The Moon Fairy and the Dragon Warrior

The Moon Fairy and the Dragon Warrior

I am a fairy. The silver fairy.

Some folk address me as the moon fairy.

I zip and I zoom through the sky blue searching,

searching apple blossoms; 

Where the daffodils abound among the hillsides.

my heart beats in anticipation for passion 

and heart sings for love,

love that flies as free as the dove

In the deep blue sky above.

I am proud and grateful of my beauty,

Where all in nature gather at my feet 

To sing their sweet melody to me. 

I am special and belong only to the one of my choosing.

My thoughts sally as I smile.

I fly over the miles of forest green and misty waterfalls

Looking, seeking the one and only one

with whom I desire to be under the summer stars

and the silver moon, my passage to life.

And there is he, standing at the edge of a deep gorge,

holding a silver sword high over his head.

He stood proudly and awaited for so long

to once again join with the Silver Moon Fairy maiden.

Moon Fairy is absorbed by the strong arms

of her warrior prince to be. 

His great sword clatters to the stone

as he embraces his beloved princess to be.

Lightning split the sky followed by great peals of thunder,

As the Dragon Prince and the Silver Moon Fairy 

vanished into the forest. All the forest was aglow

with the magical essence of its jubilent denizens.

The mystical forest came to celebrate this great day. 

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Written by Cynthia ©

♥•.¸✽¸•♥Have a happy magical day, every day my♥•.¸✽¸•♥ 

Dear Friends and Followers 

Legend of the Wee People

Legends of the Wee People

These are the legends of the little people from all over the world

. When I first started reading through the legend and mythology books I was surprised to see that the wee ones kept popping up all over the place. I only put some of what I considered to be the best here for you to enjoy.

In the Cree schema mythology there is a mischievous group of little people called the Mannegishi. They are suppose to be very skinny with long legs and arms. The Manegishi have six fingers and what is very odd is they have no nose. These are bad little people. They live in the water, between the rocks. When a boat comes by, they will come out swimming and tip it over. It is believed this is how so many people end up drowning.

The Menehue in Hawaiian mythology are said to be little people. They are about two to three feet tall. The Menehue are believed to have lived on the islands before any other human arrived. They hide on the island from the other people. Legend has it they are excellent builders of many things. They basically keep to themselves and leave others alone.

This is a Mexican legend of some very little people called the Chaneques. These tiny people are said to be keepers of nature. The legend is told that if a person enters the Chaneques territory, they will scare the person so badly that their soul will leave their body. If the person does not have a special ritual performed, they will become very sick and soon they will die.

This legend comes from Central America. These tiny people are very strong, even though they are approximaetly two feet tall. Their name is Alux. They are said to have long black beards. Sometimes they wear clothing but most of the time , they like to run around naked.

They are said to live close to the Mayan temples. People in the area leave food out for them to try to keep them happy. These little people are mischievous.

This legend comes from South Africa. These are teeny tiny people, they are called the Abatwa. They are so teeny people say they have seen them riding ants! When they get tired, they curl up under a blade of grass to sleep.

According to the legend they are fierce hunters. Somehow they climb up on horses, as a group and go out and kill their prey.

It is said that only young children and pregnant woman can see the Abatwa. If a woman who is seven months pregnant sees a male Abatwa, it is believed she will have a male child.

These are very evil little people believed by the Hispanic in the American Southwest. These little people are called the Duendes. These little monsters have red eyes, green skin and no thumbs. They live in people’s homes, right in their child’s bedroom, usually in their walls! Many parents will tell the child it is a rodent in the wall, but it is the Duende. These little creatures will get the child to misbehave and try to steal their soul.
http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2012/03/legend-of-the-wee-people-1881278.html

♥•.¸✽¸.•♥ Prayer to deal with Anger and Frustration♥•.✽.•♥•

Remember this prayer next time you feel like your loosing control.

Have a wonderful day my dear friends and followers

Thank you sincerely, in love and light

A day in the life of a backyad dog

Have you ever played pretend when you were a child, like pretend to be a bear, pretend to be an eagle etc. Just take a second and pretend to be this back yard dog., just for a second.
Please come visit Fairies and I
http://cynthiasfairiesandme.blogspot.ca/

The Wail of Gaea

Come visit me at Faieres and me and enjoy many more essays, poems, short stories and other literary nick, nacks Thank you my dear friends

See you there

The fairy Lady

Happy Valantines Day

May all of you my blogger followers and friends a Happy Valentines Day

With love from the Fairy Lady ❤❤

The greatest discovery of All Time

This is the greatest video I have watched in a while, it is hope. An English video is in Spanish subtitles

________________

Este es el mejor video que he visto en mucho tiempo, es la esperanza. Un vídeo en inglés con subtítulos en español es

The greatest discovery of All Time

_________________

El Descubrimiento Más Grande De Todos Los Tiempos

Uploaded on Nov 9, 2010

Fragmento del documental "The Freedom Movie 2" de StopTheRobbery.com


"Tus ojos son los ojos del universo. Y cuando miras un objeto, es el universo mirándose a sí mismo a través de esos ojos". (Deepak Chopra)

Traducción y subtitulos: Zeta & Bala (youtube.com/excretandote)
sersignificaser.blogspot.com

Agathar part 12

Agathar part 12

Jansen sat on the ground and leaned on a trunk of a tree, one that

was more like a regular Earth-sized tree. The big trees made her nervous. She didn’t even want to think about what could possibly fall out of the giant trees, especially if she happened to be sitting under one of them when it hit the ground. Then again, there are many things she was phobic to when she first got here but had overcome since she has been here. But still, from above the clouds where the Cadose made their homes, a walnut-size object would be traveling at about the speed of a bullet fired from a gun by the time it got to where she was sitting. That thought brought no comfort.

She heard some branches cracking from not very far behind her and instantly threw herself flat to the ground, pulling out of her bag the only weapon she was allowed to have: a stun gun.

“Pssssssst!” she heard coming from a form emerging out of some dark bushes. The form stopped and identified itself. "It's me, Antana,” it said in a loud whisper. Jansen could make out the motion of the dark form's arm waving for her to follow.

Jansen rose from her flattened position and approached Antana. As she drew closer, Antana flew to her and took her hand to lead her into the forest, persistently tugging on her arm.

The day had yielded to a profound darkness, as one would say, so dark you can't see your hand in front of you. As they walked Antana hovered just ahead of her. They walked for what felt like a long way, but walking in the dark always feels like it is a long way regardless of its true distance.

A few minutes later a subdued light found its way through the branches of the tall trees around them. Different hues and colors became more apparent as they continued walking. “Quintari,” thought Jansen. Looking up, she tripped over something which sent her staggering forward, arms flailing, and nearly landing on her face at one point.

Stumbling out of the forest she finally gathered her legs beneath her and stopped, feet astride for better balance. She stood there at the edge of the clearing, too stunned to make another move as she beheld once again the unimaginable beauty in that world. What she saw went beyond anything she had ever seen or experienced.

Before her was a rocky promontory where water spewed out in vivid light streamers. She could hear sounds like those of thousands of heavenly harps, softly playing a random, undulating melody that seemed to be coming right out of the waterfall!

Jansen looked up the rest of the way slowly and nearly fell over backwards on her backside. Each color undulated in time with the change of each of the harps sounds. The entire clearing was around the falls was aglow in heavenly flashing colors.

“The Singing Waterfall!” Jansen thought, smiling. “OK, then, that proves this place was visited by someone else from Earth, someone I know? Or have I been here before? And thanks to my college friend's stories that awoke some old memories of my own, memories that I did not know I had!” Jansen thought.

She was feeling both puzzled and mesmerized as well as having some vertigo returning, not from a panic state but from one of reverence and awe of the overpowering beauty that lay before her.

A shiver ran through her as she thought of the immensity of the world she beheld. Then to try and fathom the magical waterfall itself, the source of the pool of wisdom. And the children here are its keepers, as they always have been since time immemorial, she thought. She felt overwhelmed with the energies she being radiated upon her. The possible implications of what this meant left her rather dizzy at the realization of her place in the universe. “What am I but a mere mortal?” she said to herself.

A mere mortal being! A stranger who had been assigned a position to be the protector of the keepers of the Singing Waterfall! Her mission was to preserve this habitat from outside invasion or any outside influence at all costs.

After learning what they had learned about beings who had invaded their world some thousands of years ago, so it is guessed, the people here do not have any concept of time. The intruders from above had brought trouble straight away. And then followed more lights from the heavens who stepped in and chased the bad ones away. So they learned from beings like us that there was good and bad in the outside people. Jansen thanked the Spirit that this planet was one of few that wouldn't be stumbled upon unless they were lost. This world is lucky to not have been discovered by those who could have done worse.

Jansen got down on her knees and sat back on her heels and closed her eyes. She could see the wavering energy colors from the falls through her closed eyelids. She bowed slightly and said softly and simply, "I accept."

Jansen got up slowly and turned, not looking back at the Singing Waterfall, and walked straight to where Antana waited for her. Antana sidled up to her and stretched her hand out to help her over an embankment. Jansen raised her hand up in response and stopped dead in her tracks. All around her right arm and around the fingers of her right hand was a bright glow of pale blue indigo, dark blue, purple and dark purple farthest out that dissipated in the air like a fine mist.

She just froze for a moment not knowing what to do. One thing she knew; she could not go back to the Singing Waterfall to return the energy or or even glance back in that direction. The falls had instructed her through her own thoughts, and she knew what she had to do. She reached out for Antana to help her over the knoll.

Antana led the way back into the forest, turning periodically to look at Jansen. Jansen walked while looking at her glowing arms, torso, and legs. With the glow they were giving off, she had no problem seeing the trail back.

Teddy didn't know what to make of Jansen, canting her head side to side, blinking her pink eyes. She threw her head back and snorted, then lowered her head to take a closer look at Jansen. Head whipping back, she snorted once again then looked at Jansen once more then lowered her head to the ground so Jansen could climb into the basket weave saddle.

Securing herself to the saddle, Jansen gave the mental command. She felt herself jerk backwards in the saddle as Teddy’s large wings beat the air around them. Another mental command and she felt them curve straight up into the clear sky. Above them was Quintari. It all felt so exhilarating and magical mixed in one, like Teddy and Jansen could actually fly there. Another command and they curved suddenly downward and Jansen's stomach went for a flip.

_______________________________________

Agathar Part 13

Teddy glided down on the air current only moving her wings to steer. Then Jansen felt a thump as she hit the

wooden deck of the tree platform from where they had left. The dragon jogged to a stop next to the tree trunk and lowered her head to the ground. Jansen untied herself from the saddle and slid down Teddy's neck to grassy earth.

Teddy looked deeply into Jansen’s eyes with her large pink ones then snorted and turned and jumped up, wings spread. One flap of the wings and she was perched on the next large limb above where she had been before this latest journey started.

It appeared to Jansen almost like none of it had happened, that maybe she had imagined it all. After all, under normal circumstances it was a hard to believe experience. She shook her head to better clear it so she could put the pieces back into their proper perspective.

Of one thing she was certain in her heart and mind: She could not deny the reality of the experience she had just had. It's just that it had been all so overwhelming. It was more than she could partake of this entire experiential meal in one bite. She would have to do it one spoon full at a time to make any sense of her encounter and communications with the feathered dragon and the Singing Waterfalls.

Jansen slipped out of her clothes quietly and was about to slide under that blankets when she heard a voice from the adjacent bunk. "How was the reunion?" Jeji asked in a half-whisper, so as to not awaken anyone else in the dormitory. Jansen turned to look towards where she had heard the voice and saw the form of Jeji sitting up on the edge of the bunk. "How did you know about any reunion? I almost didn't go because I didn't have the faith in my ability to get on Teddy's back and actually connect with her mind to mind. Actually it felt more like heart to heart" Jansen responded.

"I knew you could and I knew you would. I never doubted that you would. A world a time line apart from yours; this is why not many explorers from your galaxy have ever found our home except for the occasional lost souls who happen to fall through a time warp. They never stayed long. As soon as they got their bearings they left and never came back.” “This was all predestined many eons ago on the universal time lines. Or you would not have come to our world as predicted by the ancients,” Jeji responded.

Jansen looked at her quizzically and scratched her head and asked. "Time lines? Time warps? Even back home those are still only in the conceptual stage of development. How do people who live in huts in trees with hardly any complex technology, except for that which is in harmony with this world --- How have you come to have this depth of an understanding of time lines and time warps?” Jansen asked.

“You will be shown tomorrow, down under,” she said pointing at the floor with her right index finger.

"The underworld, in the root system!" Jansen exclaimed a little too loudly, as she could hear random groans followed by the creaking of the wooden frames of the bunks.

"Yes, precisely." was Jeji's whispered response as she slid back under the blankets.

Jansen eased herself into bed but was too excited after the experience she just had to feel anywhere close to sleeping. She folded her pillow and tucked it under her head and clasped her hands to the back of her head and lie there for some hours, rerunning all the tapes in her head that she had experienced in the past few days.

Jansen woke up as she waved her hand at something that was annoying her. Opening her eyes she discovered what the nuisance was. The early morning sun was shining through the large aperture to their community tree sleeping quarters. It shone brightly in her eyes as she squinted and tears rolled out onto her cheeks.

She sat up shading the glare of the sun with her right hand and she struggled to get her clothes on. Outside she stood in the shade of the large limbs and looked out over the fascinating fairy tale land before her. Not even the best of fantasy movies she had seen back home came close to describing this world. She knew right then there was no backing out of this mission, she was dedicated wholeheartedly to defending this world from the possible harm that may await them from “out there.”

The descent into the underworld root system was by a simple wooden framed elevator system strung with a rope and pulley. It groaned and creaked and at times jerked so sharply that if Jansen hadn't been hanging on she may be lying prone on the floor. They continued on for an undetermined time, straight down the hollow center of the community tree. They were on their way to a very large wooden tunnel, large enough to contain at least four giant California Redwoods.

At the bottom of the hoist way the elevator thumped to a stop. “I knew enough to keep my tongue out from between my teeth on this trip,” she said to herself.

They exited the elevator car and stood on an elevated platform made from the solid wood of the tree. All around them were several smaller tunnels going in different directions. Wooden stairs carved out of the solid wood of the tree descended from the entrances to the smaller tunnels. Antana and Dalina greeted them there. “Probably used their own transportation to get down here,” Jansen thought.

"Please follow me,” said Antana. Jeji motioned with her right hand for Jansen to proceed first then stood at attention out of courtesy and respect for Jansen’s position. Jansen noticed the military courtesy shown her even though her being a civilian it was not necessary to follow the protocols.

Antana conducted them into one of the tunnels and continued to serve as guide. The tunnel had a subdued light source that was not apparent to Jansen until she got close enough to the wall of the wooden tunnel to see it was the wood itself that glowed with its own light. The course of the tunnel had many curves to it and she also noticed that the passage way was getting smaller. They went around another curve and the tunnel ended and she found herself standing at the edge of a very large cavern of which she could not see the bottom because of a heavy, swirling fog.

She was about to turn away then something caught her eye. It looked like the inside of a tornado, she thought. “Why do I have this feeling again like I have experienced this before?” she asked herself. Then it dawned on her. “Yes! My friend from college told me something about tornado-like phenomena that could transport a person from one dimension to another. Bingo! It is only through one of these that a physical body can travel from one dimension to another!” “So the chance for someone to enter one from out there was slight to none," she announced to Antana, excitedly. Jansen was so excited with her discovery that she was about to dance a jig!

The swirling tornado fog dissipated and a star field appeared. There were stars and galaxies, millions of them. Lines of light traced their way through the galaxies and stars connecting them together into the entire universe. It appeared like an infinitely woven web continuously extending and weaving its way outwards. The threads sparkled and pulsated, it apeared to be incredibly sentient like in nature.

_____________________________

Agathar Part 14Jansen froze to the spot, feeling tingling going up and down her entire body as she tried to grasp the overwhelming immensity and implications of exactly what she had observed below. One star shone very brightly at the center of the pulsating threads, Jansen had noticed. If focused too long on it she felt drawn. So strong was the yearning she thought she would be absorbed into its light. She rubbed her eyes and shook her head and finally came out of the trance. For just a second she remembered the impulse she had had to jump down the tunnel, which now had returned to the swirling fog, like the inside of a tornado.

Jeji came to her side and guided her to a seat closer to the central platform and helped her to sit, then sat next to her with her hand on Jansen’s back. Jansen was speechless for the moment and could only bite on her right index finger, looking perplexedly at Jeji. Antana walked towards them followed shortly after by Dalina.

Antana approached and sat next to Jansen on the other side of the bench and said to her, "Everything will be as it is meant to be, and in time you will learn from Banitra, the Bright One. The Bright One speaks through Universe. You will feel the voice speaking and you will know what needs to be done." 

Jansen looked blankly at Antana, lost for words. She raised her arms and started to say something but just let them drop to her side again. What she wished to say would not form in her mind long enough to express into words. She needed some time to let all that she had experienced on this day digest into some coherence in her mind.

But one point got through, and that was that it sounded very much like the people of this world looked to the central star, from what she could gather, as a central consciousness of the universal web. In other words, for lack of a better description, and to keep it brief, the central star was revered by the Agatharians as the equivalent of the Goddess of the Universe. Jansen wondered if this universe was the same one she had left or was it another one in another reality in the realm of quantum potentialities.

Finally Jansen cleared her throat and spoke, pointing towards the tunnel. "That was the great Goddess of Universe!” she squeaked, and cleared her throat once more, and repeated what she had said.

Both Antana and Dalina shook their heads vigorously in agreement and smiled and spoke simultaneously the word "Banitra!"

As they began to walk back to the stairs leading up to the platform they stopped and looked back once more at the swirling, churning cloud-like formation that completely swallowed up the walls of the tunnel. No sound came from the tempest in the tunnel, but one knew of its presence just by feeling the strong vibrating energy, like one would from a nearby tornado. Even from the distance they stood away from it, its ferocity could be felt.

Jansen shivered while entranced by the overwhelming beauty of universe and the enchantment of Banitra. For a second she was so drawn to it that she had felt an overpowering urge to dive in, like taking a swan dive off a diving board into a swimming pool.

Going back up the shaky and bumpy wooden frame elevator, Jansen held onto the railing tightly. Once topside again, the wooden gate opened and Jansen stepped out into the sunlight and sat on the first seat that became available to her. She needed to be in touch with reality again, even if just for a little while, for she knew that what she had seen thus far were only short previews of the main attractions to come.

The next morning after breakfast she and Jeji and a good many of the dragonfly-winged children were present, all sitting around the large long wooden dining room table which also served as a conference table.

Antana stood upon her chair. The room was silent. Crossing her arms she bowed slightly with her eyes closed, then straightened again and spoke: "The time that we have feared has come, my friends. Soon it will be time to use the plans that have been practiced for so long. We hoped that this time would never come. The outside beings are moving in the direction the quantum gate.”

Jansen raised her hand and asked, "Wait a minute! Are we talking about worm holes or star gates? Worm holes are a natural phenomenon, but most times I have heard about star gates they turned out to be artificial, constructed, not created."

Antana responded, "Yes they are a natural phenomenon but they can be manipulated by intelligent beings. Many eons ago the beings that were the care takers of this world had set it up in such a way that they had not thought they would be discovered by future beings"

Jansen sat down slowly, and said, “We have some big problems coming our way if they discover this world. The gate will be mapped into their star charts for future beings to find." Scratching her chin she stopped and said, "The tornado in the in the tunnel in the root system below us is somehow connected to the outside layers as well as the inner layers or dimensions of space and time."

"Yes," Antana said, then raised her hands and a mist materialized on the table before them. It began to swirl faster and faster until it formed into the shape of a miniature tornado, a replica of the one they had observed below in the root system tunnel.

When the tornado-shaped mist spread outwards and vanished into the air, the tornado had been replaced by a dark sphere. Then Jansen noticed that the darkness in the sphere was perforated with tiny points of light. “The pinpoints of light are stars,” she thought. To the far right she recognized Banitra. If so, this would mean that we were looking at a different place in the universe but still within the galactic area.

“Look closely,” Antana said as the scene in the large sphere zoomed in closer to a certain star and stopped. "There," she pointed, to the left of a dark nebula. Then Jansen saw them. Many tiny dots moving against the bright background of clustered stars.

Antana continued: “Judging by our astral coordinates they are coming straight for the gate. They will arrive in about 22 days or planet spins.” Having finished, she stepped down and said, “I wish to see everyone here tonight present at sunrise, in this room.” She clapped her hands and the image of the dark sphere vanished.

___________________________

Agathar part 1, Agathar part 10, Agathar part 11, same page
http://cynthiasfairiesandme.blogspot.ca/2014/01/agathar-part-1-i-dreamed-of-being.html

Agathar part 2, Agathar 3 Agathar 4, Agathar 5 Agathar 6, Agathar 7, Agathar 8, Agathar 9 Agathar, same page
http://cynthiasfairiesandme.blogspot.ca/search?q=agathar+part+2

Agathar 12, Agathar 13 same page
http://cynthiasfairiesandme.blogspot.ca/search?updated-max=2014-02-14T09:48:00-05:00&max-results=4&start=4&by-date=false

The History of the Elves

The History of the Elves

Elven History – Part 1
“Before the ages were named or numbered, our people were glorious and eternal and never-changing. Like the great oak tree, they were constant in their traditions, strong in their roots, and ever-reaching for the sky.

They felt no need to rush when life was endless. They worshipped their gods for months at a time. Decisions were made after decades of debate, and an introduction could last for years. From time to time, our ancestors would drift into centuries-long slumber, but this was not death, for we know they wandered the Fade in dreams.

In those ages, our people called all the land Elvhenan, which in the old language means ”Place of our People.” And at the center of the world stood the great city of Arlathan, a place of knowledge and debate, where the best of the ancient elves would go to trade knowledge, greet old friends, and settle disputes that had gone on for millennia. But while our ancestors were caught up in the forever cycle of ages, drifting through life at what we today would consider an intolerable pace, the world outside was changing. The humans first arrived from the north. I know it is not something that the humans today will accept, but all the ancient accounts of our people that can be found agree it is so: one day the humans came from elsewhere, into a land where they had never been before. Called shemlen, or "quicklings", by the ancients, the humans were pitiful creatures whose lives blinked by in an instant. When they first met with the elves, the humans were brash and warlike, quick to anger, quicker to fight, and they had no patience for the unhurried pace of elven diplomacy.

But the humans brought worse things than war with them. Our ancestors proved susceptible to human diseases, and for the first time in millennia, elves were dying of natural causes. What's more, those elves that spent time bartering and negotiating with humans found themselves aging, quickened by the humans' brash and impatient lives. Many believed that our gods had judged us unworthy of eternal life and were casting us down. Our ancestors came to look upon the humans as parasites, which I understand is the way the humans see our people in their cities today… punishment, perhaps, for our hubris of long ago? Horrified at the prospect of losing their way of life forever, the ancient elves immediately moved to close Elvhenan off from the humans for fear that this "quickening" effect would crumble their civilization.

Perhaps they believed that ignoring the shemlen would make them go away. Perhaps they assumed that two peoples could simply live in peace, remaining ignorant of each others’ ways. Perhaps they meant no insult, or perhaps they meant to start a war. We know very little of the time that followed, only that the time of ancient Elvhenan was gone forever.”

--The tale of “The Fall of Arlathan,” as told by Gisharel, keeper of the Ralaferin Tribe of the Dalish elves.

Elven History – Part 2
“Now you ask, “What happened to Arlathan?” Sadly, we do not know. Even the Dalish, we who keep the ancient lore, have no record of what truly happened. All we have are accounts of the days before the fall and a fable of the whims of the gods.

The human world was changing, even as the elves slept. Clans and tribes gave way to a powerful empire called Tevinter, which came upon Elvhenan to conquer it. When they breached the great city of Arlathan, our people, fearing disease and the loss of immortality the humans would bring, chose to flee rather than to fight. With magic, demons, and even dragons at their behest, the Tevinter Imperium marched easily through Arlathan, destroying homes, galleries, and amphitheaters that had existed for ages. Our people were rounded up as slaves and taken from their ancestral home, the quickening driving itself through their veins and making them mortal. The elves called to their ancient gods, but there was no answer.

As to why the gods didn't answer, our people had only a legend. They say that Fen'Harel, the Dread Wolf and Lord of Tricksters, approached the gods of good and evil and proposed a truce. The gods of good would remove themselves to heaven, and the lords of evil would exile themselves to the abyss, and neither group would ever again enter the others’ lands. By the time they realized the Dread Wolf's treachery, they had been sealed away in their respective realms, never again to interact with the mortal world. It is a fable, to be sure, but those elves who travel the Beyond claim that Fen'Harel still roams the world of dreams, feasting upon the unwary as a glutton at his lunch, all the while keeping watch over the gods lest they escape from their prisons.


Whatever the case, Arlathan had fallen at the hands of the very humans our people had once considered naught but pests. It is said that the Tevinter magisters used their great and destructive power to force the very ground to swallow Arlathan whole, removing it from the world just as it was soon to be removed from the minds and hearts of its people. All records and artifacts lost to them forever, the whole of elven lore was trapped in the fading minds of a people who would soon forget what it meant to be an elf.”
--The tale of “The Fall of Arlathan,” as told by Gisharel, keeper of the Ralaferin Tribe of the Dalish elves.

Elven History – Part 3
“The humans tell tales of Andraste, and to them, she was a prophet. To our people, however, she was an inspiration. Her rebellion against Tevinter gave our people a window through which to see the sun, and our people reached toward it with all their strength. The rebellion was brief but successful; the death of the prophetess did not end our fight, and we fought on for independence even as the human Imperium began to crumble. In the end, we had won freedom and the southern reaches of land known as the Dales.
It was a home, a new chance to gather and rebuild all that we had lost. In our centuries of slavery we had lost our immortality, our language, our culture, our crafts… but never our sense of belonging to each other. From across Thedas we came to the Dales. We walked on foot, sometimes crossing thousands of miles with naught but our will to sustain us. Many of us perished on the Long Walk, but those of us that arrived at our new home were all the more determined.

There, in the Dales, our people revived the lost lore as best they could, and even turned to worship the old gods in their ancient prison. They called their first city Halamshiral, “the end of the journey,” and founded a new nation, isolated as elves were meant to be. They created an order called The Emerald Knights and charged them with watching the borders for trouble with the humans.

But you already know that something went wrong. Our ancestors' worship of the old elven gods angered the human Chantry, which constantly sent missionaries to our land. The Chantry wanted to convert our people to their worship of the Maker, but the Dalish would not submit. In protest, a small elven raiding party attacked the nearby human village of Red Crossing, an act that prompted the Chantry to attack and, with their superior numbers, conquer the Dales. We were not enslaved as we had been before, but our worship of the ancient gods was now forbidden. We were allowed to live among the humans as second class citizens and worship their Maker, slowly forgetting once more the scraps of lore we had maintained through the centuries. Those that refused were forced to wander, landless and friendless in their wagons, across a world that told them they were unwelcome.

Two homes we elves have lost, but it is the loss of the Dales that hurt us most. When I see the vhenadahl, the “tree of our people”, that is planted in the middle of our poor alienage here in the human city… I weep. It is a strong and mighty tree with many branches, but it bears only bitter fruit.”
--The tale of “The Rise and Fall of the Dales,” as told by Sarethia, elder of the Highever Alienage.

Elven History – Part 4
“Now we wander, we last clans that refused to set aside our pride and live in the alienages set aside for elves in human cities. We wander the lands in our aravels – the “landships” as the shemlen call them – and proudly tattoo the symbols of our gods on our faces to pronounce to all who see us that our beliefs are sacred, and we shall never surrender them.

We keep to ourselves. If we stay in any one place for too long, the shemlen will come and attempt to make us leave. Some of the clans resist, but most will simply pick up the aravels and move on once again. Our way is not to do battle with the shemlen unless we must.

Our way is to gather what bits of our culture and our language we can find, to guard them carefully and preserve them – for the day will come when we have a homeland once again. And when that day comes, we shall be ready. Our brethren in the shemlen cities who have forgotten, they will come to us on that day and we shall teach them. They will learn the ancient magic of the Keepers, the crafts of our masters and the language of our ancestors. And we shall not make the same mistakes again.

We are the Dalish: keepers of the lost lore, walkers of the lonely path. We are the last of the Elvhenan, and never again shall we submit.”

Tribute to Shirley Temple

Shirley Temple, iconic child star, dies at 85
The Associated Press



From November 1936, 8-year-old child movie star Shirley Temple.
(THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Shirley Temple accepting a Screen Actors Guild award in January 2006. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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WOODSIDE, Calif. — Shirley Temple, the dimpled, curly-haired child star who sang, danced, sobbed and grinned her way into the hearts of Depression-era moviegoers, has died. She was 85.

Temple, known in private life as Shirley Temple Black, died Monday night at her home near San Francisco. She was surrounded by family members and caregivers, publicist Cheryl Kagan said.

"We salute her for a life of remarkable achievements as an actor, as a diplomat, and most importantly as our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and adored wife for fifty-five years of the late and much missed Charles Alden Black," a family statement said. The family would not disclose Temple's cause of death.

A talented and ultra-adorable entertainer, Shirley Temple was America's top box-office draw from 1935 to 1938, a record no other child star has come near. She beat out such grown-ups as Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Robert Taylor, Gary Cooper and Joan Crawford.

In 1999, the American Film Institute ranking of the top 50 screen legends ranked Temple at No. 18 among the 25 actresses. She appeared in scores of movies and kept children singing "On the Good Ship Lollipop" for generations.

Temple was credited with helping save 20th Century Fox from bankruptcy with films such as "Curly Top" and "The Littlest Rebel." She even had a drink named after her, an appropriately sweet and innocent cocktail of ginger ale and grenadine, topped with a maraschino cherry.

Temple blossomed into a pretty young woman, but audiences lost interest, and she retired from films at 21. She raised a family and later became active in politics and held several diplomatic posts in Republican administrations, including ambassador to Czechoslovakia during the historic collapse of communism in 1989.

"I have one piece of advice for those of you who want to receive the lifetime achievement award. Start early," she quipped in 2006 as she was honored by the Screen Actors Guild.

But she also said that evening that her greatest roles were as wife, mother and grandmother. "There's nothing like real love. Nothing." Her husband of more than 50 years, Charles Black, had died just a few months earlier.

They lived for many years in the San Francisco suburb of Woodside.

Temple's expert singing and tap dancing in the 1934 feature "Stand Up and Cheer!" first gained her wide notice. The number she performed with future Oscar winner James Dunn, "Baby Take a Bow," became the title of one of her first starring features later that year.

Also in 1934, she starred in "Little Miss Marker," a comedy-drama based on a story by Damon Runyon that showcased her acting talent. In "Bright Eyes," Temple introduced "On the Good Ship Lollipop" and did battle with a charmingly bratty Jane Withers, launching Withers as a major child star, too.

She was "just absolutely marvelous, greatest in the world," director Allan Dwan told filmmaker-author Peter Bogdanovich in his book "Who the Devil Made It: Conversations With Legendary Film Directors." ''With Shirley, you'd just tell her once and she'd remember the rest of her life," said Dwan, who directed "Heidi" and "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm." ''Whatever it was she was supposed to do — she'd do it. ... And if one of the actors got stuck, she'd tell him what his line was — she knew it better than he did."

Temple's mother, Gertrude, worked to keep her daughter from being spoiled by fame and was a constant presence during filming. Her daughter said years later that her mother had been furious when a director once sent her off on an errand and then got the child to cry for a scene by frightening her. "She never again left me alone on a set," she said.
Temple became a nationwide sensation. Mothers dressed their little girls like her, and a line of dolls was launched that are now highly sought-after collectables. Her immense popularity prompted President Franklin D. Roosevelt to say that "as long as our country has Shirley Temple, we will be all right."

"When the spirit of the people is lower than at any other time during this Depression, it is a splendid thing that for just 15 cents, an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles," Roosevelt said.

She followed up in the next few years with a string of hit films, most with sentimental themes and musical subplots. She often played an orphan, as in "Curly Top," where she introduced the hit "Animal Crackers in My Soup," and "Stowaway," in which she was befriended by Robert Young, later of "Father Knows Best" fame.

She teamed with the great black dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in two 1935 films with Civil War themes, "The Little Colonel" and "The Littlest Rebel." Their tap dance up the steps in "The Little Colonel" (at a time when interracial teamings were unheard-of in Hollywood) became a landmark in the history of film dance.

Some of her pictures were remakes of silent films, such as "Captain January," in which she recreated the role originally played by the silent star Baby Peggy Montgomery in 1924. "Poor Little Rich Girl" and "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm," done a generation earlier by Mary Pickford, were heavily rewritten for Temple, with show biz added to the plots to give her opportunities to sing.
In its review of "Rebecca," the show business publication Variety complained that a "more fitting title would be 'Rebecca of Radio City.'"

She won a special Academy Award in early 1935 for her "outstanding contribution to screen entertainment" in the previous year.

"She is a legacy of a different time in motion pictures. She caught the imagination of the entire country in a way that no one had before," actor Martin Landau said when the two were honored at the Academy Awards in 1998.

Temple's fans agreed. Her fans seemed interested in every last golden curl on her head: It was once guessed that she had more than 50. Her mother was said to have done her hair in pin curls for each movie, with every hairstyle having exactly 56 curls.

On her eighth birthday — she actually was turning 9, but the studio wanted her to be younger — Temple received more than 135,000 presents from around the world, according to "The Films of Shirley Temple," a 1978 book by Robert Windeler. The gifts included a baby kangaroo from Australia and a prize Jersey calf from schoolchildren in Oregon.

"She's indelible in the history of America because she appeared at a time of great social need, and people took her to their hearts," the late Roddy McDowall, a fellow child star and friend, once said.

Although by the early 1960s, she was retired from the entertainment industry, her interest in politics soon brought her back into the spotlight.

She made an unsuccessful bid as a Republican candidate for Congress in 1967. After Richard Nixon became president in 1969, he appointed her as a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations General Assembly. In the 1970s, she was U.S. ambassador to Ghana and later U.S. chief of protocol.

She then served as ambassador to Czechoslovakia during the administration of the first President George Bush. A few months after she arrived in Prague in mid-1989, communist rule was overthrown in Czechoslovakia as the Iron Curtain collapsed across Eastern Europe.

"My main job (initially) was human rights, trying to keep people like future President Vaclav Havel out of jail," she said in a 1999 Associated Press interview. Within months, she was accompanying Havel, the former dissident playwright, when he came to Washington as his country's new president.

She considered her background in entertainment an asset to her political career.

"Politicians are actors too, don't you think?" she once said. "Usually if you like people and you're outgoing, not a shy little thing, you can do pretty well in politics."

Born in Santa Monica to an accountant and his wife, Temple was little more than 3 years old when she made her film debut in 1932 in the Baby Burlesks, a series of short films in which tiny performers parodied grown-up movies, sometimes with risque results.

Among the shorts were "War Babies," a parody of "What Price Glory," and "Polly Tix in Washington," with Shirley in the title role.

Her young life was free of the scandals that plagued so many other child stars — parental feuds, drug and alcohol addiction — but Temple at times hinted at a childhood she may have missed out on.

She stopped believing in Santa Claus at age 6, she once said, when "Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph."

After her years at the top, maintaining that level of stardom proved difficult for her and her producers. The proposal to have her play Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz" didn't pan out. (20th Century Fox chief Darryl Zanuck refused to lend out his greatest asset.) And "The Little Princess" in 1939 and "The Blue Bird" in 1940 didn't draw big crowds, prompting Fox to let Temple go.

Among her later films were "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer," with Cary Grant, and "That Hagen Girl," with Ronald Reagan. Several, including the wartime drama "Since You Went Away," were produced by David O. Selznick. One, "Fort Apache," was directed by John Ford, who had also directed her "Wee Willie Winkie" years earlier.

Her 1942 film, "Miss Annie Rooney," included her first on-screen kiss, bestowed by another maturing child star, Dickie Moore.

After her film career effectively ended, she concentrated on raising her family and turned to television to host and act in 16 specials called "Shirley Temple's Storybook" on ABC. In 1960, she joined NBC and aired "The Shirley Temple Show."

Her 1988 autobiography, "Child Star," became a best-seller.

Temple had married Army Air Corps private John Agar, the brother of a classmate at Westlake, her exclusive L.A. girls' school, in 1945. He took up acting and the pair appeared together in two films, "Fort Apache" and "Adventure in Baltimore." She and Agar had a daughter, Susan, in 1948, but she filed for divorce the following year.

She married Black in 1950, and they had two more children, Lori and Charles. That marriage lasted until his death in 2005 at age 86.

In 1972, she underwent successful surgery for breast cancer. She issued a statement urging other women to get checked by their doctors and vowed, "I have much more to accomplish before I am through."

During a 1996 interview, she said she loved both politics and show business.

"It's certainly two different career tracks," she said, "both completely different but both very rewarding, personally."

Why Did the Elves Leave Middle-earth?

Why Did the Elves Leave Middle-earth?

Q: Why Did the Elves Leave Middle-earth?
ANSWER: The Elves were compelled to leave Middle-earth by a

spiritual summons of the Valar, calling them to their ultimate destinies within Time and Space. In The Silmarillion J.R.R. Tolkien explains how the Valar — the Guardians of the World — felt that the long-lived Elves would be better off living near the Valar (and their followers the Maiar) in the Blessed Realm (Aman), far from the mortal lands where Men (and Dwarves) were destined to build their civilizations and live out their lives.

The Valar knew there would be strife between the Elder Children (the Elves) and the Younger Children (Men) and Adopted Children (Dwarves) of Iluvatar. But they also feared that the Elves would be preyed upon by Melkor and his servants. When the Valar learned that the Elves had awakened in the far eastern reaches of Middle-earth they launched a war against Melkor and took him prisoner.

With Melkor imprisoned in Valinor, the Valar sent emissaries to the Elves, inviting them to go live in Valinor, where they would be protected and share in the daily lives of the Valar and Maiar. The invitation, according to Tolkien, was selfish to a certain extent but it was also non-compulsory to begin with. Those Elves who chose to accept the invitation were eventually named the Eldar and those who rejected the invitation were called the Avari (the Unwilling).

Although “immortal” in body the Elves could die by various causes. According to an essay published in Morgoth’s Ring the spirits of those Elves who died in Middle-earth were summoned to Valinor, where they could reflect on their life experiences and perhaps eventually be restored to physical life, but only in Valinor. The Elvish spirits had the right to refuse the summons, but doing so meant they could not be restored to life. Tolkien deemed this to be a perilous decision, especially in the years when Melkor was dwelling in Middle-earth. Melkor would enslave the Elvish spirits that refused the summons and force them to do his bidding. Tolkien does not specify what Melkor did with these spirits.

Many ages later, after the Valar defeated Melkor in a second great war to free Middle-earth from his tyranny, the Valar sent their emissaries throughout Middle-earth to summon the Elves to Valinor again. This time the invitation seems to have been compulsory to the extent that all Elves were bestowed with a deeply buried desire to seek out the Blessed Realm should the desire awaken within them. That desire might awaken for any number of reasons. The most important reason appears to be the doom of fading.

The concept of fading is not well understood or fully agreed upon by Tolkien’s readers. In one of his thoughtful essays Tolkien stipulated that a faded Elf became a disembodied spirit, equivalent to a ghost or poltergeist. These faded Elves might have nothing to do with the world of the living, or they might become dangerous entities, especially for mortal men. Hence, the Elves were instilled with an overwhelming compulsion or desire to sail over Sea to the Blessed Realm, where they could be restored and sustained by the Valar in their physical bodies.

Death was thus very much a part of the destiny of the Elves who remained in Middle-earth. It was a true physical death of the body but not a death by withering or aging such as mortal Men and Dwarves experienced. Whereas Men’s spirits were said to leave the world completely and “seek elsewhere”, Elves’ spirits would remain in the world until the end of Time, after which they had no knowledge of what would happen to them.

Just as Men feared death Elves feared fading. However, unlike Men the Elves had the option of forestalling or avoiding fading completely if they simply passed over Sea to the Blessed Realm.

The Noldor of Eregion believed they could delay that inevitable choice for all Elves if they could find a way to preserve Middle-earth, to delay the effects of Time. When Sauron learned of this desire he taught the Gwaith-i-Mirdain, the Jewel-smiths of Eregion, how to create the Rings of Power. The Rings were constructed to hold back the force of Time, thus preserving Middle-earth and the Eldar (according to one note, Tolkien estimated the Elves felt the

effects of Time in Middle-earth at a rate of 1% while the Rings functioned). This act was a second rebellion for the Noldor because it controverted the natural laws set down by Iluvatar. And by doing so the Noldor unwittingly exposed themselves to Sauron such that he was able to forge the One Ring to enslave them.

The subsequent conflict between Sauron and the Elves forced many Elves to flee their homes. A large portion of those Elves lost all joy in Middle-earth and sailed over Sea. They did so mostly to escape from Sauron but also because they felt immense regret for the harm they had done to Middle-earth and its peoples. The Elves of the Second Age may not have been as aware of the Rings of Power as the Elves of the Third Age but by the end of the Third Age many of the Elves were determined to leave Middle-earth soon.

When Sauron arose and declared himself in the year 2951 an exodus of Elves from Middle-earth soon followed. In “The Shadow of the Past”, the second chapter of The Fellowship of the Ring, the narrative mentions that many Elves pass through the Shire on their way to the havens, never to return to Middle-earth again. Only a small number of Eldar and a larger number of Silvan Elves remained in Middle-earth by the time the War of the Ring began.

However, with the destruction of the One Ring all the other Rings of Power failed. The full weight of the thousands of years then fell upon the Eldar, especially the keepers of the Rings of Power (Elrond, Cirdan, and Galadriel) and many of their companions. These Elves were threatened with rapid aging and possible fading. They had become “weary” of the world and were on the verge of “burning out”. Hence, they had no choice but to leave Middle-earth forever and seek out the Blessed Realm, where they could be healed and restored.

When people attempt to answer the question “Why do the Elves leave Middle-earth”, they rarely look at the larger story. There are many times when Elves flee Middle-earth. New generations are born among those who remain but the Elves eventually all have to leave Middle-earth or fade.

Elvhenan

By Michael Martinez
http://middle-earth.xenite.org/2011/09/22/why-did-the-elves-leave-middle-earth/