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A possible source for the regeneration power of Poul Anderson’s troll in Bulfinch's Legends of Charlemagne
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<blockquote data-quote="Doug McCrae" data-source="post: 8065388" data-attributes="member: 21169"><p>Good point about the hydra. I think you’re right that it’s the source for the method used to prevent Anderson’s troll from regenerating. Fire is not employed in Bulfinch’s Ogier the Dane story. Instead, Bruhier’s healing is stopped by simply moving him away from his horse:</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Ogier, promptly disengaging himself, pressed Bruhier with so much impetuosity that he drove him to a distance from his horse, to whose saddle-bow the precious balm was suspended; and very soon Charlemagne saw Ogier, now completely in the advantage, bring his enemy to his knees, tear off his helmet, and, with a sweep of his sword, strike his head from his body.</p><p></p><p>However I maintain that the regeneration itself works more like Bruhier’s self-healing. The hydra only ever regenerates its heads. It does not reattach severed parts but instead grows new ones. When it does so, one head is replaced by two. Bulfinch’s The Age of Fable:</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px">The Hydra had nine heads, of which the middle one was immortal. Hercules struck off its heads with his club, but in the place of the head knocked off, two new ones grew forth each time. At length with the assistance of his faithful servant Iolaus, he burned away the heads of the Hydra, and buried the ninth or immortal one under a huge rock.</p><p></p><p>The troll in Three Hearts and Three Lions reattaches its severed parts rather than growing new ones:</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Like a huge green spider, the troll’s severed hand ran on its fingers. Across the mounded floor, up onto a log with one taloned forefinger to hook it over the bark, down again it scrambled, until it found the cut wrist. And there it grew fast...</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">Through and through that oak-branch arm the blade went. Iron belled in the dark. Ice-green blood spurted, turning black in the smoke of unnatural flesh. The sword seemed to glow. The arm sprang off at the shoulder. It rolled into a pile of leaves, flopped about, and began hunching its way back...</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">The troll scooped up his left arm and put it in place.</p><p></p><p>In the quoted text in my original post, Bruhier also reattaches his severed arm.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Doug McCrae, post: 8065388, member: 21169"] Good point about the hydra. I think you’re right that it’s the source for the method used to prevent Anderson’s troll from regenerating. Fire is not employed in Bulfinch’s Ogier the Dane story. Instead, Bruhier’s healing is stopped by simply moving him away from his horse: [indent]Ogier, promptly disengaging himself, pressed Bruhier with so much impetuosity that he drove him to a distance from his horse, to whose saddle-bow the precious balm was suspended; and very soon Charlemagne saw Ogier, now completely in the advantage, bring his enemy to his knees, tear off his helmet, and, with a sweep of his sword, strike his head from his body.[/indent] However I maintain that the regeneration itself works more like Bruhier’s self-healing. The hydra only ever regenerates its heads. It does not reattach severed parts but instead grows new ones. When it does so, one head is replaced by two. Bulfinch’s The Age of Fable: [indent]The Hydra had nine heads, of which the middle one was immortal. Hercules struck off its heads with his club, but in the place of the head knocked off, two new ones grew forth each time. At length with the assistance of his faithful servant Iolaus, he burned away the heads of the Hydra, and buried the ninth or immortal one under a huge rock.[/indent] The troll in Three Hearts and Three Lions reattaches its severed parts rather than growing new ones: [indent]Like a huge green spider, the troll’s severed hand ran on its fingers. Across the mounded floor, up onto a log with one taloned forefinger to hook it over the bark, down again it scrambled, until it found the cut wrist. And there it grew fast... Through and through that oak-branch arm the blade went. Iron belled in the dark. Ice-green blood spurted, turning black in the smoke of unnatural flesh. The sword seemed to glow. The arm sprang off at the shoulder. It rolled into a pile of leaves, flopped about, and began hunching its way back... The troll scooped up his left arm and put it in place.[/indent] In the quoted text in my original post, Bruhier also reattaches his severed arm. [/QUOTE]
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A possible source for the regeneration power of Poul Anderson’s troll in Bulfinch's Legends of Charlemagne
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