[HPforGrownups] goat charming?

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 173381

redwooddawn wrote:
> I am rereading the book and am still not sure what is insinuated by
> goat charming, since it seems to have a slightly ridiculed
> connotation.

Bart:
I've said before, and I'll say again, that I think it's an homage to the 
late Marion Zimmer Bradley. In her collection of stories about her 
magician/swordsman/woman Lythande the Star Browed, she had Lythande 
confront her arch rival in a town where a common insult was calling 
someone a "despoiler of young goats." In Lythande's order, a magician 
would lose his powers to another magician of the order if he discovered 
his secret (as a woman who managed to sneak into the order, Lythande has 
the most challenging secret of all to keep; the fact that she is a 
woman). Well, at one point, Lythande gets so annoyed at her rival that 
she calls him a "despoiler of young goats." Upon seeing the look of 
horror in his eyes, she realizes that she has uncovered his secret.

I've gotten into the habit, myself, of whenever I want to give something 
as an example of an insult, but want to ensure that NOBODY will take it 
seriously, I use the term "despoiler of young goats". As a result, if 
you do a lookup of the phrase, my name will often be associated with it 
(I would be flattered if Rowling got it from me, but as Bradley got a 
LOT of women into the fantasy writing business, I'm putting my money on 
MZB).

Bart