From: tony.ellis@futurenet.co.uk (Tony Ellis)
Subject: (urth) Re: 5th Head
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 10:59:30 +0100

Ranjit wrote:
> Is there any hint in "V.R.T." of the folklore behind the
> Shadow Children in "A Story?"  I can't think of anyone in
> Marsch's interviews distinguishing more than two kinds of
> abos (Hill and Meadowmere)

The Shadow Children are secretive even by Annese standards, and the
colonists have a very shakey idea of who the Annese were, so you can't
expect too much. But Mrs Blount does say "I used to play with the
children, the little ones, you know." Now, is she thinking about Free
People children, or another kind of Child? "Ma said they'd eat me...
Anything to eat, they were always hungry."

M. Culot's grandfather's description of the Annese is also suggestive:
"sometimes like a man, sometimes like old wood." 

VRT also mentions seeing them when living in the outback with his
mother, and their telepathic abilities "...and the Shadow Children of
course came to steal by evening... there are never as many of them as
they think, because some are only in the minds of the others"

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