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Dunstan Thorn
Madame Semele is an elderly witch who lives in a caravan and sells glass and crystal flowers at the Faerie Market at Wall. She enslaves a young woman, later revealed to be Lady Una, by tethering her with a fine silver chain and cursing her to be enslaved until “the moon loses her daughter, if that occurs in a week when two Mondays come together.” When Lady Una conceives Tristran, Madame Semele begins turning Lady Una into a brightly colored bird unless she needs her to work the stall. Though Madame Semele thinks highly of herself, she often overlooks things or overestimates her abilities. She believes she’s tricking Morwanneg by spiking her food with an herb that forces Morwanneg to tell the truth, for instance, but this doesn’t stop Morwanneg from cursing Madame Semele to not be able to perceive the star. Additionally, though it’s implied that Madame Semele curses Lady Una in a way that she believes means she’ll never have to go without Lady Una’s forced labor, the curse does eventually lift. Madame Semele carries Tristran most of the way to the Faerie market by turning him into a dormouse.
The Old Woman/Madame Semele Quotes in Stardust
The Stardust quotes below are all either spoken by The Old Woman/Madame Semele or refer to The Old Woman/Madame Semele. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 5
Quotes
“I am on my way to find a star,” said the witch-queen, “which fell in the great woods on the other side of Mount Belly. And when I find her, I shall take my great knife and cut out her heart, while she lives, and while her heart is her own. For the heart of a living star is a sovereign remedy against all the snares of age and time. [...]”
Madame Semele hooted and hugged herself, swaying back and forth, bony fingers clutching her sides. “The heart of a star, is it? Hee! Hee! Such a prize it will make for me. I shall taste enough of it that my youth will come back, and my hair turn from grey to golden, and my dugs swell and soften and become firm and high. Then I shall take all the heart that’s left to the Great Market at Wall. Hee!”
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Chapter 8
Quotes
The exotic bird hopped up beside her and it chirruped, once, curiously.
“Of course I have kept my word—to the letter,” said the old woman, as if in reply. “He shall be transformed back at the market meadow, so shall regain his own form before he comes to Wall. [...] And I do believe that bumpkin’s flower was even finer than the one you lost to me, all those years ago.”
Chapter 10
Quotes
“What have you done?” Spittle flecked the old woman’s lips.
“I have done nothing; nothing I did not do eighteen years ago. I was bound to you to be your slave until the day that the moon lost her daughter, if it occurred in a week when two Mondays came together. And my time with you is almost done.”
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“And if it does not suit you, you may leave, you know. There is no silver chain that will be holding you to the throne of Stormhold.”
And Tristran found this quite reassuring. Yvaine was less impressed, for she knew that silver chains come in all shapes and sizes; but she also knew that it would not be wise to begin her life with Tristran by arguing with his mother.
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The Old Woman/Madame Semele Quotes in Stardust
The Stardust quotes below are all either spoken by The Old Woman/Madame Semele or refer to The Old Woman/Madame Semele. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 5
Quotes
“I am on my way to find a star,” said the witch-queen, “which fell in the great woods on the other side of Mount Belly. And when I find her, I shall take my great knife and cut out her heart, while she lives, and while her heart is her own. For the heart of a living star is a sovereign remedy against all the snares of age and time. [...]”
Madame Semele hooted and hugged herself, swaying back and forth, bony fingers clutching her sides. “The heart of a star, is it? Hee! Hee! Such a prize it will make for me. I shall taste enough of it that my youth will come back, and my hair turn from grey to golden, and my dugs swell and soften and become firm and high. Then I shall take all the heart that’s left to the Great Market at Wall. Hee!”
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Chapter 8
Quotes
The exotic bird hopped up beside her and it chirruped, once, curiously.
“Of course I have kept my word—to the letter,” said the old woman, as if in reply. “He shall be transformed back at the market meadow, so shall regain his own form before he comes to Wall. [...] And I do believe that bumpkin’s flower was even finer than the one you lost to me, all those years ago.”
Chapter 10
Quotes
“What have you done?” Spittle flecked the old woman’s lips.
“I have done nothing; nothing I did not do eighteen years ago. I was bound to you to be your slave until the day that the moon lost her daughter, if it occurred in a week when two Mondays came together. And my time with you is almost done.”
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“And if it does not suit you, you may leave, you know. There is no silver chain that will be holding you to the throne of Stormhold.”
And Tristran found this quite reassuring. Yvaine was less impressed, for she knew that silver chains come in all shapes and sizes; but she also knew that it would not be wise to begin her life with Tristran by arguing with his mother.
Related Characters:
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