whole clan?).
And if the guest kills the host or anyone in the clan i'm afraid this would cause his own death anyway.
>Guests are bound by obligations as well as hosts. Recall the Tale of the
>Honest Thief.
I don't know of any but after a search, it seems there are several such Tales. Which one is it?
Jerome
"Another story concerns an honest thief, the only prisoner in the king’s jail who admits that he stole, when all the others protest their innocence. The honest thief is given his freedom so that he will not corrupt the other prisoners."
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