From: Michael Straight <straight@email.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: (urth) Re: Digest urth.v027.n006
Date: Thu, 27 May 1999 09:42:54 

On Thu, 27 May 1999, Timothy Reilly wrote:

> Maybe, as you say the Green Man is bluffing - but surely a bluff would be
> more specific and less unhelpful than telling Severian that Agia is exactly
> where she would be expected to be ie "above ground".  Similarly, if the
> Green Man is trying to help, then his advice is not at all helpful to
> Severian escaping Agia's later attempts at assassination, or at least so it
> seems to me.  And in any event, he is responding to a question as to where
> Agia is now, rather than at some time in the future.  Yet presumably the
> Green Man's words have some positive impact on Severian, because he gives
> him the stone thereafter.  So I remain perplexed!

I always thought that Severian gave him the stone out of compassion, not
just as a reward for his services.  Or if compassion is the wrong word,
maybe respect, or perhaps out of dislike for the people who were keeping
him captive. 

-Rostrum


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