More.
So I ran across this post while I was looking for discussions of the
arguleh:
Winter in Combat, a reading by Stephen R. Donaldson...
Sadly, all the links are dead, but a little sleuthing turned up an image of the album cover.
Larger version:
link
This album cover is fascinating in it's own right. We have Waynhim in their
rhysh, Covenant, Linden, the First, and even Pitchwife. All of them, I must say, are rather well done, and true to the descriptions in the story.
But look in the silver medallion in the middle. Look closely. (And so the larger image.)
Arguleh! Not just one, but two - a small one riding on the back of a larger one.
It is the
croyel arghule. This is possibly the only artistic rendering in existence.
Given the faithful rendering of the other characters, I have to wonder how much Donaldson himself had guided the design of those creatures.
... more sleuthing found this in the Gradual Interview:
In the Gradual Interview, Stephen R Donaldson wrote:Yes, your Caedmon cassette is authentic--although I myself only have the LP version. I did that reading. But I tend to forget that it ever existed, since it was only a fragment anyway, and had such a short shelf-life (it sold so poorly that Caedmon quickly cancelled their plans for a whole series of "Covenant" recordings). And Real Musgrave is a dear personal friend, so don't blame him if the cover-art seems a little, well, "de trop".
(08/17/2004)
Not sure what Donaldson means by "de trop" here.
de trop \ də-ˈtrō \ : too much or too many : SUPERFLUOUS, EXCESSIVE
de trop /də ˈtrō/ adjective: not wanted; unwelcome.
Maybe he thought that poor Musgrave squeezed too much into one picture? Anyway, I don't think it means that the depiction of the
arghule is poor. In fact, that the fact of their close friendship leads me to believe more in their accuracy.
.