And the beat goes on...

I am reveling in the fact that the last couple of days have been immersed in literary splendor. With everything digital popping up--- the latest app, the newest cell phone, the greatest gaming system--- it's easy for the wonderful world of story-telling (which has been around since man first mastered the simple sentence) to be stepped over, passed over and ignored as something old and unappealing.

Yesterday was National Grammar Day, everyone was told to: March forth on March 4th to speak well, write well and help others do the same.

Last night was World Book Night, some thousands gathered in Trafalgar Square, London to celebrate and share in readings of Literature.

Today is World Book Day, a day where thousands of books are given away to a literary-hungry world, hoping to promote reading and a love of the written word.

We celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday several days ago, an author that has started many young readers on the path to love and revel in the written word themselves.

And, amazingly, a translation of Virgil's Aeneid, by C.S. Lewis-- that was thought lost to a 1964 bonfire-- has been uncovered and will soon be releasing to the public.

Annnnd, we heard two days ago that a second posthumously released title from Shel Silverstein, Every Thing On It, will be out later this year....

I'm sure I've missed something, but it is very clear from the first 5 days of this month that the literary world is most definitely NOT dead.... and there aren't enough apps in the world to replace the wondrous imaginary world that stories can take us to....

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Y is for Yeth Hound.....

Yeth Hound--- one of the incarnations of the "Black Dog" myth, this one located specifically, in Devon, England.

"Black Dogs" appear in myths across the world, most are associated with death and bad omens... i.e. Hell Hounds.

The Yeth Hound is said to be the spirit of an unbaptised child that takes the form of a headless black dog. The Hound wanders the woods at night making pitiful wailing sounds (though, I'm unclear as to how it makes wailing sounds without having a head).

The Black Dogs were possibly one inspiration from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's ghost dog in The Hound of the Baskervilles-- "an enormous coal-black hound, but not such a hound as mortal eyes have ever seen."

Heed Not, the Lonesome Cry
Heed not, the lonesome cry, the baleful wail echoing through the woods. Seek not, the black hound's sigh, look not where the headless creature stood.
One sound, your limbs will shake, your heart filled with the deepest dread. One glimpse, your sou…

B is for Banshee.....

Irish bean sidhe and Scottish Gaelic bean sith, literally, woman of fairyland.

The mythology and legend surrounding the Banshee is a bit mixed. The most readily accepted story is of a hag-like creature wailing the impending death of someone nearby-- most ancient Gaelic families, especially the more well-to-do families, had their own Banshees that attached themselves to the lineage of the family name. I suppose it was a sign of station for a family to be able to claim their own Banshee--- I mean, who needs an exciting/ tongue-wagging-inciting skeleton in your cupboard when you've got a Banshee wailing in your rafters?
The origins of the more familiar Banshee may have stemmed from the ancient Keeners-- women who were employed to sing a lament at a funeral. The best Keeners were in high demand to "wail" and "weep" for the great personage who had fallen.

The Great families would boast a bean sidhe or bean sith-- a fairy-woman Keener--and having foresight, the Keene…

S is for Siren.....

Sirens--- the beautiful, the terrifying.
Vicious, but, seemingly opportunistic creatures who lured sailors to their deaths by the sound of their captivating songs. Whether the stories of these creatures were a result of surviving sailors attempting to explain their near-miss in an effort to divert the fault of their shipwreck from their hands, or whether as a warning for those leaving to ensure their fidelity to the women they left behind, is unclear...

Considered the daughters of Achelous(river god), and though they have been blamed for the death of many sailors, they were not, however, sea deities. They have sometimes been called Muses of the lower world, their sad song causing the body and soul of those sailors who hear them to fall into a fatal lethargy.

In early myths, Sirens were the combined form of birds and women. Sometimes with a large female head, their bodies covered in bird feathers, their feet...scaled. Later myths show them as female figures with the legs of birds, tho…

From the Inkwell, From the Vein.....

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