Power Of Three annotations
Annotations for Power of Three by Diana Wynne Jones. Please beware a few unavoidable unmarked spoilers below. This is a mirror; the main copy is here.
the Moor: a moor is an extensive piece of land, not generally suitable for building, and often (as here) peaty and marshy. This one is generally supposed to be Otmoor, just outside Oxford in England where Diana Wynne Jones used to live
dykes: long ditches dug into the ground, as boundary markers, for drainage to allow crops to be grown on marshy land, or both. Usually spelt "dikes" in North America
those times when the Giants were at war among themselves: since Adara is seven, and her daughter Ayna is fourteen in the rest of the book which is set in the 1970s, the events of the first chapter must have occurred during the 1940s during the Second World War. Part of Otmoor was used for bombing practice
The track he was on was an old Giants' road: it's a Roman road running north-south across Otmoor, sometimes designated Margary 160. It starts thirty miles north in Silchester and ends thirty miles south in Towcester. Its Roman name hasn't come down to us
a huge boulder planted crookedly on top of it: called the Joseph's Stone or Jacob's Stone
a spindly blackbird: a very common songbird, Turdus melua
the thick gold collar round his neck: these are usually called torcs. Important people wore them in Britain in the Bronze Age. You can see many examples in museums
adder: the only venomous snake in Britain, Vipera berus, also called a viper
green gold: gold alloyed with silver. This mixture is sometimes called electrum, and was often used to make torcs: pure gold would have been too soft
You have to sun gold, or it turns back to earth again: pure gold doesn't decay, but electrum does
Not even to the walls or to the hearthstone?: Gili Bar-Hilel notes that there are old stories about telling secrets to inanimate objects which nevertheless spread the rumour, such as the tale of Midas's barber who told the reeds that Midas had donkey's ears. I don't know any stories about garrulous hearthstones; I think Calcifer would be a trustworthy confidant
all she found was a column of midges: tiny insects which hatch in water. Hundreds of them are often seen circling together in a column a couple of metres high and perhaps 20cm wide, looking for mates
a little mottled grass snake: this species, Natrix helvetica, isn't venomous. They live around water and are good swimmers
crossed the fingers of both hands: often used as a charm against bad luck, especially in our own society by children. Adara checks whether Hathil's fingers are crossed in case he's lying and attempting to avoid bad luck from that
you did not trust strangers with your name: it is often believed that putting a spell on someone requires knowledge of their name
I liked H… my brother: we never do discover his name
a Giant who swore to stamp them out when he was not much older than I am: two ancient writers, Polybius and Livy, claimed Hannibal of Carthage swore when he was nine never to be a friend to Rome
Beckhill: there is a village called Beckley in the south of the Moor, named after a nearby beck (a stream). The name may perhaps be related
Islaw: similarly there is a village in the west of the Moor called Islip
reputation for being queer: for being strange
pretend to be game: to be animals hunted for food
carry a thornbush: shrubby bushes and trees with strong wood and very sharp spines. Three kinds of thorn grow on the Moor: blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), common hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), and midland hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata). Blackthorn in particular is held to be a source of magical protection
Did three tasks for her: a woman's suitor being set three impossible tasks by her father to win her hand is an ancient folktale motif
Giants sometimes sacrificed in the same way, but they only used moles, weasels and other small animals: humans trap and kill them as pests, but Miri has misunderstood this as sacrifice
The silly old woman!: Miri calls Og an old woman as an insult, because she thinks he worries too much
drag it a quarter of a mile: this really happened, in 1958, though I don't know why
the river near Islaw: the modern name for the river is the River Ray. As mentioned above, Islaw has a similar name to the village of Islip, where the Ray flows into the Cherwell. The Oxford Dictionary of English Placenames says that Islip's name comes from the old name of the Ray, which was the River Ight
Don't you dare let her marry that Ondo: marriage between first cousins is not considered incest in England
lashing a spearhead: tying it to the handle of the spear
bamboo forest: some kinds of bamboo grow tall as houses. It doesn't naturally live in England, though
They stole a little girl from Islaw: this sounds like a reference to an actual local foundling in the 1960s, but I haven't found records of one
top: a children's toy that spins around
honeycake: not a traditional food among Giants in England
a heavy hind: a hind is a female red deer, Cervus elaphus. These are the largest British land animals, and an adult female can easily weigh 150kg. It takes a strong preteen to carry one!
toadies: sycophants, people who flatter
thimble: a cover for your thumb to protect it when you're using a needle
exactly like a crayfish: white-tailed crayfish, Austropotamobius pallipes, are freshwater crustaceans which live in marshes, ponds, and streams. They have many legs sticking out at angles
Gest took his shoe to Ceri: Gest took off his shoe and beat Ceri with it. This wasn't seen as cruel at the time of publication
Gair had egged Ceri on: encouraged him to use his Gift against Ondo
just like smoking out bees: often when bees are swarming to look for a new place to nest, they will find places humans don't want them to go. If the place is smoky, they will leave again because they don't like the smoke
playing knucklebones: a game of skill, also called jacks, involving throwing the ankle bones of sheep in the air and catching them in various ways. In modern times this is played with steel or plastic pieces
You made me wash my hands of him: the phrase means "renounce anything to do with him", though this appears to be some sort of charm
screams to Gair to baste Ondo from the looms themselves: "baste" is a dialectal word meaning "thrash"; the workers at the looms are screaming, not the looms themselves
You should always tell bees what happens: this is an actual practice. Also mentioned in Howl's Moving Castle.
it was square and tall and dark: this house appears to be Beckley Park, a manor house built in the late 1500s. It was used to film one of the opening scenes of the fourth Harry Potter film
magic box: it's a portable radio, not a tape player, since she hears a weather report soon after. But portable tape players did exist at the time
Why aren't you away at your school?: there is an undercurrent of class conflict throughout Gerald and Brenda's interactions. His family who own the house are rich, and he goes to a boarding school; hers are not and she doesn't
I love you love me love: words from a song of the same title, which was number one in November 1973. Not played much any more, since after this book was published the singer turned out to be a child molester
The Meteorological O—: the Meteorological Office is a government agency which prepares British weather forecasts. Usually just called the Met Office
Snotty beast!: "snotty" here means supercilious rather than covered with mucus. Again we see the class distinctions
the storm the magic box had predicted hit the Moor: weather in Britain is difficult to predict and can change in seconds, which is why there are so many weather forecasts
he lost half this in the wind: her voice was hidden by the sound the wind was making
they lost a lot of workers over it: honeybees have barbed stingers. If they sting a human, the stinger will remain in the human's skin, killing the bee
a belting: being hit with a belt as a punishment, as Gest pretended to do to Gair earlier
his fortunes followed gloomy Saturn: since ancient times, astrologers have assigned planets to people with particular behavioural patterns. Saturn is melancholy— depressive, like Gair
The Moor was a lake once: Otmoor drains slowly, and at various times in its history has been flooded. I wonder what they found in Islaw
Beckill: typo for Beckhill
grey squirrel: Sciurus carolinensis, an invasive species which has driven the native red squirrels out of the area
Tober: an unusual name for a dog. I wonder whether he's based on an actual dog. Catherine Butler suggests his name may have been Tobermory, and notes that DWJ's dog at this time was named Caspian. Kit Thurman suggests the dog's name may have been October. Gili Bar-Hilel suggests his name may have been Toby, like Punch and Judy's dog
her eyes looked mad: insane, not angry
Endeftala vithy dan: the words of the spell don't seem to refer to anything I can find
Evidently he was a tartar: bad-tempered and strict
raise a finger to the Sun: not as far as I know a human custom
they all felt rather too cold: water conducts heat better than air. Since the water is slowly rising up through their clothes, they will lose heat dangerously fast
gnats and midges: two kinds of small bitey insects. I don't know the difference, and the reference books I consulted disagree
Mother said I wasn't to: the psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg said that people go through a sequence of stages of reasoning about what's right and wrong. Ceri is eleven, and is reasoning at Kohlberg's third stage: he wants to do his duty by keeping his promise. Ayna is fourteen, and reasoning at Kohlberg's fourth stage, which Ceri has not yet reached: saving their lives takes priority over that promise
she's dead and it's sacred: here and in chapter 12 a promise made to someone who has since died is held to be unbreakable. In our society these are known as deathbed promises.
His collar was turning an ominous green-black: tarnishing because his body temperature is dropping
He was shivering in spasms: you only shiver during the first stage of hypothermia. Gair is correct: Ceri's condition is getting worse, and he runs a real risk of dying soon unless something happens
there are quite a lot of magic boxes: Ceri is right, possibly because the Gift forces the truth. Gair is running a risk asking him, though: confusion and hallucination might have been setting in by now
a long iron object with a wooden handle: a gun. Contrary to popular belief, English farmers, like Gerald's family, often hold firearms licences for dealing with animal pests
a huge green and grey pike: a large fierce fish, Esox lucius. They can grow 50cm long or even more
a mighty iron poker: a pointed metal rod for stirring up a fire. Brenda has grabbed it to use as a cosh
Are you fairies?: some conceptions of the Fair Folk are very like the Lymen. Other conceptions of them are, as Ayna puts it, as "little silly things with butterfly wings"
Where are these Dories of yours?: Brenda's mishearing suggests that Dorig is pronounced /dɔːriːg/, with the vowels from NORTH and FLEECE
did something to his gun: turned the safety off, so he could fire it? or loaded a cartridge? I don't know enough about guns to say
nettles: a common weed, Urtica dioica. Touching it causes pain and a rash
a square, hard-white room full of silver things: a bathroom. The "silver things" are chrome
where the bacon lived: where it was kept. This is probably what's called back bacon in North America
the thing Gerald called the loo: a toilet, a water closet
a box where there seemed to be no fire: an electric hob
fried salt meat: bacon again, as seen from the Lymen kids' perspective
wheat-bread: the usual kind of bread among English humans. The Lymen were eating nut-cakes in Chapter 8
it was like a call for help at sea, where all the ships in the area go: international law requires all ships to respond to distress signals
the yobboes up in the village: a yob or yobbo is a loutish young man— originally because it's "boy" backwards. Gerald shows his social class again
Blimey!: an exclamation of surprise
better than Uri Geller: an illusionist who was popular on television in the mid-1970s
They want to make the whole Moor into a beastly reservoir: this idea was actually proposed in 1970, and abandoned in 1975, which fits within the timescale of the story. "Beastly" is a slightly posh word expressing his anger, rather than saying it's a nature reserve
turns to dead leaves in the drawer overnight: Brenda is thinking of a folktale motif where what appears to be fairy treasure turns into something worthless when the enchantment wears off. I don't know why Brenda and Gerald were looking at one another oddly: maybe they were thinking of the cursed collar in the study?
a hex on the door: a spell, from Brenda's point of view; words, from the Lymen's
trippers will drive over on Sundays to goop at them: trippers are tourists; Sunday is always a holiday. "Goop" is presumably a variant of "gawp", meaning "stare". I don't know "goop" in this sense, and nor does the OED
Like the Red Indians: the Native Americans; Gerald's analysis of colonialism seems accurate
She shied like a carthorse: she jumped back because she was startled, in a clumsy and ungainly way
''Shoot it," Brenda said simply": Brenda is not used to the practicalities of using guns
clover… trefoil: small leafy plants of the genus Trifolium which grow among the grass
diamond windows: until the 1900s, long after this house was built, there was no good way to produce large sheets of glass affordably. So windows were often made with strips of lead in a diagonal grid, and small diamond-shaped pieces of glass in the gaps. This is called "leadlighting"
One room downstairs was full of stiff chairs and dozens of little statues: this is the "front room", used for entertaining visitors formally, and for little else. The statues are ornaments, and won't be broken because nobody goes in there
a long wooden thing with a blue blade: an oar, given as a trophy in a rowing competition. We know from chapter 11 that Gerald's father studied at Oxford, so this oar would have a dark blue blade, and lettering with the names of the competition and the winning rowing team
The Sun bless you: presumably a formal greeting among the Lymen
square brown car: presumably an estate car (known in North America as a station wagon). Gerald's father's car is described similarly later in this chapter
scones: small plain cakes eaten with butter or cream, and often with jam too
Aunt Mary thought Ayna, Gair and Ceri came from Malaysia: I don't know why Malaysia specifically. Was there a lot of Malaysian immigration to the area at the time? Helen Schinske says "I think Malaysia was because she couldn't quite place them racially and they looked vaguely Asian to her. Given the diversity of Malaysia it wasn't the worst guess, though making the assumption that she must be right was egotistical and rude"
Brenda looked at their faces: I think Brenda is amused at their confusion, rather than amused at how un-Malaysian they look
tureen: a deep covered bowl for serving soup from
she found the dining-room almost gay: merry
"Ladies first," he said to Ayna. "Wine?": children older than four can legally drink alcohol in private homes, and it's not unusual for kids to have wine at important meals
''let's call them Jerry and George, shall we?'": George is Mr Claybury, and Jerry is Mr Masterson. Mr Claybury tells the story using their first names rather than "I" and "him", putting space between the events of the flashback and its telling
They had just come down from Oxford: finished their studies there— finished completely, as we later discover, which sets this flashback around June in the late 1950s. Anywhere away from Oxford (or Cambridge) is said to be "down"
George is going to be his Best Man: his chief assistant at the wedding. This is a role a man often gives his best friend. Often, as here, they go out and get extremely drunk the night before: this is called a "stag night"
Marsh End Farm: there is an actual farm of that name twelve miles from the Moor, which seems too far to fit the story. But the name's generic enough that it may well be DWJ's name for some other closer farm
rollicked: wandered around boisterously
a place where three roads met: the Roman road running north-south, Ragnall's Lane running east-west, and a footpath going northwest whose name I don't know
howling out a song about someone called Nelly Dean: the song is "You're My Heart's Desire, I Love You, Nellie Dean", written by the American Henry W. Armstrong in 1905, and for some reason associated with drinking in the UK
he was fair: he had light-coloured hair
Good old Titch!: "Titch" is a nickname for a short person. It comes from "Little Tich" (short for Tichbourne), the stage name of a very short comedian called Harry Relph (1867–1928)
Titch wants us to move the Gallows Stone: a gallows is a device for executing criminals. There is a vertical wooden pole, with a wooden arm coming out at a right angle, and the person is hanged by the neck from this wooden arm. The gallows needs to be able to support a fair amount of weight, and in marshy places like the Moor it helps to have a heavy block of stone with a hole it can slot into. Nobody seems very sure what the Joseph's Stone is for, but I haven't found anyone else suggesting it was used for hangings. But crossroads are traditional places for them
Don't hold with capital punishment: banning it was a major political issue at the time. The last executions in England were held five years after Jerry's stag night
Got to get you to church in one piece: one of the duties of the best man is to look after the bridegroom before the wedding
Home, George: I think he's referring to the 1934 song "Home, James, and Don't Spare the Horses"
I had a gold collar-stud once: in the 1800s and early 1900s, it was expensive to wash shirts. So the collars were made detachable— that way, you could wear clean ones every day. They were fastened to the shirt using small studs. Detachable collars were already going out of style at the time of the stag night, and the stud may have been gold because Jerry only wore detachable collars on grand occasions
I prefer my collars made of cloth: not necessarily as opposed to gold— some detachable collars were made of celluloid
the night is young: it's still early and there's lots of time to do things. A stock phrase
We've just finished Finals: the final exams for their degrees
this young lady's auntie: he's indicating Brenda as he tells the story
You people put so much faith in iron: it is commonly believed that iron prevents magic. Some people think that stories about the Fair Folk started out as stories about Bronze Age people told by Iron Age people, and the Lymen are like Bronze Age people in many ways
he looked sick: travel sickness is a standard DWJ motif
while he tried to start the tractor: even now many tractors don't need to be started with a unique key, and it would have been unheard-of at the time
before he came to Edinburgh: Mr Claybury is joking, since Edinburgh is 350 miles away
wrong in the head: insane
Not to mince matters, there'll be a Stink: "I'm telling you plainly that there will be trouble." "Stink" has a capital because of the emphasis he lays on it
ruddy: just a mild expletive; the rock isn't red
there are over fifty million of them: the population of the UK in 1974 was about 56 million
an extremely noisy magic box: a dishwasher
this blessed country: another mild expletive, not something positive
''Peace conferences, summit conferences…'": this was in the middle of the Cold War, and world politics was a constant struggle to talk people out of destroying the planet
I think you've got some hopes: sarcastic
more like the suits people wear for skin-diving: diving without using breathing apparatus, other than a snorkel. Diving without any suit in open water in Britain risks death from hypothermia: the water is never very warm, and it gets colder as you go down
barrel of biscuits: biscuits are sweet baked goods, known in North America as cookies. A biscuit barrel is a small barrel-shaped jar where you keep the biscuits, because exposure to air would make them go soggy
You descend from bears!: brown bears (Ursos arctos) once lived in Britain, but they've been extinct for at least 1500 years
you pour filth into lakes and rivers: public awareness of environmental damage was already very high (even among humans)
Your people came with the Normans and pinched the Moor off us: more of the class conflict between Brenda and Gerald. The Norman invasion in 1066 resulted in its Saxon inhabitants becoming an underclass beneath the Norman aristocracy. The resulting stratification is still clear even now. Brenda identifies her family with the Saxons and resents Gerald's Norman family, just as the Lymen resent the Giants. Incidentally, Brenda forgets that the Saxons were also settlers. [There is a discussion I need to find about the relevance of their names to the invasion; this note is a placeholder]
from the year dot: from earliest times
if nine hundred years isn't long enough: since the invasion in 1066 (so actually 910 years)
that chap who breaks forks: Uri Geller again
She sighed. "I can't": she wishes she was thin
about fifteen years ago, the place in the West called the Halls of the Kings filled up with water: knowing how DWJ writes, I expect this was a real cave which flooded. But I haven't yet found one. It must have been in about 1960, and there were certainly floods in Oxford in 1959
Which Downs? Berkshire or Sussex?: I don't know why he's asking; no part of the Sussex Downs (usually called the South Downs) is in the west. Downs are low chalky hills; the Berkshire Downs start a little south of the moor and extend about 40km to the west
we've unhooded to them: explained later to be a Dorig custom
if he had ever seen anyone ruled by Mercury, it was Hafny: Mercury is said to govern people who are full of curiosity and easily distracted— hence the word "mercurial"
Flipping follow-my-leader: "flipping" is a very mild expletive; Gerald mocks the situation by comparing everyone's behaviour to "follow-my-leader", a party game involving following the other players around the room
on spec: on speculation, i.e. as a gamble
morgery: appears to be a Dorig form of self-harming in depression
Sunday lunch: traditionally a large special meal
Your dinner's ready: here, dinner means a midday meal, the same as lunch
Land-Rover: a four-wheel drive vehicle which can go off-road, popular with farmers. Generally written without the hyphen
A puncture?: he is asking whether Brenda needs to go home in the Land Rover because there's a problem with her bike
Brenda, Ayna and Ceri were not deceived: Hafny shifted shape himself, rather than being forced to by Ceri
saw him take his glasses off: to keep them from breaking, because he thought there was going to be a fight
mildew: a fungus which grows on damp fabric
chalk and cheese: utterly unlike one another
felt just as ordinary as before: this is impostor syndrome
their first head: their first subject for discussion
fire-eating: fierce and looking for a fight, not literally eating fire
Researched and written up by Marnanel. With thanks to the list: in particular, to Philip Belben for identifying Otmoor, to Kyra Jucovy for figuring out the reference to Hannibal, to Mike Thurman for explaining about diving suits, to Kit Thurman for help with Kohlberg, to Janet Easton for pointing out the historical emphasis on deathbed promises, to Devra for noticing biscuits, and to Gili Bar-Hilel for lots of things.
