You mean to keep faith with your friend... lead him as best you can along the path the sun is taking, through the good lands and the bad... The sun left my house this very day. If you can catch him before he reaches this spot again, your life's wish will be granted -- or else it will not, and who is to say which of the two will bring more happiness? [p. 54]
Audiobook (read by Paul Eddington) via the Internet Archive, as this childhood favourite seems to be unobtainable in ebook format. I adored this book when I was at primary school, and it holds up pretty well half a century later.
Ludo is an eleven-year-old boy who lives in Bavaria, probably some time in the 19th century. One winter night, while he's alone at home, the family's elderly horse Renti escapes from his stable. Ludo is sure he'll be blamed, so he sets out through the snow to find Renti, who he's known all his life: who he loves. He falls into a cave and meets the Archer, a centaur, and is told that Renti is a star horse, like the horses who pull the sun's chariot. Ludo and Renti must follow the sun through the twelve houses of the star country, encountering perils and wonders -- not all of them predictable even by a reader who, unlike Ludo, is familiar with the houses of the Zodiac.
Ludo's not the brightest protagonist, but he is loyal, humble and kind -- all traits that stand him in good stead with the creatures and entities he meets. I had forgotten many of the details, such as the archer who restrains the Twins, and the rather dull embodiment of my own birth sign: but I remembered the book's climax, and it was just as compelling this time. I think the text was somewhat abridged for this audio version (which comes in two files, possibly from an LP) but the story remains intact, and Paul Eddington's narration is excellent. (Yes, he does voices, but not silly ones. The Scorpion was really chilling.)
I also noticed aspects of the story that I probably didn't recognise before. When Ludo meets the embodiment of Aquarius, he's a lad named Gula, which is the Babylonian name for the constellation. That archer who hangs out with the Twins, who introduces himself as Lykeios, is Apollo. The Archer is probably Chiron, since his pupils include Peleus. Even at nine, I was familiar with some Greek myths, but I'm not sure I spotted every reference.
An absolutely lovely 'reread', which has tempted me to re-skim a scan of the actual book. (Thanks, Internet Archive!)
No comments:
Post a Comment