Posted by Jon on May 12, 2004 at 13:32:06 from 151.121.50.1 user Jon.
In Reply to: Re: Bunloaf recipes posted by Robert Hill on May 08, 2004 at 00:47:26:
Not quite the circular reference it might have been if they'd wanted, for instance, gold leaf to put Timothy's name on the hutch.
Imagine how drawn-out SA might have been if they'd had to grow the hemp/sisal to make the rope for the Lighthouse Tree, although the "do-it-yourself" strain certainly comes through in Capt. Flint lamenting the absence of some rubber to bed in the patch for Swallow, John shaping the mast and the Amazons making their own arrows. The net-making for the hide in GN was forced on them for expediency, although we can note that Peggy was already "a dab hand" at it. I'm not quite sure in which camp to put John's rather critical views of the Mastodon's furniture-making efforts. As I recall, the table/bench "might have been better made", which is more ambiguous than an active-voice phrasing would be. There's no question that they were quite willing to catch their own food where possible, as they fish for meals in 5 of the 12 books (SA, SD, BS, SW, PM), even leaving aside PD's trolling for sharks. In WH, PP, and WDMTGTS there's hardly an opportunity, which might also be said of GN (throwing in salmon runs on top of nesting Divers would really disrupt efforts to pin down the time of year!), which leaves only CC and brief moments of ML (leaving aside the cormorant-fishers who were, after all, Natives and so don't count).
I'm sure other examples either way will spring to mind.