A bedtime story of sorts
I seldom wish I could be the fly on the wall and eavesdrop on a particular conversation. There was one time, however when I wished I was the fly on the rearview mirror…
(with apologies to Rudyard Kipling)
Many times ago a Foolish Duke ruled a tiny duchy in the Northern Reaches of the Lands by The Bay. Within his realm, his word was law, my Dear Listener, and no one dared question it. His subjects were a motley lot of children and obsequious retainers he had collected because they would fear him and obey him. Only he alone knew that he served at the pleasure of the far-off, invisible Members of The Board and he feared for his head for they could remove it. But that is another tale, Dear Listener.
The Foolish Duke had a beautiful and intelligent Daughter Who Was Naturally Tall. Young and fair, her hair a cascade of flaming red, she struck men and boys dumb and left them breathless but she was not aware of this for her father kept her secure in his duchy and decreed that no one approach her or mention her effect upon them. Being naturally tall, taller than many men, she was given to feeling awkward and unlovely. None of the Foolish Duke’s subjects were allowed to tell her any different and her fearful mother, who may have been jealous as well, was no help either.
The Daughter Who Was Naturally Tall was allowed one bosom friend, a small, slim, quick girl who seemed to offer no offence and was all but beneath the notice of the Foolish Duke. Had he but known what this girl’s demeanor concealed, he would have banished her from his duchy and locked his Daughter Who Was Naturally Tall away in a tower. Such was the fear the Foolish Duke had for the sorcery the girl’s people wielded. But outwards the girl revealed none of this to the eyes and ears of the Foolish Duke. He saw only the quiet, shy girl because that’s what he wanted to see. He willed himself to be lulled into a dream where he believed all was to his liking and his vigilance slackened.
The Holiday Season of the Lands by The Bay was approaching and the shy quiet friend of the Daughter who Was Naturally Tall asked if the Foolish Duke might allow his fair daughter to celebrate one of the Holidays with the girl’s parents and their friends. The Duke could see no harm in this as the shy girl could only have come from shy, quiet stock that offered no threat to his duchy or his daughter (in that order, Dear Listener) and so he agreed with the proviso that he might retrieve his daughter at any time he chose.
The day arrived and the girl’s mother went to the Duke’s castle and promised to care for the Duke’s daughter as she would her own. She assured the Duke that she was taking his daughter to a modest celebration to be held at a fine mansion in the nicest quarter of the Imperial City. The Foolish Duke was impressed with this and was doubly impressed when he was given the directions to the mansion that he might retrieve his daughter whenever he wished. This place was truly in a fine quarter of the city! The girl’s parents must be of higher status than he had previously thought! That being so, why was he uneasy? Perhaps it was only that his lovely daughter would be beyond his duchy and hence his control. Ah but we know better, don’t we, Dear Listener?
Now the Daughter Who Was Naturally Tall knew several secrets about where she was going and with whom she was going to share the celebration. She had discovered many things in the company of her shy, quiet friend. For one thing the girl’s family was not like those of many others and the girl’s family’s friends were not like many others. There were magicians, masquers, gypsies, shape-changers, and artists of all kinds in the shy girl’s family and among their friends. There were people who did not celebrate the holidays in the traditional ways or celebrated the older holidays nearly forgotten by most. Oh, behind the placid face of the quiet family from the Northern Reaches there lay a wild and fantastic tribe and this was just what the Daughter Who Was Naturally Tall wished to join.
The celebration was indeed in a fine mansion in a fine quarter but it was in the Imperial City where things were not always what they seemed. It was not the Foolish Duke’s duchy, it was not the Northern Reaches, but it was the Imperial City with its entire varied and magical people. There were whole quarters where there lived only the Men Who Love Men, others where there were many Women Who Love Women. Those and still others also had many Men Who Were Women and Women Who Were Men. And these were but a few of the many and varied peoples of the Imperial City but we have not time for all those stories, Dear Listener.
First the shy girl’s mother took her daughter and the Foolish Duke’s Daughter Who Was Naturally Tall off to fetch the shy girl’s father The Duke’s daughter knew the shy girl’s father had shape shifted to become the shy girl’s second mother, in a way. So confusing Dear Listener! The girl’s father had been adding the finishing touches to the foods and drinks they would bring to the celebration and was ready for them when they arrived. All together they set off to the Imperial City.
The family and the Daughter Who Was Naturally Tall crossed over the Golden Strait on The Great Red Bridge and wended their way into the quarter of the Imperial City where the mansion lay. When they arrived, there were the shy girl’s Godmother and her partner The Actress From Way Away waiting for them. They were of the Women Who Love Women tribe and were artists and masquers and gypsies all at once. A marvelous pair. After greetings were exchanged and the foods and drinks brought in, the Godmother and the Actress gave the arrivals a tour of the “borrowed” mansion they were living in until they headed back to Way Away.
As they bustled through the halls and rooms, showing off the riches and marvels of the place, the doorbell rang. It was the shy girl’s father’s friend the Crazy Aunt. The Crazy Aunt also had left the world of men to live among the women like the girl’s father. While the girl’s father had become sweet and girlish with her change, the Crazy Aunt was bitter, sardonic, and sometimes scary when she wasn’t funny, passionate, and loving. She had brought more food and was already on a tear about how the rolls hadn’t risen right and the dessert was too sweet. What a difficult one she could be, Dear Listener.
The house tour ended, the table was set and the dinner commenced. The food was trundled out of the kitchen. Everyone had made wonderful things and were happy to share with the others. The drink flowed. The table groaned. The celebrants indulged. The room rang with laughter and then stilled as the next story was told. The drink ascended to all their heads and the cheer spread across their faces. Even the Crazy Aunt was merry or so she seemed. Dutiful, as most women are brought up to be, the celebrants cleared the table and cleaned up the large part of the cooking and eating disarray before proceeding to the desserts. At long last, the sated party collapsed into the deep couches and chairs of the parlor to drink, tell more tales play games and enjoy each other’s company.
The Crazy Aunt was on her feet prowling in search of more coffee and maybe a little more dessert when she noticed a man, unheralded, walk through the front door. Perhaps it was the excesses of the meal and the wines of the Valley of Napa, perhaps it was the fact that her rolls had not risen satisfactorily, perhaps it was that she had lived in the lands of men and was easily offended by male presumption, or perhaps she just didn’t like the man’s shoes but she was suddenly channeling the White Tiger.
The White Tiger came to her once in a dream when she was wracked by the fears of being a strange thing for others to gawk at and torment. The tiger said, “Yes my dear, you are unusual like I am. You can’t help but be noticed as I cannot help but be noticed. There are few people like you and there are few tigers like me. Just remember that even though I am a freak, I have teeth and claws and know how to use them. Yes, they laugh at me and point but they dare not enter my cage. Take heart, for you are more powerful than you think.”
The Crazy Aunt walked right up to the man who was, of course, Dear Listener, the Foolish Duke and said, “Who are you and why are you entering this house without announcing yourself? This is a gathering of women and no man was invited.”
“Why, I’m The Duke and I have come to take my daughter away.” The Duke eyed the Crazy Aunt up and down. She was taller than he and seemed to him to be strangely threatening.
“I’ll see if she is ready to leave,” said the Crazy Aunt. “Wait here and I will be back.”
“No, I can just fetch her,”
“No, you will not fetch her, she will come to you of her own volition. Wait.”
And he waited. And, after a while that was longer than he liked but not long, the Crazy Aunt returned accompanied by his Daughter Who Was Naturally Tall. She was not happy that she was leaving so soon but she did seem to appreciate that she had not been fetched like a cake plate or a lost toy.
So, Dear Listener, was the Crazy Aunt all that crazy or did theWhite Tiger appear?
And I wish I could have heard the conversation in that car on the way back to the Northern Reaches.
Nah, it probably wasn’t al that interesting, I’m just too self-aggrandizing.
(with apologies to Rudyard Kipling)
Many times ago a Foolish Duke ruled a tiny duchy in the Northern Reaches of the Lands by The Bay. Within his realm, his word was law, my Dear Listener, and no one dared question it. His subjects were a motley lot of children and obsequious retainers he had collected because they would fear him and obey him. Only he alone knew that he served at the pleasure of the far-off, invisible Members of The Board and he feared for his head for they could remove it. But that is another tale, Dear Listener.
The Foolish Duke had a beautiful and intelligent Daughter Who Was Naturally Tall. Young and fair, her hair a cascade of flaming red, she struck men and boys dumb and left them breathless but she was not aware of this for her father kept her secure in his duchy and decreed that no one approach her or mention her effect upon them. Being naturally tall, taller than many men, she was given to feeling awkward and unlovely. None of the Foolish Duke’s subjects were allowed to tell her any different and her fearful mother, who may have been jealous as well, was no help either.
The Daughter Who Was Naturally Tall was allowed one bosom friend, a small, slim, quick girl who seemed to offer no offence and was all but beneath the notice of the Foolish Duke. Had he but known what this girl’s demeanor concealed, he would have banished her from his duchy and locked his Daughter Who Was Naturally Tall away in a tower. Such was the fear the Foolish Duke had for the sorcery the girl’s people wielded. But outwards the girl revealed none of this to the eyes and ears of the Foolish Duke. He saw only the quiet, shy girl because that’s what he wanted to see. He willed himself to be lulled into a dream where he believed all was to his liking and his vigilance slackened.
The Holiday Season of the Lands by The Bay was approaching and the shy quiet friend of the Daughter who Was Naturally Tall asked if the Foolish Duke might allow his fair daughter to celebrate one of the Holidays with the girl’s parents and their friends. The Duke could see no harm in this as the shy girl could only have come from shy, quiet stock that offered no threat to his duchy or his daughter (in that order, Dear Listener) and so he agreed with the proviso that he might retrieve his daughter at any time he chose.
The day arrived and the girl’s mother went to the Duke’s castle and promised to care for the Duke’s daughter as she would her own. She assured the Duke that she was taking his daughter to a modest celebration to be held at a fine mansion in the nicest quarter of the Imperial City. The Foolish Duke was impressed with this and was doubly impressed when he was given the directions to the mansion that he might retrieve his daughter whenever he wished. This place was truly in a fine quarter of the city! The girl’s parents must be of higher status than he had previously thought! That being so, why was he uneasy? Perhaps it was only that his lovely daughter would be beyond his duchy and hence his control. Ah but we know better, don’t we, Dear Listener?
Now the Daughter Who Was Naturally Tall knew several secrets about where she was going and with whom she was going to share the celebration. She had discovered many things in the company of her shy, quiet friend. For one thing the girl’s family was not like those of many others and the girl’s family’s friends were not like many others. There were magicians, masquers, gypsies, shape-changers, and artists of all kinds in the shy girl’s family and among their friends. There were people who did not celebrate the holidays in the traditional ways or celebrated the older holidays nearly forgotten by most. Oh, behind the placid face of the quiet family from the Northern Reaches there lay a wild and fantastic tribe and this was just what the Daughter Who Was Naturally Tall wished to join.
The celebration was indeed in a fine mansion in a fine quarter but it was in the Imperial City where things were not always what they seemed. It was not the Foolish Duke’s duchy, it was not the Northern Reaches, but it was the Imperial City with its entire varied and magical people. There were whole quarters where there lived only the Men Who Love Men, others where there were many Women Who Love Women. Those and still others also had many Men Who Were Women and Women Who Were Men. And these were but a few of the many and varied peoples of the Imperial City but we have not time for all those stories, Dear Listener.
First the shy girl’s mother took her daughter and the Foolish Duke’s Daughter Who Was Naturally Tall off to fetch the shy girl’s father The Duke’s daughter knew the shy girl’s father had shape shifted to become the shy girl’s second mother, in a way. So confusing Dear Listener! The girl’s father had been adding the finishing touches to the foods and drinks they would bring to the celebration and was ready for them when they arrived. All together they set off to the Imperial City.
The family and the Daughter Who Was Naturally Tall crossed over the Golden Strait on The Great Red Bridge and wended their way into the quarter of the Imperial City where the mansion lay. When they arrived, there were the shy girl’s Godmother and her partner The Actress From Way Away waiting for them. They were of the Women Who Love Women tribe and were artists and masquers and gypsies all at once. A marvelous pair. After greetings were exchanged and the foods and drinks brought in, the Godmother and the Actress gave the arrivals a tour of the “borrowed” mansion they were living in until they headed back to Way Away.
As they bustled through the halls and rooms, showing off the riches and marvels of the place, the doorbell rang. It was the shy girl’s father’s friend the Crazy Aunt. The Crazy Aunt also had left the world of men to live among the women like the girl’s father. While the girl’s father had become sweet and girlish with her change, the Crazy Aunt was bitter, sardonic, and sometimes scary when she wasn’t funny, passionate, and loving. She had brought more food and was already on a tear about how the rolls hadn’t risen right and the dessert was too sweet. What a difficult one she could be, Dear Listener.
The house tour ended, the table was set and the dinner commenced. The food was trundled out of the kitchen. Everyone had made wonderful things and were happy to share with the others. The drink flowed. The table groaned. The celebrants indulged. The room rang with laughter and then stilled as the next story was told. The drink ascended to all their heads and the cheer spread across their faces. Even the Crazy Aunt was merry or so she seemed. Dutiful, as most women are brought up to be, the celebrants cleared the table and cleaned up the large part of the cooking and eating disarray before proceeding to the desserts. At long last, the sated party collapsed into the deep couches and chairs of the parlor to drink, tell more tales play games and enjoy each other’s company.
The Crazy Aunt was on her feet prowling in search of more coffee and maybe a little more dessert when she noticed a man, unheralded, walk through the front door. Perhaps it was the excesses of the meal and the wines of the Valley of Napa, perhaps it was the fact that her rolls had not risen satisfactorily, perhaps it was that she had lived in the lands of men and was easily offended by male presumption, or perhaps she just didn’t like the man’s shoes but she was suddenly channeling the White Tiger.
The White Tiger came to her once in a dream when she was wracked by the fears of being a strange thing for others to gawk at and torment. The tiger said, “Yes my dear, you are unusual like I am. You can’t help but be noticed as I cannot help but be noticed. There are few people like you and there are few tigers like me. Just remember that even though I am a freak, I have teeth and claws and know how to use them. Yes, they laugh at me and point but they dare not enter my cage. Take heart, for you are more powerful than you think.”
The Crazy Aunt walked right up to the man who was, of course, Dear Listener, the Foolish Duke and said, “Who are you and why are you entering this house without announcing yourself? This is a gathering of women and no man was invited.”
“Why, I’m The Duke and I have come to take my daughter away.” The Duke eyed the Crazy Aunt up and down. She was taller than he and seemed to him to be strangely threatening.
“I’ll see if she is ready to leave,” said the Crazy Aunt. “Wait here and I will be back.”
“No, I can just fetch her,”
“No, you will not fetch her, she will come to you of her own volition. Wait.”
And he waited. And, after a while that was longer than he liked but not long, the Crazy Aunt returned accompanied by his Daughter Who Was Naturally Tall. She was not happy that she was leaving so soon but she did seem to appreciate that she had not been fetched like a cake plate or a lost toy.
So, Dear Listener, was the Crazy Aunt all that crazy or did theWhite Tiger appear?
And I wish I could have heard the conversation in that car on the way back to the Northern Reaches.
Nah, it probably wasn’t al that interesting, I’m just too self-aggrandizing.