04 May 2026

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #560: Thirteenth Hour Sequel Update 9 - Working a Fast Shooting Archery Technique , Ishi, A Wizard of Earthsea

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This week, I'm playing around with a variation of the archery technique I was working on last week (holding arrows in my bow hand) but also combining it with another technique, holding a few in my drawing hand also. They each have their pros and cons, but I think Logan and Aurora might have played around with both, and probably others.

At the suggestion of former show guest Billy Campbell, I have been reading the fantasy book, A Wizard of Earthsea. This is actually my third time trying to get into it - once as a child, once in my 20s, and then again, twenty+ years after that. Third time's the charm, I suppose. I found it quite difficult to understand before, but I think the combination of an initially unlikeable protagonist and the dreamy, myth-like writing style were initial barriers that have grown on me this round. The tale is a great example of how sometimes, you can and should break the rule of "show, not tell," because it is very much the sort of thing you might be told around a fire on a dark winter's night.

One interesting fact is that the author of the book, Ursula Le Guin, had parents who were anthtopologists - Theodora and Alfred Krober. Alfred Krober was one of the anthropologists who worked with Ishi, the last of the Yahi people in California after they were killed in massacres in the late 1880s. In 1911, Ishi was "found" (i.e. emerged from hiding, half staved) and brought to San Francisco. He became part of an anthropology museum, working a job and demonstrating traditional Native American skills for museum attendees and forming what sounded like a genuine friendship with the anthropologists, who also recorded his reactions to 20th century life. He would later also befriend a University of CA physician, Saxton Pope, around archery, and their collaboration would basically form the basis for a re-mergence of traditional bowhunting in the United States. Unfortunately, Ishi died in 1916 of pulmonary TB. Alfred Krober was away on sabbatical at the time, and for whatever reason, Ishi's body underwent an autopsy, and his brain was removed. Alfred was very upset by all of this when he returned and found the subject quite difficult to talk about for years. Decades later, his wife wrote the book, Ishi in Two Worlds, that became very popular.

The fact that Ursula Le Guin undoubtedly grew up hearing her parents talk about Ishi makes me wonder if her writing style for this book, reminiscent of a myth, was influenced by her parents' work, and if her protagonist for the book, Ged, portrayed as having reddish - brown skin, was not in some way influenced by Ishi. Of note, Ged was given that name by his master teacher, just as Ishi was given that name since no one knew his real name. I think the custom in his tribe was for someone else to introduce a person to another by name, and since there was no one else of his tribe left, the Yahi word for man ("ishi") was used instead. In Le Guin's Eathsea books, magic stems from knowing an object's true name. It's a sign of acknowledgement and respect that commands power and summons the natural forces of the Earth. Part of me wonders if this was again an ode of Ishi, who died without anyone in the living world know his true name. I don't know, but I do wonder at the connection.

Pictures: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/05/04/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-560-thirteenth-hour-sequel-update-9-working-a-fast-shooting-archery-technique-ishi-a-wizard-of-earthsea/

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