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Watch a Danish Archer Outshoot Legolas
This video filled me with wonder. What was ancient and medieval battlefield archery like? If Lars Andersen is any indication, maybe a lot faster and more rip-roaring than we may have envisioned.
Pookas: Shapeshifting Irish Tricksters
The word “pooka” (or phouka, puka, etc.) derives from Gaelic púca, meaning “spirit, ghost, or goblin.” Originally an earth-spirit associated with fields and herds, these beings are best known as trickster figures, either malevolent or simply mischievous. The worst among them have been accused of crimes including child molestation, kidnapping, and murder.
Pookas often pass through the mortal realm invisibly, but they are also accomplished shapeshifters. A pooka’s animal form is almost always a type of animal that lives in close proximity to humans: cats, dogs, horses and ponies, goats, cattle, rabbits, etc.—another indication of their original agrarian connection. In Waterford and Wexford, however, they have been known to take the form of a huge eagle. No matter the form, its fur or feathers are almost always dark.
As an agricultural spirit, pookas are associated with Samhain, the Gaelic harvest festival when the last of the crops are brought in. The pooka is acknowledged to have a right to anything that remains in the fields after November 1, “the pooka’s day.” Thereafter, pookas might render crops inedible or unsafe—perhaps by spitting or defecating on them. In some locales, reapers leave a small share of the crop to placate the hungry creature.
Pookas can also be helpful to farmers. In at least one story, pookas helped a poor farmer by milling his grain for him in the dead of night.
The Border Region has a variety of pooka known as a brag. These beings are noted for their kindness to animals. They still enjoy playing tricks on humans, however.
Plato or Dumbledore?
DISCOVERY: that the addition of “Harry” to almost any Plato quote makes it seem legitimately like a nugget of wisdom out of the mouth of Albus Dumbledore.
“Death is not the worst that can happen to men, Harry.”
“Harry, good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others.”
“He who commits injustice is ever made more wretched than he who suffers it, Harry.”
“Harry, how can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?”
“Harry, astronomy at all events compels the soul to look upwards, and draws it from the things of this world to the other.”
“He was a wise man who invented beer, Harry.”
Percy Jackson Confession
Adrian Murdoch speaks for many:
The Percy Jackson novels by Rick Riordan are essential reading for any classicist. I claim to buy them for the kids – they are nominally aimed at children – but instead devour them myself as soon as they are published.
Indeed.
This Must Be Commonwealth Week
Yesterday’s statistics: About one third of activity on this blog was generated by Canadians! Since I grew up in Michigan (where I could practically see Canada from my house), I’m quite honored. So now maybe I’ll also have to develop a subplot involving wendigos or maybe a pagwadjinini or two. 🙂
Chupacabra Sighting?
I’m going to vote No, but have a look and see…
G’day, y’all!
Roughly a third of my page views yesterday came from Australia! Admittedly, in absolute terms, this is still quite a low number, this blog being barely two weeks old and all, but still worth noting, I think.
Keep it up, Oz, and I may just have to throw a slightly misplaced yowie, mimi, or grimmacha into the Wonder!
World Builder’s Disease
This is kinda sorta me. Carl Sinclair has put his finger on an affliction that affects a lot of writers, especially of fantasy fiction: Tolkienitis. Having spent the past week roughing out half a dozen possible species of unicorns—with absolutely no plans for including unicorns anywhere in the “Into the Wonder” series—I am definitely somewhere on this spectrum.
What is World Builder’s Disease?
World builders disease is a terrible affliction for many writers and authors, mainly in Science Fiction and Fantasy, but it can certainly affect writers in many genres. The scientific medical term is Tol-kien-itis.What causes it?
It is caused by the constant building and tweaking of your world and setting. So much that you never actually get around to writing the book.J.R.R Tolkien had the worst case on record, spending much of his life (around 30 years) building the world, languages and setting for Lord of the Rings. He finally managed to finish his series, but his case was very severe.
I would only suggest that the proper clinical term should probably be Tolkien Syndrome on the pattern of Asperger Syndrome, Tourette Syndrome, etc.
Well done, Carl, and thanks for your honesty!
Sunday Inspiration: Choices
It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
—Albus Dumbledore (via J. K. Rowling)
By Way of Formal Introduction…
Some problems are worse than others. That’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? What a lot of people may not understand is that some problems are actually pretty cool. If I’m going to have a problem, I want it to be a cool one. Like, What am I going to do with all this money I’ve unexpectedly inherited? Or, my website has become so popular it keeps crashing the server! Or, I really feel self-conscious about being the only person in my class/office/whatever who hasn’t come down with the flu! See? Those are great problems to have.
Try this one on for size: I have a daughter who reads WAY above her grade level. Why is that a problem, you ask? Because even though she has the vocabulary and comprehension of a high-schooler, she is just not ready yet for some of the “grown-up” content that I know she’ll handle like a pro when she is a little bit older.
Mind you, this is a girl who doesn’t check out books from the library; she checks out WHOLE SERIES!
Now, for the last several years, my absolutely wonderful problem has been finding books that interest my sweet girl without talking down to her. My wife and I are constantly picking the brains of our friends who are teachers and librarians. (“Has she read X?” “Yeah, she read that when she was in fifth grade.” “Well, how about Y?” “I haven’t heard of that one. Let me write it down.”)
Eventually, I started supplementing whatever treasures we could find at the library with little stories of my own. And since I have several friends who appreciate good teen/young adult fiction and share my (and my daughter’s) love of the fantasy genre(s), I usually asked one or two people to read behind me to help clean up my messes.
Well, to make a long story short (if it isn’t already too late for that!), somebody thought I might be on to something with Children of Pride, my latest effort. It was suggested that I release it into the wild and see what happens. That’s what this web site is all about.
And while everything is being formalized, I’ll also keep providing “bonus material” related to faeries, mythology, and the growing universe of “Into the Wonder.”
Thanks for stopping by!
