The Animal Fancier, ref. 1
Oct. 9th, 2013 11:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
widsith
I've been on Aeaea before," he said huskily.
Instantly her face hardened, as her eyes blazed at him as they had so
dreadfully at me. "What are you doing here, if you knew better?"
Golias was nervous, but he stood his ground. "A fellow was cast ashore
with me, Circe. I tracked him here."
Obviously this is Homer's Odyssey: from Greek mythology we get multiple mentions of Circe on Aeaea*; turning sailors into pigs and other animals with magically dosed food reduces the choice to just Homer, and makes this the most obvious reference yet. Having confirmed the source material from these names and events one can also identify a bit of subtle foreshadowing that preceded them, easily overlooked. On awaking Silverlock climbs 'a low hill' for a look around and immediately perceives that he's on an inhabited island, noticing that smoke is rising from a nearby cookfire and that a view of the ocean is in every direction unimpeded.
From the story of Odysseus' arrival on Aeaea we find the same sequence mirrored, likely enough as the first act of an arriving sailor to avoid giving anything away while possibly rendering the events recognizable to the reader once Circe and Aeaea are named: evocative hints that provide no definite knowledge. Granted that I never caught that detail myself, even if a reading of The Silverlock Companion reveals it now.
* The character of Circe and her island Aeaea can be found in other stories preserved in Greek texts such as the Argonautica, a much later work than The Odyssey despite its basis in a legend that's probably at least as old. Her involvement in the Argonautica relates to her niece Medea rather than to her being a navigational hazard for Mediterranean wanderers.
