I've now wrapped up the 1971 issue of Oziana with "Sherlock Holmes in Oz" by Ruth Berman. Yup, this story is pretty much what the title says, with Holmes and Watson magically brought to the Emerald City to solve the mystery of a magic pearl, brought as a gift from the visiting Prince Inga, that has gone missing. Holmes and Watson are startled and unsure at first, of course, but once he gets the lay of the land and the details of the problem, Holmes is in his element and the game is most clearly afoot. Naturally, he solves the problem, finds the pearl, and snags the thief, all in that satisfyingly Holmesian way he has. Being the expert on both Oz and Holmes that she is, I would expect nothing less from Berman. But I do have a small complaint that, when I address it, will give away a small part of the mystery, so if you want don't want any spoilers, you can stop reading now.
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Still with me? Okay, here's the deal: The thief is a Nome, and the motive is that Nomes believe they are the owners of all gems and precious jewels. This makes sense, and has been covered in the Oz books before. However, since pearls are not made underground by Nomes, I would think that they don't consider them to be actual gems, or at least not ones that they used to own. It is, however, a minor point, and certainly did not take away my enjoyment of the story.
3 comments:
Doesn't Kaliko have an ivory throne in Rinkitink? That's not a mineral that comes from underground either, so maybe Nomes sometimes round up.
You're quite right, Nathan, Kaliko does indeed have an ivory throne. (And think how big the animal that grew a tusk that big must be!) But that doesn't necessarily mean the Nomes claimed it as their own. Perhaps he (or Ruggedo or some other early Nome king) traded for it.
Ruth Berman wrote:
Thanks for the kind words on "Sherlock Holmes in Oz." You're right about the doubtful appropriateness of pearls as likely to interest nomes, of course.
When I originally wrote the story (when I was in high school), it was, I think, going to be rubies from Evered of Rash. When Oziana came along, I re-wrote it considerably and offered it, but was told that Dorothy Maryott had asked that her aunt's Oz characters/places not be used. and asked to substitute something Baumian. And the only reasonable substitute I could think of was pearls from Pingaree.
And I had a poem in Weird Tales (Winter 1999/2000), "Gnome Holidays," where I did take up the question, and had a Gnome Queen wondering what jewelry to wear to a diplomatic meeting, and considering pearls, but then deciding it would look as if she was making a statement of support for the mermaids when she wanted to be neutral, so settling finally on just her hair -- which was, of course, silver -- as the appropriate ornament. The poem, of course, doesn't match up with the Gnome royalties in the Oz books, but I expect any Oz fan would notice that the poem grew out of thinking about them.
Ruth
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