KEEPING IT REAL BY FRIZZY LIZZY

Hi dear friends and followers, today is Frizzy Lizzy day, take five, relax and have a great read.

KEEPING IT REAL BY FRIZZY LIZZY

It's about half-way through that wonderful season that we call winter. The first day of astronomical spring is about 30 days away and it feels like that's an eternity. I have had enough snow and cold, thank you, and I am ready for warmer weather.

Years ago, when I was with my second ex, Frank, we had a 27-foot travel trailer that we kept on a beautifully manicured site at a well-kept campground. It had only annual renters and it was something to see.

Everyone took diligent care of their trailers and motorhomes and Frank was no exception. I took care of everything inside of the trailer and he handled the outside.

Now the trailer was mainly white with green trim. The roof was flat and it had some paint on it to seal the tiny little cracks and it was silver. For as nicely as that trailer was kept there were black streaks on the side and Frank did not like them.

Every spring he would get a scrub brush on the end of a stick and a bucket of soapy water and scrub the outside of the trailer to get those black marks off, and get them off he did. But they were back in a few weeks and he would fume over it.

So one day he got it in his mind to go up on top of the trailer and wash the roof because that had to be the source of the black marks.

He had never been on the roof of a trailer before but that did not stop him. He got a ladder and he took the hose, a bucket of sudsy water, and the scrub brush, and up to the roof he went. He was accustomed to being on the roof of a house so the roof of a trailer was no big deal to him.

Except for one thing: the roof of a trailer is not made like the roof of a building. The roof of a building is a sheet of wood or metal that supports the shingles or other roofing material. In order to keep the weight down, the roof of a travel trailer is just a series of ribs with sheets of aluminum roofing fastened to them, their seams sealed with caulking. Such a roof in not made to support the weight of a man. But Frank did not know that. He was up there like he was on the roof of a house.

He did not move three feet from where he came onto the roof before he put his hand on a seam and then put his weight on his hand. His hand went right through that seam and opened a hole that was at least three feet long! Being a rather observant individual, Frank quickly figured out what happened and why and he got down of that roof as fast as he could without causing more damage.

He figured that he had done enough damage already, so when he went back upon the roof to inspect the hole in it, he took a board up with him to place across the ribs and keep his weight off the roof. Smart man, that Frank.

I asked him what it looked like up there and he told me. I asked him if he had a fix for it and when he told me that he wasn't sure, I suggested that he go to the camp store and ask Roger, the clerk and resident know-it-all, for ideas.

Frank saw Roger and returned with a roll of tape that was 4 inches wide and stick on one side. He said that Roger told him to apply it in the hot sun because it would form a good bond with the rest of the roof and plug the hole. Sounded fine to me. And up Frank goes to put the tape on the roof.

He came back down the ladder and we had a nice lunch. After a few hours of brilliant May sunshine on the patched roof, Frank took the hose and flooded the roof and there were no leaks! I thought to myself that I was very fortunate to be around two quick-witted men like Frank and Roger.

Until the rains came. Later that afternoon we got a cloudburst. The rain came down in sheets and buckets and the wind blew like it was leaving town! And the roof leaked all into the kitchen of our nice, clean travel trailer! We had water coming down the wall and over the mirror behind the countertop like it was Niagara Falls!

Frank knew that he had to stop the leak somehow so he went across the lane to our neighbor, Clifford, who was having a few drinks with his wife before supper. He knocked on the screen door and said to Clifford, "I have some news and some good news. The good news is that the rockfish are running. The bad news is that they're running in my kitchen!"

Clifford almost choked on his beer and laughed heartily, as did Frank. Frank asked Clifford if he had a tarpaulin that we could borrow. He did. It was big enough to cover the entire trailer. And in the rain Frank put that tarpaulin over the camper and the leak stopped for that night.

The next day he went into town and bought some roofing tar to plug the hole. Really, nothing ever worked because that trailer leaked for as long as we had it after that, and that was a good 7 years.

As for the black marks, we learned that they are caused by the normal decomposition of the asphalt used in trailer roofing and all we should ever do is to wash it off the sides of the trailer.

Thank you very much again, dear friends, for visiting my blog. Please share your thoughts with us, if you will. have a great Week.

✿ ڰۣ❤In Loving Light from the Fairy Lady❤ڰۣ✿

MYTHS RECORDED IN ENGLISH AT SITKA 1. RAVEN

Hi dear friends and followers. Today we visit the Tlinglit people

The Tlinglit People inhabit the region around Sitka and Wrangell in the area known as the Alaska Panhandle, the extreme southern extent of Alaska. Their name by which they call themselves, Lingit, means "People of the Tide."

They are hunter/gatherers as well as fishermen. Halibut, shellfish, and seaweed traditionally provided food in the spring, while late spring and summer bring seal and salmon. Summer is a time for gathering wild and tame berries, such as salmonberry, soap berry, and currants. In fall, sea otters are hunted. Herring and eulachon are also important staples that can be eaten fresh or dried and stored for later use. Fish provide meat, oil, and eggs. Sea mammals, such as sea lions and sea otters, are used for food and clothing materials. In the forests near their homes, Tlingit hunted deer, bear, mountain goats and other small mammals.

Today's myth is about Raven, a recurring character in the mythologies of the peoples of northwest North America. Raven is analogous to the Coyote of th ePlains and Desert Peoples and Rabbit of those in the east: a trickster and an aid in the creation and population of the world. What you see here is but a portion of the entire myth of Raven that I have available to share with you. I can post more of it if you like. I hope that you enjoy Raven's trickery.

P.S. I tried pronouncing the names in this legend. I doubt that I did very well at it.

MYTHS RECORDED IN ENGLISH AT SITKA

1. RAVEN

No one knows just how the story of Raven really begins, so each starts from the point where he does know it. Here it was always begun in this way. Raven was first called Kit-ka'ositiyi-qâ-yît ("Son of Kit-ka'ositiyi-qâ"). When his son was born, Kit-ka'ositiyi-qâ tried to instruct him and train him in every way and, after he grew up, told him he would give him strength to make a world. After trying in all sorts of ways Raven finally succeeded. Then there was no light in this world, but it was told him that far up the Nass was a large house in which some one kept light just for himself.

Raven thought over all kinds of plans for getting this light into the world and finally he hit on a good one. The rich man living there had a daughter, and he thought, "I will make myself very small and drop into the water in the form of a small piece of dirt." The girl swallowed this dirt and became pregnant. When her time was completed, they made a hole for her, as was customary, in which she was to bring forth, and lined it with rich furs of all sorts. But the child did not wish to be born on those fine things. Then its grandfather felt sad and said, "What do you think it would be best to put into that hole? Shall we put in moss?" So they put moss inside and the baby was born on it. Its eyes were very bright and moved around rapidly.

Round bundles of varying shapes and sizes hung about on the walls of the house. When the child became a little larger it crawled around back of the people weeping continually, and as it cried it pointed to the bundles. This lasted many days. Then its grandfather said, "Give my grandchild what he is crying for. Give him that one hanging on the end. That is the bag of stars." So the child played with this, rolling it about on the floor back of the people, until suddenly he let it go up through the smoke hole. It went straight up into the sky and the stars scattered out of it, arranging themselves as you now see them. That was what he went there for.

Some time after this he began crying again, and he cried so much that it was thought he would die. Then his grandfather said, "Untie the next one and give it to him." He played and played with it around behind his mother. After a while he let that go up through the smoke hole also, and there was the big moon.

Now just one thing more remained, the box that held the daylight, and he cried for that. His eyes turned around and showed different colors, and the people began thinking that he must be something other than an ordinary baby. But it always happens that a grandfather loves his grandchild just as he does his own daughter, so the grandfather said, "Untie the last thing and give it to him." His grandfather felt very sad when he gave this to him. When the child had this in his hands, he uttered the raven cry, "Gâ," and flew out with it through the smoke hole. Then the person from whom he had stolen it said, "That old manuring raven has gotten all of my things."

Journeying on, Raven was told of another place, where a man had an everlasting spring of water. This man was named Petrel (GAnû'k). Raven wanted this water because there was none to drink in this world, but Petrel always slept by his spring, and he had a cover over it so as to keep it all to himself. Then Raven came in and said to him, "My brother-in-law, I have just come to see you. How are you?" He told Petrel of all kinds of things that were happening outside, trying to induce him to go out to look at them, but Petrel was too smart for him and refused.

When night came, Raven said, "I am going to sleep with you, brother-in-law." So they went to bed, and toward morning Raven heard Petrel sleeping very soundly. Then he went outside, took some dog manure and put it around Petrel's buttocks. When it was beginning to grow light, he said, "Wake up, wake up, wake up, brother-in-law, you have defecated all over your clothes." Petrel got up, looked at himself, and thought it was true, so he took his blankets and went outside. Then Raven went over to Petrel's spring, took off the cover and began drinking. After he had drunk up almost all of the water, Petrel came in and saw him. Then Raven flew straight up, crying "Gâ."

Before he got through the smoke hole, however, Petrel said, "My spirits up the smoke hole, catch him." So Raven stuck there, and Petrel put pitchwood on the fire under him so as to make a quantity of smoke. Raven was white before that time, but the smoke made him of the color you find him to-day. Still he did not drop the water. When the smoke-hole spirits let him go, he flew around the nearest point and rubbed himself all over so as to clear off as much of the soot as possible.

This happened somewhere about the Nass, and afterwards he started up this way. First he let some water fall from his mouth and made the Nass. By and by he spit more out and made the Stikine. Next he spit out Taku river, then Chilkat, then Alsek, and all the other large rivers. The small drops that came out of his mouth made the small salmon creeks.

After this Raven went on again and came to a large town where were people who had never seen daylight. They were out catching eulachon in the darkness when he came to the bank opposite, and he asked them to take him across but they would not. Then he said to them, "If you don't come over I will have daylight break on you." But they answered, "Where are you from? Do you come from far up the Nass where lives the man who has daylight?" 

At this Raven opened his box just a little and shed so great a light on them that they were nearly thrown down. He shut it quickly, but they quarreled with him so much across the creek that he became angry and opened the box completely, when the sun flew up into the sky. Then those people who had sea-otter or fur-seal skins, or the skins of any other sea animals, went into the ocean, while those who had land-otter, bear, or marten skins, or the skins of any other land -animals, went into the woods [becoming the animals whose skins they wore].

Raven came to another place where a crowd of boys were throwing fat at one another. When they hit him with a piece he swallowed it. After a while he took dog's manure and threw at the boys who became scared, ran away, and threw more fat at him. He consumed all in this way, and started on again.

After a while he came to an abandoned camp where lay a piece of jade (s!û) half buried in the ground, on which some design had been pecked. This he dug up. Far out in the bay he saw a large spring salmon jumping about and wanted to get it but did not know how. Then he stuck his stone into the ground and put eagle down upon the head designed thereon. The next time the salmon jumped, he said, "See here, spring salmon jumping out there, do you know what this green stone is saying to you? It is saying, 'You thing with dirty, filthy back, you thing with dirty, filthy gills, come ashore here.'"

Raven suddenly wanted to defecate and started off. Just then the big spring salmon also started to come ashore, so Raven said, "Just wait, my friend, don't come ashore yet for I have some business to attend to." So the salmon went out again. Afterward Raven took a piece of wild celery (yâ'naet), and, when the salmon did come ashore, he struck it with this and killed it. Because Raven made this jade talk to the salmon, people have since made stone axes, picks, and spears out of it.

Then, Raven, carrying along the spring salmon, got all kinds of birds, little and big, as his servants. When he came to a good place to cook his fish he said to all of them, "Here, you young fellows, go after skunk cabbage. We will bury this in the ground and roast it." After they had brought it down, however, he said, "I don't want any of that, My wife has defecated all over that, and I will not use it. Go back and pass over two mountains." While they were gone, Raven put all of the salmon except one fat piece cut from around the "navel" a which is usually cooked separately, into the skunk cabbage and buried it in the fire. Before they returned, he dug this up and ate it, after which he put the bones back into the fire and covered them up.

Then the birds at last came back he said to them, "I have been across two mountains myself. Now it is time to dig it up. Dig it out." Then all crowded around the fire and dug, but, when they got it up, there was nothing there but bones.

By and by the birds dressed one another in different ways so that they might be named from their dress. They tied the hair of the blue jay up high with a string, and they added a long tail to the ts!êgênî', another crested bird. Then they named one another. Raven let out the ts!êgênî' and told him that when the salmon comes he must call its slime unclean and stay high up until the salmon are a all gone.

Now Raven started off with the piece of salmon belly and came to a place where Bear and his wife lived. He entered and said, "My aunt's son, is this you? The piece of salmon he had buried behind a little point. Then Bear told him to sit down and said, "I will roast some dry salmon for you." So he began to roast it. After it was done, he set a dish close to the fire and slit the back of his hands with a knife so as to let grease run out for Raven to eat on his salmon. After he had fixed the salmon, he cut a piece of flesh out from in front of his thighs and put it into the dish. That is why bears are not fat in that place.

Now Raven wanted to give a dinner to Bear in return, so he, too, took out a piece of fish, roasted it, set out the dish Bear had used, close to the fire and slit up the back of his hand, thinking that grease would run out of it. But instead nothing but white bubbles came forth. Although he knew he could not do it, he tried in every way.

Then Raven asked Bear, "Do you know of any halibut fishing ground out here?" He said "No."' Raven said, "Why! what is the use of staying here by this salt water, if you do not know of any fishing ground? I know a good fishing ground right out here called Just-on-the-edge-of-kelp (Gî'ck!îcuwAnyî'). There are always halibut swimming there, mouth up, ready for the hook."

By and by Raven got the piece of fish he had hidden behind the point and went out to the bank in company with Bear and Cormorant. Cormorant sat in the bow, Bear in the middle, and, because he knew where the fishing ground was, Raven steered. When they arrived Raven stopped the canoe all at once. He said to them, "Do you see that mountain, Was!ê'tî-câ? a When you sight that mountain, that is where you want to fish." After this Raven began to fill the canoe with halibut. So Bear asked him, "What do you use for bait anyhow, my friend?" Raven replied, "I use my claws." Bear said the raven, "Can I use mine too?" But the raven said, "Do not do it, lest at any time they are severely worn down." A little later, the bear, he said, lamenting his loss of halibut, "Cut them out." Then the raven, whetting his knife, he said, "Sit in that seat." Afterwards raven cut them off, the bear dashed, groaning and dying around the boat, and fell into the water at last, with a sigh.

After a while Raven said to Cormorant; "There is a louse coming down on the side of your head. Come here. Let me take it off." When he came close to him, he picked it off. Then he said, "Open your mouth so that I can put it on your tongue." When he did open his mouth, however, Raven reached far back and pulled his tongue out. He did this because he did not want Cormorant to tell about what he had done. He told Cormorant to speak, but Cormorant made only a gabbling noise. "That is how young fellows ought to speak," said Raven. Then Raven towed the dead body of the bear to behind the point and carried it ashore there. Afterwards he went to Bear's wife and began to take out his halibut. He said to the female bear, "My father's sister, cut out all the stomachs of the halibut and roast them." So she went down on the beach to cut them out. While she was working on the rest of the halibut, he cooked the stomachs and filled them with hot rocks. 

Then he went down and said to her, "You better come up. I have cooked all those stomachs for you. You better wash your hands, come up, and eat." After that Cormorant came in and tried to tell what had happened but made only a gabbling sound. Raven said to the bear, "Do you know what that fellow is talking about? He is saying that there were lots of halibut out where we fished. Every time we tried to get a canoe load they almost turned us over." When she was about to eat he said, "People never chew what I get. They always swallow it whole." Before she began she asked Raven where her husband was, and Raven said, "Somehow or other he caught nothing, so we landed him behind the point. He is cutting alders to make alder hooks. He is sitting there yet."

After the bear had swallowed all of the food she began to feel uneasy in her stomach, and Raven said to Cormorant, "Run outside quickly and get her some water." Then she drank a great quantity of water, and the things in her stomach began to boil harder and harder. Said Raven, "Run out Cormorant." He did so, and Raven ran after him. Then the female bear ran about inside the house grabbing at everything and finally fell dead. Then Raven skinned the female bear, after which he went around the point and did the same thing to the male. While he was busy there Cormorant came near him, but he said, "Keep away, you small Cormorant," and struck him on the buttocks with his hand saying, "Go out and stay on those rocks." Ever since then the cormorants have been there. Raven stayed in that Place until he had consumed both of the bears.
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This is not the end of the legend of Raven. There is a lot more where I found this.

Thank you very much again, dear friends, for visiting my blog. Please share your thoughts with us, if you will. have a great Week. 

✿ ڰۣ❤In Loving Light from the Fairy Lady❤ڰۣ✿

Seeds

Hi dear friends and followers. Today I have another poem composed by me. Much of this poem consists of my own perceptions on reality and fantasy

Seeds

What do my dreams truly mean to me?

They are made of my fantasies, of dragons and fairies,

with enough reality between fantasy's flights

to keep me earthbound, like it or not.

The interwoven product is what I offer you,

compiled as stories, short and serial.

Sometimes a poem comes out of the mix,

all of it mine, in words, for you.

There are many short stories and poems in my blog.

If you visit it with and open mind and heart

you can find detailed beauty that most others miss.

I don't write just lines on a typewritten page;

the substance of the stories is through our own experience,

projected into my writer's make-believe world

whose few constraints are left at the door.

Can you imagine each dream sharing its unique

theme, experience, scenes, and lessons?

Some I feel best said in the form of a poem;

others you may think are just silly stories.

But each story is deeply rooted in reality.

Does it matter whether poem or story it be

as long both are woven into the same cloth?

You might just get to pick your own color thread

if you read what I write and a critic you would be!

One may ask, "You dream dreams of things

so long ago, and some long yet to come.

But have you ever dreamed of a land with no time?"

"Dreaming of things that were and never were,

but might be, and those that could have been."

The potentialities! They are a powerful tool

that make the impossible real by removing the odds

of any given reality to be.

Thus is the finite and infinite all at once,

and time and space become completely irrelevant.

Lady Time - Once she was young and had her fantasies.

Today she builds bridges; now some fantasies are real.

She has done as time must

and she is in my older years now.

She lives alone now with her sole mate,

all that is left to her in this reality.

But at one time she had been loved,

by family and friends, but all that were have passed now;

others are too far away and caught-up daily in their own,

keeping dreams alive and reality at bay,

living their own lives with precious time for little else.

She looked at her image in the mirror of the dresser;

the reality of the years had made a furrow or two

but the reality of fantasy helped her to go back

and do a slow pirouette with her gentleman partner

as the belle of the ball relived her dream.

Composed by Cynthia©

Thank you very much again, dear friends, for visiting my blog. Please share your thoughts with us, if you will. have a great Week.

✿ ڰۣ❤In Loving Light from the Fairy Lady❤ڰۣ✿

THE MAN WHO AVENGED THE WIDOWS

Hi dear friends and followers. Today we continue our visit among the Inuit 

The Inuit are sometimes referred to as Eskimos by everyone - except themselves. They find this term offensive and never use it. The exact origin of this word is not known, but some attribute it to their neighbors in the northland, the Cree. In the Cree lexicon the term means "one who eats raw meat." That's a trait not highly esteemed by the Cree.

I mention this because I have borrowed tonight's tale from the book whose title is shown below. It seems that the Inuit had a lot of stories and there were enough people around to record them in some language that was translated into English.

Enjoy a brief tale of an Inuit magician who outfoxes his envious neighbors. Your feedback on this story, or any others, is genuinely appreciated. Did you like it? Shall I find more to share?
Here's the story. Please don't ask me how to pronounce the main character's name!

From ESKIMO FOLK-TALES, by Knud Rasmussen, [1921]


THE MAN WHO AVENGED THE WIDOWS

THIS was in the old days, in those times when men were yet skilful rowers in kayaks. You know that there once came a great sickness which carried off all the older men, and the young men who were left alive did not know how to build kayaks, and thus it came about that the manner of hunting in kayaks was long forgotten.

But our forefathers were so skilful, that they would cross seas which we no longer dare to venture over. The weather also was in those times less violent than now; the winds came less suddenly, and it is said that the sea was never so rough.

In those times, there lived a man at Kangârssuk whose name was Angusinãnguaq, and he had a very beautiful wife, wherefore all men envied him. And one day, when they were setting out to hunt eider duck on the islands, the other men took counsel, and agreed to leave Angusinãnguaq behind on a little lonely island there.

And so they sailed out to those islands, which lie far out at sea, and there they caught eider duck in snares, and gathered eggs, and were soon ready to turn homeward again. Then they pushed out from the land, without waiting for Angusinãnguaq, who was up looking to his snares, and they took his kayak in tow, that he might never more be able to leave that island.

And now they hastened over towards the mainland. And the way was long.

But when they came in sight of the tents, they saw a man going from one tent to another, visiting the women whom they left behind at that place. They rowed faster, and came nearer. All the men of that place had gone out together for that hunting, and they could not guess who it might be that was now visiting among the tents.

Then an old man who was steering the boat shaded his eyes with his hand and looked over towards land.
"The man is Angusinãnguaq," he said.

And now it was revealed that Angusinãnguaq was a great wizard.

When the umiaks had left, and he could not find his kayak, he had wound his body about with strips of hide, bending it into a curve, and then, as is the way of wizards, gathered magic power wherewith to move through the air. And thus he had come back to that place, long before those who had sought his death.

And from that day onwards, none ever planned again to take his wife. And it was well for them that they left him in peace.
For at that time, people were many, and there were people in all the lands round about. Out on the islands also there were people, and these were a fierce folk whom none might come near. Moreover when a kayak from the mainland came near their village, they would call down a fog upon him, so that he could not see, and in this manner cause him to perish.

But now one day Angusinãnguaq planned to avenge his fellow-villagers. He rowed out to those unapproachable ones, and took them by surprise, being a great wizard, and killed many of the men, and cut off their heads and piled them up on the side bench. And having completed his revenge, he rowed away.

There was great joy among the widows of all those dead hunters when they learned that Angusinãnguaq had avenged their husbands. And they went into his hut one by one and thanked him.

Thank you very much again, dear friends, for visiting my blog. Please share your thoughts with us, if you will. have a great Week.

✿ ڰۣ❤In Loving Light from the Fairy Lady❤ڰۣ✿

The Friends

Hi dear friends and followers, today we visit the Inuit People.

The Inuit People (also known as Inupiat) make their lives in some of the most hostile environments that I can imagine: in North America around the Arctic Circle, and as far east as Greenland. As this territory is almost always frozen they subsist by hunting seals, bears, whales, fur-bearing animals, birds, and, to an extent, fishing, especially for larger fish. It is indeed a harsh life and they are sturdy, resourceful people.

The story shared here is from a collection of stories found in the book, TALES AND TRADITIONS OF THE ESKIMO, WITH A SKETCH OF THEIR HABITS, RELIGION, LANGUAGE AND OTHER PECULIARITIES BY DR HENRY RINK, KNIGHT OF DANNEBROG, DIRECTOR OF THE ROYAL GREENLAND BOARD OF TRADE, AND FORMERLY ROYAL INSPECTOR OF SOUTH GREENLAND, AUTHOR OF 'GRÖNLAND GEOGRAPHISK OG STATISTISK BESKREVET,' ETC. TRANSLATED FROM THE DANISH BY THE AUTHOR, EDITED BY DR. ROBERT BROWN, F.L.S., F.R.G.S. AUTHOR OF 'THE RACES OF MANKIND,' ETC. [London, 1875]

The story has a moral, a lesson for the reader. It's about two men who were great friends, emphasis on the past tense.

THE FRIENDS.

[This is a very famous Greenland story, and is, in its present form, compiled from three copies.]

TWO friends loved each other very dearly. From childhood they had been constant companions. One lived at one of the outermost islands, and the other had his abode far up, at the head of a fiord. They very often visited each other, and when they had been parted for some days, they felt a mutual longing to meet again. 

In the summer the man from the fiord used to go out reindeer-hunting in the interior; but before he went back to the place where he lived, he always took a whole reindeer, choosing one of those with velvety horns and leaving all the tallow in it, to regale his friend with. 

The islander, on his part, saved and laid by large quantities of seals: and when the reindeer-hunter returned, he immediately visited his friend and was regaled with nicely-dried seal-flesh; but in the evening, when the room grew heated, the frozen meat was produced and set before his friend as a cold dish. The guest then praised it very much, and they gossiped till late in the evening. The next day the reindeer-hunter usually had a visit from his friend, but now they only ate reindeer-flesh, and especially the tallow. The friend found it extremely delicious, and ate till he was ready to burst; and at his departure next day he was presented with some dried meat and tallow.

One autumn the hunter lingered in the interior longer than usual. At length the earth was quite frozen over, and still he did not return. At first the friend longed very much for him, but after a while he grew angry with him; and when the first of the preserved seals began to spoil, they commenced to eat away at the whole lot. Later on, when he heard that the hunter had returned, he went out to a grave and cut a bit of fat from a dead body, and with this he rubbed certain parts of a seal he intended to treat his friend with, in order to do him an evil turn on his arrival.

Shortly afterwards he came to pay his visit. The meeting was very pleasant, and as usual he was regaled with various delicacies; and the hunter now told that he had had small luck in getting the reindeer with velvety horns, and this was the reason why he had stayed away so long; and his friend answered, "I was expecting thee very anxiously for some time, but when my first preserved seals began to rot, we ate them all up;" and he added, "let us have the one that was last put by; we will have it for a cold dish." It was accordingly brought in and nicely served up, and the host laid the piece that had been rubbed over with the bit of fat uppermost, and set it before his friend, at the same time begging him to partake of it; but just as the visitor was in the act of helping himself to a piece, something from beneath the ledge gave a pull at his leg. This somewhat puzzled him; however, he was going to commence a second time when he got another pull, on which he said, "I must go outside a little," and rose up at the same time and went.

Being an angakok, the voice of his tornak (guardian-spirit) now warned him, saying, "Thy friend regales thee with a base design; turn the piece over when thou goest back and eat of the opposite part; if thou eatest of the part that is now uppermost thou wilt be sure to go mad." Having again seated himself, be turned the meat over; but his host thought it might be a mere accident. When the guest had eaten sufficiently, be felt a pain in his stomach—he had probably touched some of the poisoned flesh; but he soon recovered, and on taking leave, he asked his friend to return the visit soon. 

When he came home he took a reindeer with velvety horns and treated it in the same manner as his friend had done the seal—rubbing it well with some fat from a dead body; and when his guest came, be instantly regaled him with dried meat and tallow, and never before had the visitor found it so much to his taste. At night the reindeer was set before them with the poisoned side turned up, and putting the knife into it, be said, "There, we have got some cold meat; I have kept it for thee this long while." The friend ate away at it, and several times exclaimed, "This is really delicious!" and the host answered, "Yes, that is because it is so very fat." When the meal was over, the guest felt a pain in his stomach, and, looking hard at every one present, be got up and went outside, but the pains were not relieved. 

Next day be took his leave, and it was a long time before his friend saw him again; when he went out kayaking he never met him as he had done formerly. At length, when the ice began to cover the waters, a boat was seen to put into the firth from the sea, and was recognised as being the boat of the friend; but finding that he himself was not of the party, he asked, "Where is your master?" "He is ill, and has turned raving mad; he wanted to eat us, and therefore we all took flight." 

On the very next day the huntsman went out to visit his friend. Nobody was to be seen about the house; but, creeping through the entry and looking over the threshold, he beheld his friend lying on his back, with eyes staring wildly, and his head hanging over the edge of the couch. He went up to him and asked him how he did, but no answer was given. After a short silence he suddenly started up and shouted with all his might, "Because thou hast feasted me basely, I have eaten up all the inmates of my house, and I will now devour thee too"—and he bounded towards him; but the other escaped through the entry, and quickly made for his kayak.

He only succeeded in pushing off as his pursuer was in the very act of seizing hold of him. The madman now continued running along the shore and crying, "I feel much better now; do come back. When I have not seen thee for a day or two, I am longing dreadfully for thee." On hearing him speak quite sensibly the friend believed him, and put back again.

As soon as he reached the shore, however, the former made a rush at him; but, happily observing this, he pushed off in time. At home he never spoke nor ate from grief for his friend, and his housemates thought him much altered. Towards night he commenced talking to them of his own accord, and told them how he had fared; but the others advised him never to return any more, being sure the madman would eat him too, if he had the chance.

Nevertheless, he paddled away the very next morning as if compelled to do so. Then it all happened just as on the former day. The madman pursued him right into the house, and fastened the door, so that he was obliged to get out through the window, and he barely escaped to his kayak.

The day after, they again tried to detain him; but he was bent upon going. He entered his friend's house and found him worse than before: this time he was lying with his head on the floor and his heels resting on the edge of the bench; his eyes were far protruded and staring wildly, and the bone of his nose as sharp as a knife's edge. On approaching him he started up and pursued his former friend round the room, always crying, "I am starving; I must have thee for food." 

At last the friend succeeded in jumping out of the window, and reached his kayak; but no sooner had he got clear of the shore than he saw the madman walking on the surface of the water, ready to seize hold of the prow of his kayak. He now began swinging to and fro in his kayak, and by this means ripples were formed, so that the madman could not steady himself, but was very nearly falling. Thus he once more escaped him. 

The day after, his housemates again wanted to detain him, but he answered them, "When I have not seen my friend for a whole day, I am ready to die with longing, and cannot desist from going to him." Having arrived at the house of his friend, he found it to be deserted; he searched about everywhere, but did not find him. Outside he observed some footprints winding up hills, and following them, he stopped at a cave in the rock. Here his friend was sitting bent together and much shrunk. As he did not move his friend went up to him, and on trying to lift him up, found him to be quite dead, and his eyelids filled with blood. He now carefully covered and closed up the entrance of the cave, and was henceforth friendless.

Thank you very much again, dear friends, for visiting my blog. Please share your thoughts with us, if you will. have a great Week.

✿ ڰۣ❤In Loving Light from the Fairy Lady❤ڰۣ✿

The Woodworker and the Dwarf

Hi dear friends and followers. Today I have a poem for you, I hope you enjoy the read.

The Woodworker and the Dwarf

One day, a very long time ago,

before dwarfs, and fairies, and elves, and gnomes

vanished from the sight and the world of man,

a woodworker took her cart past a huge, old oak tree.

She guided her donkey while pulling the load,

of poles and planks and nails and tools,

when it suddenly stopped and would not budge.

She cajoled the donkey but to no avail;

loudly it brayed and defiantly stood

as though frozen to the ground in its own dusty tracks.

The woodworker stood there in front of the cart,

rather dumbfounded at the donkey's halt.

She removed her wide-brimmed peasant's straw hat

and her long, unruly red tresses tumbled out

as she scratched her head over what next to do.

Tired she was, maybe the donkey was, too.

She then sat on a rock near the side of the road

in the hope that the donkey would soon change its mind.

No sooner had she found scarce comfort

perched on a rock near the road's wagon ruts

than she heard a rustling from within the bushes.

A sound had come from somewhere, she thought,

not far away from the huge, old oak.

The woodworker readied to protect herself

from whatever danger in the bushes there be.

She sprang to her feet and on the wagon's bed

she found a wooden pole, now a knightly lance!

In her right hand she grasped it with a warrior's grip,

prepared for combat on the noble field of battle

in the bushes, by the rock, near the huge, old oak tree.

Dreams, as they are, come to life as they will.

And the woodworker, Remina, dreamed often and big.

Sometimes her dreams were like chasing clouds

but once or twice they came close, so she caught them.

Instead of a chore girl or some farmer's wife,

a skilled artisan, a carpenter, she sought to be.

The carpenter's guild shared the trade with men;

so the red-haired girl learned to work in wood on her own

and journeyed in search of a carpenter's wages.

Now again came her dream, to serve king a knight,

without first serving knight as a page or a squire!

Only men are knights and no woman dare try it.

Again like the knight, so bold in her dream,

she entered the bush at the side of the trail,

her wooden pole-lance high above her head.

Warily forward Remina's steps went

while the donkey stood swatting flies with its tail.

The woman-knight's lance was prepared for its mark

as she rustled the bushes in search of the noise.

Nothing moved so she darted 'round the tree,

prepared to confront the danger that lay beyond.

Pictures of valor flashed through her mind's eye

until broken by the appearance of a dark, stocky form

that jumped out of the bushes, almost in her path!

Dropping her lance-pole, she tried to draw back

but the hem of her skirt caught her heel and she fell

backwards, onto the grass, with red hair

covering her eyes and hiding her blushing face.

The dwarf that she met made a run towards the forest,

then he stopped, looked back, and was rightly surprised.

There Remina laid, in a heap, screaming,

arms and legs flailing in a vain effort to get back up.

The dwarf realized it was not a knight with a lance,

but a young woman with long, red hair,

and, from what he could see from there,

a rather pretty face as well.

"My dear, let me give you a hand, if I may"

he said in a gentle, pleasant voice,

extending his hand out to help her stand up.

Remina took his hand and clambered to her feet.

Sheepishly she brushed the leaves and pine needles

from her clothing and picked the sticks from her hair.

The dwarf spoke further: "I am called McFee."

"Please, let us sit and collect our wits.

What is it that they call you, red-haired one?"

"Remina," she said, shyly, while biting on her knuckle.

"Do not worry, my lady. I will do you no harm.

I need to be certain that you are well and whole

before I leave you and return to my kingdom.

Remina stopped chewing on her right-hand's first knuckle

and dropping it to her side she turned,

and looked directly at the dwarf for the first time.

A small and perfect man was he,

no taller than her waist in height.

Home spun were his clothes,

well-fitting yet coarse and

colorful for a creature of the forest.

But then, not even the hawk or fox

could ever hope to catch this dwarf,

for fleet of foot were the forest dwarfs.

If not wanting to get caught they vanished,

like a shadow from light into the darkness.

But right then and there this red haired girl

had captured his heart more effectively

than the hawk or fox ever could hope to do.

This dwarf, the lords and ladies in his kingdom,

had never beheld such a diamond in the rough

as had MeFee when he beheld the woodworker woman.

Surely if he were to return with this prize

all would cheer him and fete him

and slap his back at what he had found.

The minutes flew as they grew more acquainted,

and the dwarf learned of her dreams and aspirations.

Swiftly he drew his bow with arrow placed.

Remina winced and closed here eyes tightly,

expecting the arrow to pierce her at any second.

But when no arrow came she opened them again, slowly.

She was overwhelmed by emotion because with his arrow true,

McFee had opened a doorway to a place she had never seen,

a place between worlds, without donkey or cart

or woodwork or wages or yearning for knighthood.

By the dazzling scene that lay before her she knew

that she was no longer standing where she had just seconds ago.

She saw a world like none she had ever seen before,

A world of beauty and light it was, and she could see it!

She beheld and marveled at yet another wonder before her.

A spiraled city floated in the clouds.

This was the kingdom of the dwarfs,

A world where she was free to live her dreams,

and to be all that she could ever possibly be.

This story is open for a sequel if you wish

Composed by Cynthia©

Thank you very much again, dear friends, for visiting my blog. Please share your thoughts with us, if you will. have a great Week.

✿ ڰۣ❤In Loving Light from the Fairy Lady❤ڰۣ✿