Havruta for Chapter 14
Sep. 13th, 2020 09:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pobble_readsI keep ending up with a long gap between writing up the main post about a chapter and doing the Reading Practice for it - it’s not intentional. I wish it didn’t keep happening.
My Havruta Question for this chapter is To what extent is the Peddler Woman deliberately scheming to get hold of Gobbolino?
I think that even though Gobbolino tries to hide from her she quickly notices him and his magical nature. In the same way that he knows that she is a witch (while Rosabel only suspects it) I think she can probably sense another magic-user. I’m less sure but think it is quite likely that as soon as she notices him she starts thinking about the possibility of acquiring him to be her familiar. In this world it seems to be standard for witches to have cats and we see at the beginning of the next chapter that she wants Gobbolino to do tricks to attract customers.
The Peddlar-Woman seems to be OK with selling the crimson silk or butterfly brocade for Rosabel’s silver piece and puts effort into making them magically more attractive. But she may well have guessed that Rosabel would want the gold satin even more - and known that she could get a higher price for it. I suspect that her keeping the Gold satin to the end of showing her wares and the way that she displayed it was designed to manipulate Rosabel into spending more.
It’s not clear how much of the Peddler-Woman’s haggling is part of her shtick in reaching a price with any customer and how much is that she is genuinely not interested in the things that Rosabel offers her (the dough cakes and the silk counterpane sound like things worth having to me (she could presumably sell the counterpane on to another customer) to me but I can see that a cuckoo clock is not really useful for someone who carries their possessions around with them in a pack).
It’s the Peddler-Woman herself who suggest trading Gobbolino - I doubt Rosabel would see him as that valuable. She says that she would also accept a second silver piece but it’s not clear if she means it - Rosabel has made it clear that she is unlikely to get any more money from her Grandfather so maybe it’s just a hypothetical offer to encourage Rosabel to trade Gobbolino? It’s similarly unclear if she would genuinely be willing to return Gobbolino if Rosabel gives back the satin when she is concerned about walking home through the woods alone - is that just taunting?
I think the way that the Peddlar-Woman tells Rosabel how to find for for the next three days shows that she really want to make this sale - and that must mean she does really want Gobbolino. He may well be worth more to her than another silver piece. I come down slightly on the side that she would genuinely have accepted a second silver piece or Gobbolino in payment but I’m not confident that it’s true...
My Havruta Question for this chapter is To what extent is the Peddler Woman deliberately scheming to get hold of Gobbolino?
I think that even though Gobbolino tries to hide from her she quickly notices him and his magical nature. In the same way that he knows that she is a witch (while Rosabel only suspects it) I think she can probably sense another magic-user. I’m less sure but think it is quite likely that as soon as she notices him she starts thinking about the possibility of acquiring him to be her familiar. In this world it seems to be standard for witches to have cats and we see at the beginning of the next chapter that she wants Gobbolino to do tricks to attract customers.
The Peddlar-Woman seems to be OK with selling the crimson silk or butterfly brocade for Rosabel’s silver piece and puts effort into making them magically more attractive. But she may well have guessed that Rosabel would want the gold satin even more - and known that she could get a higher price for it. I suspect that her keeping the Gold satin to the end of showing her wares and the way that she displayed it was designed to manipulate Rosabel into spending more.
It’s not clear how much of the Peddler-Woman’s haggling is part of her shtick in reaching a price with any customer and how much is that she is genuinely not interested in the things that Rosabel offers her (the dough cakes and the silk counterpane sound like things worth having to me (she could presumably sell the counterpane on to another customer) to me but I can see that a cuckoo clock is not really useful for someone who carries their possessions around with them in a pack).
It’s the Peddler-Woman herself who suggest trading Gobbolino - I doubt Rosabel would see him as that valuable. She says that she would also accept a second silver piece but it’s not clear if she means it - Rosabel has made it clear that she is unlikely to get any more money from her Grandfather so maybe it’s just a hypothetical offer to encourage Rosabel to trade Gobbolino? It’s similarly unclear if she would genuinely be willing to return Gobbolino if Rosabel gives back the satin when she is concerned about walking home through the woods alone - is that just taunting?
I think the way that the Peddlar-Woman tells Rosabel how to find for for the next three days shows that she really want to make this sale - and that must mean she does really want Gobbolino. He may well be worth more to her than another silver piece. I come down slightly on the side that she would genuinely have accepted a second silver piece or Gobbolino in payment but I’m not confident that it’s true...
