How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Paragraph)
Quote #1
The men who carried him to the nearest house noticed that he weighed more than any dead man they had ever known, almost as much as a horse, and they said to each other that maybe he'd been floating too long and the water had got into his bones. (2)
Right away we see that the villagers use myths to explain the unknowable in reality.
Quote #2
Not only was he the tallest, strongest, most virile, and best built man they had ever seen, but even though they were looking at him there was no room for him in their imagination. (3)
The drowned man is incompatible not only with the reality of the village, but its mythic structures as well.
Quote #3
They thought that if that magnificent man had lived in the village, his house would have had the widest doors, the highest ceiling, and the strongest floor, his bedstead would have been made from a midship frame held together by iron bolts, and his wife would have been the happiest woman. (4)
The women of the village imagine the life the drowned man would have lived. How much of the their speculation seems plausible?