Sigil of Furfur
At a glance
- Entry
- 34 of 72
- Rank
- Earl
- Legions
- 26 in the text
Description in the text
Furfur is associated with love between women and men and with lightning, thunder, wind, and storms. The source says that he gives truthful answers about secret or divine matters only under ceremonial constraint.
Read entry 34 on page 33 of the 1916 edition
Appearance
A stag with a fiery tail, changing to an angelic form within the ceremonial triangle.
Topics attributed to this entry
- Storms
- Love
- Hidden matters
Reading this entry
Furfur first appears as a deer with a fiery tail. The passage says he does not tell the truth unless brought into a triangle, where he assumes an angelic form and speaks hoarsely. The switch of setting, shape, and alleged truthfulness is unusual even in a catalogue full of transformations. It belongs to the source’s ritual fiction and should not be generalized into a claim that a particular image guarantees reliable answers.
The earl is credited with stirring love, producing lightning, thunder, winds, and storms, and answering questions about secret or divine matters when constrained. The weather imagery matches the fiery tail more readily than the romantic office, but the text offers no symbolic explanation. Furfur commands 26 legions and has a seal. The condition on truthful speech is essential to an accurate account of this entry.
Read entry 34 on page 33 of the 1916 edition or compare the 1904 transcription.
A closer reading of entry 34
What the numbered text says
Furfur’s stag and angelic forms are separated by a condition in the narrative; the angel is not his only or initial appearance. The text also makes reliability conditional, first saying he does not speak truth and then promising truthful answers under constraint. Love, weather, and concealed or divine questions sit together without a stated theory connecting them. A hoarse voice is specified for the angelic form.
About the printed seal
The 1916 plate labels Furfur’s emblem 34. The passage gives a fiery tail and two shapes, but no interpretation of the strokes of the sign. A drawn antler or flame in a modern rendering would be an artistic choice, not a source reading of this seal.
Compare another entry
Compare entry 44: Shax. Shax also receives a warning that his answers may be deceptive, together with a conditional promise of disclosure. Furfur’s account connects its truth condition to an angelic change of appearance, while Shax’s keeps the stock-dove form and focuses on hidden objects and stolen goods.