silk robes from China lined with the fleece of unborn lambs

[MaryamSeresht]

Hello,

How could it be possible to make robes from fleece of unborn lambs?

"A hundred years ago it would have been Tibetan tea, saffron rice, silk robes from China lined with the fleece of unborn lambs, that kind of thing...."

Is it really unborn lambs?

It's part of Inheritance of Loss, a novel by Kiran Desai. http://books.google.com/books?id=Ki...lined with the fleece of unborn lambs&f=false

Many thanks for your ideas.

 

[babybackribs]

This could be exaggeration or (using the literary word) hyperbole to highlight the extremity of the situation.
I'm guessing since the last clause you have is "that kind of thing" that this is the case because this last phrase treats these "things" as if they're mundane. Clearly, the fleece of unborn lambs is anything BUT mundane.

(If anyone has read the book and this is not the case, please correct me; this was just my impression of the tone of this sentence.)

 

[sdgraham]

How could it be possible to make robes from fleece of unborn lambs?

Presumably the same way shoes and other leather items are made from "unborn calf," also known as "slunk," which is very soft and that which I have seen still has the hair firmly attached.

 

[GreenWhiteBlue]

Hello,

How could it be possible to make robes from fleece of unborn lambs?

Simple:
1)Slaughter a pregnant ewe much as you would slaughter any other sheep (although the usual practice is to slaughter a ewe that is older, and reaching the end of a life productive of wool, or milk, or new lambs.)
2) Remove fetal lamb carcass from carcass of ewe.
3) Skin carcass of fetal lamb. Sell skin as "astrakhan", or "karakul", or "Persian lamb." Feast family with roast mutton and roast lamb to celebrate your finanical success.

Is it really unborn lambs?

It can be, and for the most luxurious variety of the skin it is, although it is sometimes newborn lambs that are less than 3 days old, because after that point the wool changes color and texture.

 

[MaryamSeresht]

Many thanks for your explanation, dear GreenWhiteBlue, and Sdgraham. That's because I couldn't imagine unborn lambs have any wools! But after reading your comments, and asking my friend who lived in some village in Iran, she said that unborn lambs have very very tender wool! So, That's possible!