ATDTDA (3) One interesting compound, 75-79

[Monte Davis]

> Skipping back a little, what do you make of this clause: "the 
> extravagantly kept promises of island girls"... were the promises made by
the island 
> girls, to the various observers, family members, dinner 
> guests; or were the promises of (encountering) island girls 
> along the way made to Merle (by some guide) as he set out on 
> his lonely way?

It shimmers between the two: if it were the "promise of island girls" it
would be purely folkloric expectation: that lonely sailors have always hoped
they'll find an exotically warm welcome from some Circe at the next
landfall. 

But "promises" reads more naturally as being *by* the girls, and connects in
my mind to the Penelopes, the ones waiting for their cavalry boys -- i.e.
their promises to wait for some traveler's return, extravagantly made the
night before departure, extravagantly kept to the point of spinsterhood.