La Befana
Publication(s)
- First publication
- Galaxy, January 1973
- Wolfe collection(s)
- The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories (1980)
- Gene Wolfe’s Book of Days (1981)
- Castle of Days (1992)
- The Best of Gene Wolfe (2009)
- Other reprints
- Best SF: 1973, ed. Harry Harrison & Brian W. Aldiss, G.P. Putnam’s 1974
- The Best from Galaxy, Volume II, ed. Editors of Galaxy, Award 1974
- The Year’s Best Science Fiction No. 7, ed. Harry Harrison & Brian W. Aldiss, Sphere 1975
- To Follow a Star, ed. Terry Carr, Thomas Nelson 1977
Comments
- La Befana is a figure from Italian folklore who goes from home to home in search of the Christ child.
Interpretations
- Bananas says "It's like she wasn't my mother at all." With her last words in the story, the old woman reveals that this is correct; she is La Befana, here to see the Baby Jesus on this new planet so that she can finally die.
Unanswered Questions
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