The Carpet People

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The Carpet People is a novel by Terry Pratchett which was originally published in 1971, but was later re-written by the author when his work became more widespread and well-known. In the Author's Note of the revised edition, published in 1992 Terry Pratchett wrote: "This book had two authors, and they were both the same person."

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The story follows the journey of a tribe known as the "Munrungs", across a world known as the Carpet. Its resemblance to carpets does not end there; instead of trees, the landscape is a forest of hairs, and is littered with large grains of dust. The sky is only referred to as above and below the surface is underlay, riddled with caves, and ultimately the Floor.

The Munrung tribe cross the carpet to find a new home after their village is destroyed by the mysterious Fray. The origins of Fray are never explained in the book, but is possible that it could represent a vacuum cleaner, or perhaps the passage of feet across the carpet.

The tribe is led by Glurk, who is advised by Pismire, a kind of wise man who is trained in the herb-lore of the Carpet. Glurk's younger brother Snibril, however, is the main character of the book, and is described by Pismire having the kind of enquiring mind which is "dangerous". Snibril also has the unique ability to detect Fray a few minutes before it strikes - this ability manifests itself as an extremely painful migraine.

The chief source of metal on the carpet is mined from a dropped penny (a copper coin with the value of one hundredth of a Pound Sterling); wood is taken from a discarded matchstick, while another tribe, the Wights, obtain varnish by scraping it from a chair leg (the chair leg is known to the Carpet People as "Achairleg").

The story ends following an epic battle against the Mouls - a race of intelligent but devious ape-like creatures. At this point Snibril makes the decision to leave the tribe and to explore the furthest reaches of the carpet.

The Carpet People contains much of the humour and some of the concepts which later became a major part of the Discworld series, as well as parodies of everyday objects from our world. It is interesting to note that before creating the Discworld, Terry Pratchett wrote about a completely different flat world.

In Terry Pratchett's novel Eric, it is mentioned that cabinet of demon's president has carpets inhabited by tribes of liliputs, possibly suggesting a link between The Carpet People and Discworld universes, although it is likely just to be an in-joke by Pratchett.