Hob's Pot

~ 2nd Novelette in the Noble Warrior Series by Andre Norton

catfantastic 2 1991 77461 6

 

Synopsis ~

Thragun Neklop better known as “Noble Warrior” detects a Khon within a tea pot that was a gift to the house master. Noble recruits the house spirit “Hob” to help fight off the evil Khon only to have Hob taken over by the Khon.

 

Write-up from a fan ~

Emmy's Papa, Captain Wexley,  has come home from India (and/or East Asia) and has brought lots of treasurers.  Noble Warrior (aka Thragun Neklop) seems particularly interested in one wooden box, tightly bound with rope.  However, his interest is that of a warrior who has discovered an enemy hiding in ambush.  Captain Wexley is also perplexed, since he does not remember shipping that particular box home.  His Indian servant tells him that it was "of the sending by the rajah"  who was considerably less than friendly with the Captain.  So the box gets opened, proving to contain an amazingly ugly tea pot, carved of yellow jad, in the shape of a monkey-like creature.  No one is comfortable with it, so the Captain boxes it back up again to take to a shop in London for disposal.  Noble Warrior knows there is evil contained in the pot, and recruits help in the person of Hob, the resident household spirit.  However, when Hob destroys the tea pot the evil Khon takes over Hob, so Noble Warrior has to go to Emmy's room to try to guard her.  Hob follows him and starts on a rampage, destroying lots of small breakable things.  Great-aunt Amelie leads them all to the stillroom, where Cook has kept a supply of rowan against just such a happening.  They lure Hob with a bowl of cream and a Christmas pudding and, using the rowan twigs as weapons, manage to exorcise the evil Khon from Hob and transform him back into a teapot. ~ SL

 

Bibliography of English Editions ~

  • Catfantastic II (1991) Edited by Andre Norton & Martin H. Greenberg, Published by DAW, PB, 0-886-77461-6, $4.50, 318pg ~ cover by Braldt Bralds
  • Fantastic Cat (2004) Edited by Andre Norton & Martin H. Greenberg, Published by BP Books, TP, 0-743-48726-5, $11.95, 318pg ~ cover by Braldt Bralds

 

Non-English Editions ~

  •  (1994) Published in Amsterdam; by De Boekerij, PB, 90-225-1622-9, 256pg ~ translated by Renée Vink ~ Dutch book title Superkat II en andere fantastische kattenverhalen [Super cat II and other fantastic cat stories]  

 

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