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The Wind's Twelve Quarters
by Ursula K. Le Guin
Contents 
The Wind's Twelve Quarters contains the following short
stories:
Plot summary
Summaries by Fredrik Petersson
Semley's Necklace Hainish
This story also appears as a prologue to Rocannon's
World. This is the romantic story of how Semley, the young
wife of a poor but proud lord sets off to recover a necklace of legendary
beauty, a necklace which was lost long ago. On her journey she is taken
on a spaceship to the "star-lords" and reclaim her treasure. Having fulfilled
her quest in what to her appears as only a few days, she returns to her
castle, and only then does she learn about the time dilation effects of
NAFAL travel.
April in Paris
Le
Guin's first published story is an amusing story about time-travel. A
bored scientist in the 16th century finds himself losing his faith in
science and takes to magic instead. He tries a spell, only to learn that
it did not invoke the devil or any lesser demon, but rather an equally
bored and lonely scholar from Paris, 1961. They become friends and also
find themselves two women (a slave from ancient Lutetia and a historian
from Altair) and a small dog called Julie.
The Masters
In
a world where science is forbidden and mathematics a heresy, a young man
called Ganil is a newly appointed Master. This means he now knows all
there is to know - to attempt to learn more is a capital crime. Yet Ganil
cannot help thinking about numbers, or wondering about what makes the
sun travel over the clouded sky, no matter what it will cost him.
Darkness box
A rather strange little tale. In some magic place time appears to stand
more or less still: it is always ten to ten, always time to go to battle.
A box filled with darkness brings about a change: people will really die
for good, and time will start moving again.
The Word of Unbinding
Earthsea
A fantasy story set in the world of Earthsea. The wizard Festin wakes
up in a cell, imprisoned by the evil wizard Voll. Festin escapes, but
is caught again. As a final escape he chooses to end his own life, after
which he faces and masters Voll in the world of the dead.
The Rule of Names Earthsea
This story is also set in the world of Earthsea. Years ago, a dragon killed
the Sealord of Pendor and coiled up in the Pendor Towers where he hid
his treasure. Later the League decided to kill the dragon and grab the
treasure, but when they got there the dragon - as well as the treasure
- was already gone. Now, the new Sealord of Pendor is out to find the
wizard who must have defeated the dragon and stolen the Pendor treasure.
He suspects the seemingly incompetent village wizard of Stattins Island,
Mr. Underhill, and sails to the island to challenge him. The sealord has
an advantage: he knows the True Name of the one who got away with the
treasure: Yevaud. Using that name, he can force Mr. Underhill to take
his true shape. But boy, is the Sealord in for a surprise...
Winter's King
Hainish
A tale in the Hainish suite about king Argaven XVII, ruler of Karhide
on the planet Gethen. (The planet in The Left Hand of Darkness) The young
king Argaven is kidnapped, drugged and mindformed so that she (remember
that the Gethenians and androgynes) will, subconsciously, rule the country
in a way so as to favor the fraction who kidnapped her. She manages an
elegant escape from this plot: she travels to the planet Ollul, where
her mind is restored. After spending a few years there, she returns to
Gethen. Upon arrival, she finds that her heir - an infant when she left,
but due to the effects of NAFAL travel now old and wrinkled - is an incompetent
ruler, who even lost the capital to Orgoreyn. And so, backed by both the
Ekumen and the Karhidish people, the king, who went missing 60 years ago,
resumes her reign. The king is dead, long live the king!
The Good Trip
A story about a man who, as we learn, has had to watch as his wife slowly
went insane. He is now on drugs, but this time he goes off on a better
trip - without the drugs.
Nine Lives Science fiction
Martin and Pugh have been isolated on the sterile planet Libra, setting
up a mining operation there. Then a working team arrives - five men and
five women, all colned from the same man. The ten-clone proves to be very
efficient, but does have some pecularities unique to clones. When nine
of the ten are killed in an accident, the only survivor has to learn how
to cope with something he has never been exposed to before: being alone.
Things
The End is nigh - and people are doing their best to go out in style.
Nothing newis being built, made, grown or bred - including children. The
Ragers are killing off the animals and burning the fields. But there is
one man who still has a dream. Looking out over the sea he dreams of the
islands that said to exist somewhere out there. And so, as a final gesture,
he takes his huge stock of bricks and - to everybody's pleasure - tips
them in the sea. But secretly, under water, he arranges them into an underwater
bridge, a sea road. In the end, he realizes that there are not enough
bricks, and what he needs to get to the islands is not things, but faith.
I think.
A Trip to the Head
A strange, surrealistic tale of a man, perhaps, who has lost the names
of things and does not know who he is or what he is looking for. But then
again, does anybody?
Vaster Than Empires and More Slow
Hainish
The
Gum, with its crew of ten, arrives at World 4470 after a journey of 256
light years. The members of the crew are all more or less strange and
maladjusted to "normal life" - who else would go on a trip of 256 light
years? The strangest of all is perhaps Mr. Osden, who is an empath. He
feels exactly what everybody else really thinks about him and each other.
The planet does not have any animal life at all, just plants, one huge,
inteconnected mess of plants, trees and vines of different kinds. This
huge biosphere has in some sense and awareness, and is now deadly afraid
of that which is has never seen before: the otherness of the crew, the
first animals ever on this planet.
The Stars Below
In a setting much like that in The Masters, an
astronomer has his observatory burned to the ground by the soldiers. He
survives by hiding in the cellar, and is later taken to a mine by a friend.
There he meets the miners and earns their trust. He soon learns to appreciate
the beaty of the silver sparkling in the rock - the stars below.
The Field of Vision
After a visit in the mysterious 600 million year old City on Mars, the
astronauts experience some strange effects. One of them sees things, and
another hears things. After a long struggle, they learn to interpret -
to make sense - of their sounds and visions. They see the world as it
really is, and see God in everything.
The Direction of the Road
Mrs. Le Guin herself has pointed out her obsession with trees, and in
this story a tree takes the leading role. It is a monologue held by an
old oak tree, which tells us about how it strives to uphold the Order
of Things. After all, it has a lot to do: growing and looming high over
anybody who passes it by, and then diminishing again until the spectator
is gone...
The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas
The narrator speaks to you, the reader, and asks you to imagine Omelas,
city of joy, where all is well, everyone is happy, the weather is fair
and the people beautiful and loving, and so on. But, there is a price
to be paid, and somebody who pays it. A young child is locked up, naked
in a cold and damp cellar. It has to be there - such is the deal. People
can come and watch, but they can not help the child. And they accept this.
The child is already half crazy anyway, and oh how joyous life is thanks
to this one scapegoat. But then, there are some who cannot stand the thought
of the suffering child - the ones who walk away form Omelas.
The Day Before the Revolution
Hainish
This is a story about Laia Aseio Odo, the woman behind the Odonian society
in The Dispossessed. In that novel, she is really only mentioned, as a
legend who died several generations ago. In this story she is very much
alive. It is a day in the life of a nice old lady, a seventy-two year
old woman, who does not particularly care for being a nice old lady, but,
I believe, is rather at peace with being herself.
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