Three fled before them, screaming

THUS it was that Jurgen and the Centaur came to the garden between dawn and sunrise, entering this place in a fashion which it is not convenient to record. But as they passed over the bridge three fled before them, screaming. And when the life had been trampled out of the small furry bodies which these three had misused, there was none to oppose the Centaur's entry into the garden between dawn and sunrise.

Someone on a forum I frequent just said that he has tried to figure out for 40 years now whether Cabell referred to three specific small furry creatures here. Does anyone have a clue?

I've not yet read Jurgen, so have only the paragraph quoted here. I take it there were 3 who ran away, and 3 left behind "which these three {who ran away} had misused".

I'm interested in both the three escapees and the three misused bodies! My first thought was of the Three Billy Goats Gruff, and the Troll under the bridge. But there was only one troll in the story, right? So we've got too many to account for that way.

Possibly the three beasts of Dante's Inferno?... except that the furry bodies of a leopard, lion, and she-wolf would not be "small".

The person who asked the question speculated in the three wise monkeys of Buddhist tradition.

>4 anglemark:

That certainly fits with the Cabellian irony, that wisdom is misused!

Intriguing question. Not even David Rolfe's otherwise excellent "Notes on Jurgen" (http://home.earthlink.net/~davidrolfe/jurgen.htm) have something to say about this. Usually, especially in Jurgen, when someone gets killed like this, it's a placeholder for someone or something Cabell dislikes, like reality, reason, critics etc.

Woodrow Wilson, Walt Whitman, Sigmund Freud?

Det var jag som ställde frågan från början på annat forum och nu tror jag att jag har det!
Three blind mice. Three blind mice.
See how they run. See how they run.
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a sight in your life,
As three blind mice.
Cabell kände säkert till att barnvisan refererar till drottning Maria I av Englands avrättning av tre protestantiska biskopar. Religionen var naturligtvis ett hinder att träda in i Lustgården mellan soluppgång och gryning ridandes en kentaur.

Courtesy of Google Translate, for English-only readers...

It was I who asked the question from the beginning on another forum and now I think I have it!
Three Blind Mice. Three Blind Mice.
See how They run. See how They run.
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off Their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see Such a sight in your life,
As Three Blind Mice.
Cabell felt safe that children's song refers to Queen Mary I of England's execution of three Protestant bishops. Religion was obviously an obstacle to enter the Garden between sunrise and dawn riding a centaur.
- Murrzik

Interesting, although according information on Wikipedia there are problems with viewing it as referring to Mary's bloodiness...

Origins and meaning

A version of this rhyme, together with music, was published in Deuteromelia or The Seconde part of Musicks melodie (1609). The editor of the book, and possible author of the rhyme, was Thomas Ravenscroft, who in 1609 was still a teenager. The original lyrics are:

Three Blinde Mice,
Three Blinde Mice,
Dame Iulian,
Dame Iulian,
the Miller and his merry olde Wife,
she scrapte her tripe licke thou the knife.

Attempts to read historical significance into the words have led to the speculation that this musical round was written earlier and refers to Queen Mary I of England blinding and executing three Protestant bishops, but problematically the Oxford Martyrs, Ridley, Latimer and Cranmer, were burned at the stake, not blinded; although if the rhyme was made by crypto-Catholics, the mice's "blindness" could refer to their Protestantism. However, as can be seen above, the earliest lyrics don't talk about harming the three blind mice, and the first known date of publication is 1609, well after Queen Mary died.

Of course, if the historical reading were itself popular enough, it could serve as Cabell's referent though it be inaccurate historically.

I've still not read Juergen so I'm in no position to assess how well this religious reading fits Cabell's scene.

>11 elenchus:
Very true.

>9 Crypto-Willobie: "Cabell felt safe that" should be "Cabell surely knew that the". Otherwise a perfect translation from Google.

>13 anglemark:
Thanks!

I think Cabell's choice of the word "misused" might even acknowledge the doubtfulness of the historical reading. And given his use of other children's rhymes elsewhere, this interpretation has me sold ... great discovery!