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Comment
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janeyolen
Unregistered User
(5/21/01 11:21:44 am)
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New letter
My dear Meteora:
How your letter, the script as perfect as new ferns uncurling, made me recall those wonderful times. Wonderful except for the queen, of course. My small finger itches where the magic used to reside.
Your new place of residence sounds edenic compared to mine, but then you always were luckier. I live on a side street in N—a city that could delight the senses if it just learned to pick up its trash. The collectors have gone on strike again today. That is three days in a row, a not so magical number when it comes to garbage.
And to think I used to love turning over a farmer’s midden heap if he forgot to leave me milk.
Well, multiply that midden by a million and you have what assaults my nostrils today. I have had to keep the window closed tight, which gives me the screeming megreems. These cityfolk do not understand that fairies—even middle-aged ones—need air.
Humans really are the dregs. Forget that child weeping downstairs, or turn her heart to stone. It is better that way.
Ever thine,
Serana
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spideri
Unregistered User
(5/23/01 8:17:13 am)
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mean queen
"Editors hate?" How delish a slip - or was it?
Soft heart, soft head?
Is the mean queen smart or just hard of heart?
Is what she gets worth having?
Can anything beautiful grow under her rule?
Kali, queen, destroyer,& composter of all things, drums her fingers on the roots of the world, and drinks blood from skull cups, waiting. But, to me, she's the force of nature that turns the wheel of time.
But the mean queen is someone smaller, a cold-eyed gamer who gets her way in the world of men, but isn't fulfilled. My bright, bottled mother? Something that terrifies and saddens me?
Well, I love the idea of middle-aged fairies, and the thought of dealing with the loss of innocence and the gain of wisdom. Not a good trade, really. Can there be both?
Love to you all from Beatrice Bowles, a new arrival
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Kate
Unregistered User
(5/23/01 9:54:34 am)
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gardens
Welcome to the board, Beatrice Bowles.
Are you by any chance the same Beatrice Bowles who writes (or speaks) on gardening? I have seen that name various places. I may have a garden-tale question for you!
If not, apologies, apologies.
Kate
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spideri
Registered User
(5/23/01 3:17:16 pm)
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mean queen & mythic gardens
for kate
yes i am, and happy to answer your questions, if i can.
best wishes
beatrice
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spideri
Registered User
(5/23/01 3:33:20 pm)
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origin of "fairy"
oh i forgot..re: meaning of fairy:
"fee", the French for fairy, comes from "fata" a feminine Latin variant of "fatum" or fate, a goddess of destiny. Spinner of fate, a sibyl who sees forward and backwards, and can alter our lives. Read this in Lady Antonia Fraser's: "From the Beast to the Blond: On Fairy Tales and their Tellers." Old wives tales were called "anilis fatum" by Apuleius, author of Cupid & Psuche in "The Golden Ass".
"Fatum" is also past participle of the Latin verb "fari" to speak, i.e. to foretell events, to give warnings. (Thanks Lady AF)
beatrice
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spideri
Registered User
(5/23/01 3:42:02 pm)
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oops oops
correction (thanks to jane yolen)
Marina Warner is author of:"From the Beast to the Blonde"
Beg all thy pardons.
"Warrior Queens" is Lady AF's.
beatrice
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janeyolen
Unregistered User
(5/23/01 3:42:13 pm)
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Correction
From the Beast to the Blonde was written by Marina Warner, not Fraser. Wonderful book.
Jane
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