>Yes. Glad you like it - my favourite of his novels. The vein of fantasy (or
>fabulation) in Land has given way to realism in his more recent, and more
>successful, novels Taking Apart the Poco Poco and Fat Hen.
Ah but are you sure he wrote them, Matthew, considering the revelations that
his billion selling namesake (Dick Francis) didn't write any of his horsy
thrillers.
While we're on the subject of horses, The Horseman's Word is, as someone
suggested, a secret word which was given to horsemen upon finishing their
apprenticeship. They would generally be taken blindfold into a barn and
made to shake hands with the devil (someone holding up a goat) and then
would be told the word. The word was known only to these initiates until
fairly recently. When I studied ethnology under the great folklorist Hamish
Henderson in the 80s, he knew it but was sworn to secrecy. Now, with the
death of the horseman's trade, it is not so secret. I know it, and will
pass it on to you Matthew, when you prove that you can say the following,
each ten times quickly
'It's a braw bricht moonlit nicht the nicht.'
'The Leith police dismisseth us.'
'Fit fit fits fit fit?'
'I hate hats, but ah'll hae tae hae a hat'
Roddy
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|