Weekly Geeks #17: Quote #3
Still from Checkmate by Dorothy Dunnett; still people quoting stuff. I’m one of those people who can’t stand quotes if I don’t know the context, so excuse the length of this one:
“What prayers do you suggest?”
“In English?” Lymond said. “I don’t know. What about one from Geneva?”
She wondered for a moment if he would break into song, as he had on the wild journey home, with her mother’s chamber valet. But he merely put his hand on the doorlatch and spoke the words gently, and without the cynicism he had spoken of:
“And from the sword (Lord) save my soule
By thy myght and power;
And keepe my soule, thy darling deare,
From dogs that would devour.And from the Lion’s mouth that would
Me all in sunder shiver
And from the hornes of Unicornes
Lord safely me deliver.”She followed it all, her lips moving, “And from the horns . . .”
“. . . of Unicorns, Lord safely you deliver. Sleep well. Good night,” he said; and left, without sound, for the stairs to his apartments.
This one seems to relate to Psalm 22 (not that I know much of it). Lymond invokes at least a line from the prayer three times in Checkmate though I never could figure out why it’s important (or not).
I had always thought unicorns were nice and glowy and magical. Ah well. I suppose they could poke you with their horns if they wanted to.
ronny:
I hope you keep up with the quotes! It’s interesting to see the books through someone else’s eyes. I have loved them since my teens although I roared through them and missed most of the detail in the first reading. Each time I reread I seem to pick up something more.
It’s interesting you chose the “tant que je vive..” quote. Everyone I know who has read Dunnett loves that particular line the best.