Fables for the end of 2024's A-Z …

Congratulations to all who entered, contributed and enjoyed – it's an interesting challenging journey – relief is in sight today …

My inspiration for this post came from
finding Jean Ignace Isidore Gerard
(1803 - 1847) - prolific illustrator
and caricaturist

Life's moral lessons expressed via animals … A to Z of rabbit holes n'est pas?!

Anthropomorphism to Zoomorphism

… not quite animal, vegetable or mineral … but informatory tales told from the earliest of days …

An example of Anthropomorphism
see Panchatantra for explanation

I'd better start … with A for Anthropomorphism … using the rabbit fooling the elephant king by showing him the reflection of the moon.

B is for The Bear and the Bees …

C and D are for The Dog and the Crocodile …

E is for The Eagle and the Owl …

F is for list of Fables …

G is for Gutenberg's files on Fables ...

H is for The Hares and the Frogs ...

I is for the Impertinent Insect …

The Impertinent Insect

J is for Jupiter's Lottery …

K is for the Kite and the Doves ...

L is for The Lion and the Gnat ...

M is for The Mouse and the Oyster ...

Nizami Ganjavi

N is for Nizami Ganjavi – considered to be the greatest 12thC romantic epic poet in Persian literature …

O is for The Olive Tree and the Reed …

P is for the Priest and the Wolf …

(A Hilary adaption)

Q is for the Queenly ruler of the plain – to be found with The Lion and other Beasts in Council …

R is for The Rivers and the Sea …

S is for The Snake and the Crab …

T is for The Tortoise and the Birds …

(Another Hilary adaption)

U is for underground where we find The Mice in Council …

V is for The Vultures and the Pigeons …

W is for The Weasel and Aphrodite …

The Vultures and the Pigeons

X is for X number of fables …

Y is The Young Man and the Swallow …

Z is for Zeus and the Tortoise …

Short story from the 
Jungle Book collection

That's my list of A – Z fables (with a couple of hilarious add-ins) – there be more real ones … all found in the links …

Congratulations to all A – Zers … and as far as I'm concerned let's hope M for May gives us some summer weather!

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Cricket via the Allahakbarries …

 

Cricket … well I thought you'd like to know about a team of literary players … sorry if you don't!     The Allahakbarries are the team, and its backstory c/o the author of Peter Pan …

J M Barrie in 1892

Peter Pan's author … J M Barrie (1860 - 1937) – had an elder brother, who died very young … sadly for JM that elder brother was his mother's favourite …

… so it has been mooted that Barrie had psychogenic dwarfism – a growth disorder caused by this emotional deprivation – he only grew to 5 ft 3 ½ inches (1.6 m) …

Michael Llewelyn Davies
as Peter Pan (1906)

Barrie was an amazing man – he wrote Peter Pan and before his death gave the rights to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, which continues to benefit from them.

Cricmash suggests that he was a man with a quixotic sense of humour and an affinity for the unusual … his article is a great read …

Christopher Robin
reading to Pooh

Perhaps we aspiring authors look to join with others in search of other pursuits … Barrie did just that – he recruited a cricket team from many of his famous friends … captained by Peter Pan, with Sherlock Holmes as the star batsman and Winnie the Pooh at the wicket …

Peter Pan statue in
Kensington Gardens

… there were explorers – perhaps trying to find the boundary limits … artists, painting the sessions as a record, big game hunters making sure no pussy-cats were haunting the grasslands …

Very expensive! copy
from c/o Abebooks

Barrie's selection also didn't comply with what was considered to be normal … for instance he chose married men – because he liked their wives! Or as far as the single men were concerned – it was for the oddity of their personal appearance …

Cricmash's article is a fun read … while the Wiki page gives an overview …

Wordsworth edition of Three Men in a Boat

Where else would Three Men in a Boat meet Andrew Lang's Fairy Book illustrations …

An illustration from
The Orange Fairy Book

Notable figures to have featured …

Rudyard Kipling - novelist

H G Wells - writer

Arthur Conan Doyle – writer and physician

PG Wodehouse – writer and humorist

GK Chesterton – writer and philosopher …

Jerome K Jerome - author

A A Milne – author and children's author

E W Hornung – author (Raffles – gentleman thief)

Henry Justice Ford – artist and illustrator

A E W Mason – author and politician

Walter Raleigh – scholar, poet and author

E V Lucas – talented writer and essayist

Maurice Hewlett – historical novelist

Owen Seaman – editor of Punch

Bernard Partridge – illustrator for Punch magazine

Augustine Birrell – Politician

Paul du Chaillu – French traveller, zoologist and anthropologist (gorillas and Pygmy people)

Henry Herbert La Thange – realist rural landscape artist, associated with the Newlyn School

George Cecil Ives – poet, writer, penal reformer

and George Llewelyn Davies, (George had 4 younger brothers)

as well as the son of Alfred Tennyson – Poet Laureate …

Jack acting out a Pirate
Adventure

The Llewelyn Davies family were the inspiration for the Peter Pan story and its characters …

It's the season of the Ashes (Australia v England) … tennis is in the offing too – Queens next week, Eastbourne from the 26^th, then Wimbledon in July …

Porthos, Barrie's Saint
Bernard dog

Enjoy your summer … I'm busy, trying to de-stress and sort life out … so my life goes …

Cricmash. com - cricket and literature through J M Barrie and his Allahakbarries

Wikipedia article on Allahakbarries ... 

Art work c.o Scribd.com (see link below)

Scribd.com - article on Barrie's Extraordinary Celebrity Cricket Team ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Write … Edit … Publish … Bloghop / ISWG hop:The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

 

I was a bit surprised that she came up to me offering a special plant … ah well – I could (and must be nice – though we've never really got on) – a woman with always a contrary thought about life in general.

But what could I do … so together we go to her cottage with its overflowing plants et al … she shows me the enormous pot with a tall spadix already quite tall … saying it'll be great for your Christmas party … this flower spike will open into the most beautiful flower … you've enough room for it.

We get the pot home and I think no more … doing what I'm told – put the pot in a warm and light position … our ground floor extends down a few steps into a comfortable conservatory …

Two of these plants

I did thank her most profusely for her apparently generous gift … during the next few days this inflorescence keeps growing … as party time approaches.

The day of the get-together … the house is warm, welcoming and cosy … family have arrived and are staying over, the Aga bakes away … the scented Christmassy smells perfume the rooms …

Spadix

I noticed that flower spike is getting very tall … I'd been warned, but also that old lady had mentioned its height … but said the beautiful ruby red flower will astonish us … it looked like she'd be right …

We were ready … the food was out, tables overflowing, decorations brightened the rooms, we were dressed to the nines … and were looking forward to a wonderful day with the weekend ahead …

I just had a lingering thought … there was something amiss … but the wonderful classical selection of Christmas music, that my husband had put together, resonated through the house … just gorgeous … I could happily lie down, doze and listen … but I must get to it – to welcome our guests to the party.

Pouffy whiffy ... 

I loved seeing family and friends … but that fishy niff was getting stronger … meatier, positively foul … now a pong, a stench even … oh dear – where on earth was it coming from …

Old wrinkly hag

That plant had come courtesy of that wretched old hag – she was malevolent ... people always said she had a vengeful side to her ... how right they were ...

The flower was in full bloom ... a rich deep ruby purply red ... beautiful ... but? -

oh oh … the boys are shouting at me … “we're taking that pot outside … that flower whiffs beyond belief ...”

Most definitely The First Time I Saw Your Face, is the last time I want to be near one of your sort – pouff, pouffy …

Tag line:  Glory Be … a Cruel Unmasking … What a Stink for Christmas Joy …

For information: 

Chicago Botanic Garden - details (pdf) of Titan arum ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Write … Edit … Publish … Bloghop / IWSG hop: Moonlight Sonata ...

 

Our son was happily doing his own thing in the garden, he'd wander in and out – sometimes helping me in the garden …

Father and Son sculpture
by Bruno Lucchesi

… other times reading or playing in the house near his mother … as she enjoyed herself practising the Beethoven – she so loves …

My wife's father was a brilliant concert pianist … yet his daughter was happy being at home with her son and me … reminding herself of those recitals, she had shared with him.

Moonlight Sonata -Autograph score;
the first page has evidently been lost

Today – the balmy weather had allowed us to be outside … to picnic lunch in the garden, and no doubt we'd have a glorious supper later in the evening.

Our son was a quiet lad – always thoughtful … happy in his own world, yet an easy going kid with a ready smile.

Valley View ... 

Twilight was falling, soon dusk would arrive as the sun finally set on this beautiful clear evening … the moon would be so bright tonight …

Suddenly our son screamed out … "Dad ..., Dad …

come quickly … hurry up, hurry … Daaad …"

Moon rising over 'The Needles', south England

He was at the end of garden looking out over the valley … I rushed down wondering what on earth was happening …

In the background I heard my wife playing her Moonlight Sonata … but I couldn't stay and listen … I had to find my son …

All was well - he was sooo excited … he too was listening to his mother's playing …

… yet felt he had to call me … “Dad, Dad … look there's the moon” …

Milky Way c/o and by John Fox, East Sussex
looking at Birling Gap

Such an appropriate ending to a fabulous family day … my son moved in to lay his head against my shoulder as I put my arm around him … then we sat very happily watching the moon come over the horizon, as his mother's Moonlight Sonata drifted down the garden …

All was well with us …

Tag Line:  Allow Family Time ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Write … Edit … Publish … Bloghop: Caged Bird …

That wasn’t … was it … surely he couldn’t know I was home … my stomach sunk … nope – I wasn’t going to answer the bell … but if he knew I was home – how could I avoid having to face him.

WEP Challenge for June 2019

I’d been to hell and back to get that restraining order … I’d been intimidated long enough, my child suffered as I did  - we lived in constant fear … but I thought those days were over, seemingly it wasn't to be until the authorities helped us to get new lives … what now …

There he stood … smirking – knowing I’d be in a heap inside … my stomach churning … then he demanded to see his (our) child – who I’d made sure was in the back-room and couldn’t hear … but I had no choice – he said he knew his child was here … how?

Restrained

This happened time and again during the restraining order … and each time he seemed to know exactly what we’d been doing, what we watched on the tv, how we entertained ourselves …

Terror was coming over me – I really couldn’t handle this form of abuse any more … I just wanted to end everything – but what would happen to my child …

I was really struggling to stay in control of our day to day existence – I felt overwhelmed … waves of negativity flooded over and through me …

My estranged husband had always been coercive – he had isolated me from my family and my friends … at least now I could contact them – but … this abusive man still knew what was going on …

My heart was pumping … I needed to resolve this … someone suggested I meet with a domestic abuse charity …

Various smart appliances

… then I learnt all the horrors that he’d been perpetuating, and through a charity I was able to see how he’d been able to control us, even after the restraining order …

That was a few years ago – though the damage won’t leave me, I am coming to terms with life where my child and I can live in relative peace …

Domestic Violence kept me caged as a bird …

I read an article on the aspects of knowing your tech – hence ‘this story’ … as spying can occur through so many smart devices now-a-days … apps via phones can be linked to door bells, smart products (thermostats, home security cameras, tvs, domestic appliances, toys, that Echo thingie)  etc etc) … these open us all up to unprecedented levels of control and surveillance … be aware … be very aware, be aware for others too …

Hilary Melton-Butcher 

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Stormhoek … Catch the Moment …

Riders on the Storm – by the Doors, Dark and Stormy a brew when relaxing:  the drink rarely would be mine … more likely a glass of vino would be my tipple …

The album cover

But appropriate choices of Ben Keitch, who hails from Eastbourne apparently, and is one of the skippers selected for the 2019/20 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race …

Clippers at rest in Liverpool
c/o The Guide Liverpool 
where a huge wine box was unveiled at the end
of the 2017/18 race

I’ll get to where this post came from and is going to shortly!  The Clipper race reminds me of Cornwall, my mother and her sailing interests when the Tall Ships came into Penzance harbour … 

... but Ben reminds me of my Oxford days … though no degree for me – just school, friends, and the fact my father, uncle and cousin all had degrees from Worcester College …

Eastbourne seafront along the various promenades - the
lovely turquoise tiled bandstand with the 'denuded' pier
in the background (after the fire a few years ago)

Where was I?!  Memories, apart from today’s life here in Eastbourne … Ben has had some incredible experiences … 18 months with the Antarctic Survey, running a festival in the Spanish desert, working in a travelling circus as an aerialist … 

... he has a PhD in Physics from Oxford, with interests in electronics, environmental impact, and acrobatics … I guess most of those you’d need skippering a Clipper round the world. 

Now to why this post is being written … some friends came round for supper and having seen this wine box in Waitrose bought me one … memories of South Africa …

… I love the quote on the box:

Be Passionate

LOVE

DREAM   BIG

Be Spontaneous

CELEBRATE

Change the World or Go Home

We only ever had a few pieces of
plain blue and white Cornishware ..
Viota is a cake mix from the early
20th century

The colours reminded me of my Ma and our Cornish days … the blue and white of Cornwall’s china … the blue skies and crested waves of Kernow: branded Cornishware … which I wrote about in my A-Z 2015.

I know, I know … here’s a right tangle of tentacles creating a post … but inspiration struck … and then in trying to tie things together … here’s another appropriate quote for this paragraph … found under the Stormhoek name … “Catch the Moment” … I get distracted!

c/o Clipper Round the World

It is something I’ve have absolutely no wish to do … race the Atlantic or actually sail anywhere else … love looking at that wet stuff, but am very happy on land.

So to a glass from a box that will bring back many memories from times in Cornwall, Oxford, South Africa and now Eastbourne … with a few other places in between …

 

c/o The Liverpool Guide ...

This huge box supplied by the 2017/18 sponsor, Stormhoek, was on tap at the end of the Clipper Race in Liverpool last year after they had completed a circumnavigation of the planet … what a way to serve 24,000 litres of its wine – that could be 144,000 glasses!

Some facts: 

The race is held every two years … and in March the eleven selected skippers were revealed … they have over a million miles of experience between them …

… and must be outstanding instructors, exceptional motivators, and strong role models … keep calm and patient under pressure, and - understand all types of personalities …

… just like us bloggers?! or authors, or journalists …

The Race is one of the biggest challenges of the natural world and an endurance test like no other, the race is taken by ordinary, everyday people (about 700 of them) – with no previous sailing experience necessary, it’s a 40,000 nautical mile race around the world on board 70-foot ocean racing yachts.

There is nowhere to hide – anyone can take part … where bankers work alongside students, and waiters rub shoulders with chief executives … as the waves or words mix and match …

Some white crested waves
reminding me of the Cornish seas

So the nod to ‘Riders on the storm’ is just right today … life has led me on a roller coaster – thankfully the sun is out, this post is done … memories have abounded … the sun is not over the yard-arm – but I shall enjoy a tipple with friends tonight!  I’ve caught my moment and need to get out into the fresh Spring air …

A photo I took of an art work on display in a local
memorabilia exhibition - it is dated  July 1968

Have peaceful, thoughtful Memorial Day weekends, or for us our Spring Bank Holiday weekend … the weather looks mixed – such is the British weather world … at least it won’t be Stormy … but we can Celebrate and Change the World with hope and love …

… my head is buzzing with storylines …’Catch the Story’ should be my motto for today!

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Letters