Book:The Shepherd's Crown/Annotations

Doubleday hardback (UK), p10: Tiffany notices young Feegle are following her on her rounds and collecting examples of the strongest substance known to man, toenail clippings from the elderly. It is not specified as to what they do with them, but she suspects some sort of weapon-use is involved. Later in the book crescent-shaped boomerangs are deployed as weapons.

Compare this to Pat O'Shea's fantasy novel Hounds of the Morrigan (Reading_Suggestions) where the Celtic Irish war goddess Morrigan returns to Ireland. She/they (the Morrigan is a triple Goddess) uses her fingernails as a sort of boomerang-like ninja throwing star. This is also in Irish mythology, apparently. Where fingernails are lethal projectile weapons.

Doubleday hardback (UK), p19: Mephistopheles is a good name for a goat. Although perhaps not as fitting as "Baphomet". Apparently Geoffrey Swivel got the name from a book. Geoffrey reads widely. Another literary Swivel on the Disc is the Ankh-Morpork Times' literary critic Tuppence Swivel. On Roundworld the demon Mephistopheles appears to Faust, in both book and opera, to offer him the Standard Contract. Demons, such as Baphomet, are closely associated with goats. And we know on the Discworld the nearest equivalent to the Faust thing happened with a youth called Eric.

And the story of the goat Mephistopheles - the rejected runt in the litter who needs intervention in order to survive - is echoed a little later when Tiffany Aching rescues the unwanted triplet Tiffany Robinson (p48). Foreshadowing? And things come in threes: Geoffrey is the youngest of three sons, Tiffany Robinson is the youngest of triplets, Mephistopheles the youngest of a litter of kids.

Doubleday hardback (UK), p21: Langus, who like Daedelus managed to fly. This is not a million miles away from Lingus, as in the Irish national airline Aer Lingus.

Doubleday hardback (UK), p32 and on: Pratchett tours the Disc to get a series of reactions, from established characters, to the Disc-changing event that marks the early part of this book (sorry: no spoilers. But it's a big one. We can rewrite this bit after the book has circulated a bit and people have had time to read it.) As he calls back to the events of Equal Rites - Smith's rag-rug on the bed and a very brief cameo from Esk - he reverts, in this chapter, to the second-person writing style that distinguished Equal Rites from the other early novels. And of course just as Esk was a girl who wanted to become a wizard, Geoffrey is a boy who wants to become a witch.

Doubleday hardback (UK), p42: An enigma fated never to be be resolved: the second reference to Eskarina Smith's son (although this is discussed on the Eskarina Smith talk page.

Doubleday hardback (UK), p44: Triplets are born. A daughter is disregarded after two sons. Tiffany takes charge and even names the girl Tiffany after herself. There is a hint that in the fullness of time this girl will become the next non-leader that the community of witches emphatically doesn't have; Pratchett's way of saying the circles of life continue?

Doubleday hardback (UK), p45: The white cat You's mysterious means of getting about. Elsewhere it has been speculated that this is a case of Schrödinger's Hat....

Harper paperback, p. 68 "the times they is a-changing" The Times They Are A-Changin' is one of Bob Dylan's most famous songs

Harper paperback, p. 82 "Mephistopheles, how many people are in this pub?" A famous horse called Clever Hans could do the same "trick." In the case of Hans, the horse would continue to tap his hoof until the questioner's body language changed to indicate that the horse should stop tapping.

Harper paperback, p. 83 "…threatened to wallop them with his grandfather’s knobkerrie, a souvenir from the Klatchian campaign…" In Roundworld, a knobkerrie is a wooden club or stick from Southern or Eastern Africa with a ball on one end, typically used as a weapon, making it a foreign version of a staff with a knob on the end.

Harper paperback, p. 207 "We will put a girdle of glamour around their world" "I'll put a girdle round about the earth In forty minutes." Puck, A Mudsummer Night's Dream, Act II Scene 1

Doubleday hardback (UK), p214: It had to happen. The concept that Discworld lumberjacks perform their duties better when wearing womens' clothing. And singing while they work. They even get the 'Biggerwoods mail-order catalogue. In Britain, Littlewoods is a popular mail-order company specialising in women's clothing from lingerie up to outerwear and clothes and singing is a reference to the Monty Python lumberjack song.

Doubleday hardback (UK), p223 In this case Elvish has indeed left the building. A callback to Soul Music.

Doubleday hardback (UK), p230: A callback to Granny Weatherwax in Lords and Ladies. Only here, Tiffany is contemplating the possibility inherent - what if Elves really can be made to learn? What if they learn, and develop, and grow up a little?

Harper paperback, p. 260 "Och no, I know who I am and he knows who he is and so does our other brother Callum." This is very reminiscent of Larry, Darryl & Darryl from the sitcom Newhart.

Harper paperback, p. 260 "We happy few" This whole section is peppered with quotations & adaptations of the St. Crispin's Day speech from Henry V.

Doubleday hardback (UK), p277: A shout-out to a bleak old English ballad made relevant by Terry's favourite band, Steeleye Span. The ballad "Long Lankin" is about child-murder by night and named this particular elf. The LP that has this song, incidentally, is called The Commoner's Crown. Listen to it here