This article includes more connections to
existing articles, with references to attack dogs, getting what we want, lions’
mouths and rowan trees.
The attack-dog syndrome
I noticed one very subtle and one very
obvious example of the attack-dog syndrome, which has been covered elsewhere.
This is the subtle and mild example:
We are told that the vicar who preceded Uncle
Ambrose was fond of the witch Emma Cobley and would never believe the stories
told about her in the village.
We are not told anything more, but I would
bet that he became annoyed and said something like, “How can you say these
things about such a fine person?” Maybe he even sternly told them not to bear
false witness!
Someone in his position should have taken the
accusations very seriously; not doing so is a dead giveaway that something is
very wrong. His reaction is a sign that the stories are probably true.
This is the obvious and potentially very
serious example:
When the children first go into the village,
they see an inn called The Bulldog. They learn from an old postcard that the
inn formerly had a wonderful bird on its sign. They also learn that the inn is
owned by some of Emma Cobley’s unpleasant associates.
The inn has a fierce bulldog on its swinging
sign. A huge and ugly bulldog sits in the doorway and growls at the children.
Just like Emma Cobley’s cat, the bulldog grows
to an enormous size and attacks the children. Emma and her associates are also
involved in this attack, which the children brought on themselves by not
obeying Emma’s orders to stay away from a particular area.
One of the gang later greets the children in
a friendly way. Inflicting or attempting to inflict serious blows and injuries
and expecting the victims to carry on as if nothing had happened is another
game that people who are under evil influences play.
Everything changes for the better once Emma’s
figurines have been burned. There are no more attacks, and Emma replaces the
inn sign with a picture of a beautiful peregrine falcon.
Wanting and getting
When the children first arrive at Uncle
Ambrose’s house, the youngest suddenly says that she will stay there until
their father returns from his travels and then she will stay on with him. Her
siblings react strongly:
"‘Sh!’ the others hissed at her. It seemed to
them dreadfully dangerous to put it into words like that, for lately the things
they didn’t want to happen were the things that happened, and the logic of this
was that if you pretended not to want what you really wanted dreadfully, you
would be more likely to get it."
This is uncannily similar to something I
wrote about getting what you want in a previous article:
“I remember how devastated I felt when first
I read somewhere that wanting something very much is likely to activate forces
that prevent our getting it. People who can take it or leave it are more likely
to get it. This rule seems very unfair, but it explains a lot.”
Rowan trees and the lion’s mouth
Rowan trees are mentioned many times in
Linnets and Valerians. They are seen as benevolent and beneficial: a bunch of
rowan branches is used to protect Uncle Ambrose’s house from the evil eye, as
witches can’t stand the rowan’s power to do good. Rowan branches are used as
swords of protection by the children when they are attacked by Emma Cobley and
her followers.
Lion Tor is also mentioned many times. It is
a huge, towering rock that is shaped like a crouching lion. It appears to be
keeping guard over the area. Emma Cobley warns the children to keep away as it
is a dangerous place and something nasty might happen to them.
Lion Tor is actually where Hugo and Alicia
Valerian’s little boy went missing all those years ago and where he is still
living - anonymously as a dumb hermit. What looks like the lion’s mouth from a
distance is actually the entrance to a cave, and this is his home.
On one occasion, two of the children under
attack by Emma Cobley’s agents go through the lion’s mouth and take refuge in
the cave.
While many other sources confirm the power of
rowan trees to ward off witches, the lion’s mouth is normally taken as a sign
of risk and danger; only here is it a sign of safety and protection.
There are some coincidences here: The Lion’s
Mouth is the title of the final volume of Kathleen Raine’s autobiography; there are several references to rowan trees in this book and there is a fatal curse.
Here, the lion’s mouth is a sign of great peril and suffering and the rowan tree is an aid to revenge.
When Gavin Maxwell threw her out of his house, Kathleen Raine stood under a rowan tree, laid her hands on its trunk to invoke its spirit and called for justice: "Let Gavin suffer in this place, as I am suffering.”
When Gavin Maxwell threw her out of his house, Kathleen Raine stood under a rowan tree, laid her hands on its trunk to invoke its spirit and called for justice: "Let Gavin suffer in this place, as I am suffering.”
When Gavin Maxwell died, Kathleen Raine laid a bunch of rowan berries from this
tree in his grave.
The final article
This will include some J.K. Rowling connections
and complete the series of articles inspired by Elizabeth Goudge’s Linnets and
Valerians.
The magical rowan, or mountain ash:
