Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn

Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn
Author(s)	Piers Anthony
Cover artist	Darrell K. Sweet
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Xanth series
Genre(s)	Fantasy novel
Publisher	Del Rey Books
Publication date	December 12th 1984 (first edition) / January 1985 (Mass publication)
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	303 pp (paperback 9th printing)
ISBN	0-345-34599-1
OCLC Number	27954032
Preceded by	Dragon on a Pedestal
Followed by	Golem in the Gears

Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn is the eighth book of the Xanth series by Piers Anthony.

Plot Introduction

This book is a story within a story as one of Castle Roogna's ghosts, Jordan the Barbarian, tells Princess Ivy his story of betrayal and death via the magical medium of the Tapestry.

Plot summary

Characters of Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn
Primary character	Jordan
Major characters	Threnody Pook Pooka Yin-Yang Ivy

Princess Ivy, who is now a 5 year old in this book, asks one of Castle Roogna's ghosts to tell her how he became a ghost. Ivy uses her talent of enhancement - and some caustic Crewel Lye to strip off centuries of accrued grime - to improve the range and clarity of Castle Roogna's magical Tapestry. The Tapestry is a woven hanging which allows anyone to view recent or historical events (although it cannot violate the Adult Conspiracy, nor does it include sound). The ghost, known as Jordan the Barbarian when he was alive 400 years ago, begins his story by recounting how he set off on an adventure with his horse Pook.

Jordan had the magical talent of self-healing — which came in handy as he was cut, stabbed, and dismembered during his travels. In one case, a woman finds him gravely injured and hauls him to her cottage, not knowing of his talent. Jordan ends up falling in love with this woman, Threnody. Unfortunately, the evil magician Yin-Yang had already claimed Threnody to be his wife, and was willing to do anything to have her.

Intending to keep Jordan safe from Yin-Yang, Threnody makes it appear that she has betrayed Jordan. She cuts him into pieces and buries each piece in a different remote location — knowing that if the pieces were reattached, he would be able to heal himself. However, she is never able to break free of Yin-Yang long enough to collect Jordan's dismembered body and eventually kills herself.

After hearing Jordan's story, Ivy decides to gather his body parts herself. Once placed near each other, the pieces mend together and cover back up with muscle and skin (greatly sped up due to Ivy's enhancement). Jordan is alive again — but he wants his new love, the ghost Renee, to be brought to life again too. When Ivy and Jordan use a regenerating potion on Renee's remains (after accidentally teleporting Stanley Steamer the baby Gap Dragon away), Threnody emerges from her grave.

Threnody explains that her "cruel lie" had been done to protect Jordan. After some time, he forgives her and they get married.

This article about a 1980s fantasy novel is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: American fantasy novels Xanth books 1985 novels Novels by Piers Anthony 1980s fantasy novel stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР? Crewe type (locomotive) Crewkerne (hundred) Look at other dictionaries: Family of Humfrey of Xanth — For more characters of the Xanth series by Piers Anthony, see List of Xanth characters. The magician Humfrey has the largest known extended family in Xanth. Characters from nearly the beginning of Xanth to many in current day Xanth are included… …   Wikipedia Centaur family of Xanth — For more characters of the Xanth series by Piers Anthony, see [[:List of Xanth characters]]. The Centaur family served as major characters in the Xanth series by Piers Anthony.[1]     …   Wikipedia Magicians of Xanth — For more characters of the Xanth series by Piers Anthony, see List of Xanth characters. The Magicians of Xanth are mostly humans with the most powerful magical talents. With such powerful talents, they are the only people who qualify to be the… …   Wikipedia Dragon on a Pedestal —   …   Wikipedia Stepfamily — Stepbrothers redirects here. For other uses, see Step Brothers (disambiguation). Stepfather redirects here. For the 2006 hip hop album, see Stepfather (album). For the horror film, see The Stepfather (disambiguation). Stepmom redirects here. For… …   Wikipedia Púca — The Púca (Old Irish), (also Pwwka, Pooka, Puka, Phouka, Púka, Pwca in Welsh, Bucca in Cornish, pouque in Dgèrnésiais, also Glashtyn, Gruagach) is a creature of Celtic folklore, notably in Ireland and Wales. It is one of the myriad of fairy… …   Wikipedia Sorceress Ivy — Ivy is the protagonist of Dragon on a Pedestal and the co star of and Man from Mundania of the Xanth series by Piers Anthony. She is slated to be the next King of Xanth. She is Magician Dor and Sorceress Irene s daughter and Magician Grey s wife …   Wikipedia Piers Anthony — (* 6. August 1934 in Oxford) ist ein englischer Schriftsteller. Mit vollem Namen heißt er Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob. Als er vier Jahre alt war, zog seine Familie mit ihm nach Spanien. 1940 flüchtete sie vor dem Bürgerkrieg und dem Franco… …   Deutsch Wikipedia Prix Locus du meilleur roman de fantasy — Les prix Locus sont décernés chaque année, depuis 1971, par les lecteurs du magazine américain mensuel de science fiction Locus lors de la Westercons qui se déroule le quatrième week end de juillet. La catégorie du meilleur roman de fantasy… …   Wikipédia en Français 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”