Annotation - Page 5

• (1:5) "then we freshent the Luck"

This phrase for lovemaking conveys the idea of sex as a magical ritual (freshening the luck) but is also a sly bit of Cockney-style rhyming slang (fuck). SLK

The relationship between Lorna and Riddley, like so many things that Riddley takes for granted, is left somewhat unclear. SLK believes that she is not his regular lover, but is initiating him sexually for his coming-of-age day. But there is at least one reference to some longer history between the two, when Goodparley says "manys the time youve rung her bel" (120:18).

SLK further speculates that sexuality in RW may have drifted because of reduced fertility among women—increasing the association between heterosexual sex and Luck, and making homosexuality (or boying) more of a norm among males. One reason Goodparley can't figure out what fidelity means in the Eustace legend is that fidelity, sexual or otherwise, seems a non-starter for Riddley's people.