[HPforGrownups] Re: Mrs. Figg (Was: Dursleys)

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 146713

Richard here:
> Richard, who still wonders what constitutes, in this instance, 
> an "inappropriate" charm on a goat ... Perhaps JKR has read "Bored of 
> the Rings" ...

Bart:
	More likely JKR is familiar with the late Marion Zimmer Bradley's 
character Lythande the Star-Browed (who very well may have influenced 
the HIGHLANDER series of movies, as well), who started off in the 
THIEVES WORLD series, then split off so that MZB could write stories 
about the character independent of the THIEVES WORLD series. In any 
case, in one of the stories, Lythande is in a town where the worst 
possible (and therefore most common) insult is to call somebody a 
"despoiler of young goats", which actually turns out to be key to the 
plotline. Ever since I read that story, whenever I want to give an 
example of a slanderous statement so ridiculous that nobody would 
believe it, I've used "despoiler of young goats".

	Bart