the opera...ah..those notes...and the night-sky stars above...what can I say! we sat next to a couple from Austria...they live in Oz for a few months each year...
ok g man...wadda ya reckon about this....before the opera began I strolled around for a bit...I enjoy taking non-Sydney Opera Housey photos...where bits of it are on show...acknowledging what else is around as well....those bit players!
_________________ "I've never accepted the external appearance of things as the whole truth. The world is much more elaborate than the nerves of our eye can tell us." - James Gleeson
The Opera House first thing in the morning... cold, bright sunlight slowly gilding the building and the concrete... and in the box office, the cleaners watched as on the monitors three pigeons flew down to the ground near the CCTV camera... watched in astonishment as the three birds shook themselves and as their feathers fell to the ground, three beautiful princesses appeared.
"Oh what a relief to be free of that pigeon shape!" said one.
"It used to be swans when my grandmother was young. But typically we get pigeon forms. That witch must really have hated us." the second replied.
The third said nothing. She raised her hand to shield her eyes from the morning sun and took a deep breath. For a while she simply stared at the concrete and glass landscape. Then - 'The world is too much with us...' and a sigh.
"I don't mind telling you, if that dratted man on the bus starts flirting with me again, I'm going to tell his wife, I swear it." the second princess told the first.
The world has changed, princesses are passe these days. For these three princesses, cursed by a witch to live for a hundred years, as pigeons by moonlight and princesses by day - the world is too much with them. Nobody believes in fairytales any more. They aren't real enough.
The third princess had nearly been taken for psychiatric assessment when she'd mentioned her 'secret'. These days, she stayed around with her sisters for safety and they did alright. Two of them earned their living as fashion models - for they were tall and elegant and beautiful. The other was a celebrated opera singer with a sense of mystery about her.
Nobody knew where she went at night once she left the Opera House. When the second princess had found a pair of red satin kitten heeled shoes she almost broke down and wept at the thought of her aunt who was involved in a tale with a pair of red shoes.
All this time, the princesses chattered and prepared for work while the cleaners watched them on the camera - not quite believing what they were looking at. The sun slowly rose silently glinting off the glass of the opera house. The three sisters sighed, gathered up their pigeon skins and feathers, put them in the boxes they carried around with them for the purpose and went off to work. The cleaners who watched them stared at each other in silence. Then they rewound the tapes to before the pigeons landed and let the camera record the day outside the Opera House. _________________ Confusion comes fitted as standard.
Yes I admit it, this one was a challenge, but once I saw that CCTV camera I began to wonder what on earth they'd see... and who would see it. As I have a very deep love of folk/fairytales the ideas in them usually set me off. The idea of princesses/princes being birds by day and human by night is more usual in folktales. Usually there are more than three as well. They usually shake themselves and their feather 'clothing' falls off.
Actually, somebody else suggested a blog with images by Madame and text by moi. This is a lot like my postcard tales only this time I'm using one image not a few. I had to finish it a bit quick or I'd have missed my bus to town!! As a result it's not quite as neatly finished as I'd have liked.
SBJ,
If it's like a folktale it just has to have a happy ending! It wouldn't be the same otherwise. I haven't read the Mysteries of Harris Burdick so I'll have to look out for them here. I started with pictures in my art books and it had to be stories!
Barbara,
In folktales if the birdskin is burned up the person is free unless... often if a cross word is said or the person is struck three times. Then they vanish never to be seen again...! _________________ Confusion comes fitted as standard.
Joined: 30 Sep 2004 Posts: 1654 Location: Penrith (where jacarandas remind me of change), New South Wales, Australia
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 1:50 pm Post subject:
sweetnesses all...'tis late late late...almost Monday morn...have been Katoomba music festivalling...all weekend...there was something for all..the sheer joy of it...HAD to check this thread..to see what wonderment the lad provided..'n by golly gosh hasn't he come up with the goods...will reread now...before head hits pillow...
so many images so....
hugs 'n all _________________ "I've never accepted the external appearance of things as the whole truth. The world is much more elaborate than the nerves of our eye can tell us." - James Gleeson
Joined: 30 Sep 2004 Posts: 1654 Location: Penrith (where jacarandas remind me of change), New South Wales, Australia
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 11:12 pm Post subject:
_________________ "I've never accepted the external appearance of things as the whole truth. The world is much more elaborate than the nerves of our eye can tell us." - James Gleeson
It was Monday, the weather warm in the sunlight but cold out of it. Philippa took her red coat and her bag with sketch books and whistled. From the warmth of the kitchen the cat blinked slowly and stayed where he was. But the dog got up, a skidding of claws on the green tiles of the kitchen floor and raced to the door, slipping past Philippa and out into the chill clean, clear air.
She went out of the garden with her hands jammed into her coat pockets, the wind plucking at her hair. But she turned left away from the town and went towards the hillside meadows. The previous night there had been strange noises in the night - a grinding and a singing and a great roaring like the North Winds tearing through the landscapes.
Today it seemed too peaceful as if the noise in the night had been no more than dreaming. But as she passed from one field to another she noticed the stones. Great pale grey splinters standing in the fields almost as if giants had been bowling She walked among them quietly, her head down, as if she hoped they would not harm her. The dog snuffled in the grass behind her but did not seem alarmed, which she took heart in, trusting the animal's instincts.
Only as she exited the field was she aware of the swift moving shadow that slipped easily over the grass towards her. She looked up but the glare of the sun was too much. When she raised her hand and shaded her eyes, the sunlight glinted, reflecting off of something. It was not metallic and yet... she stopped and gaped, unbelieving. The dog gave a sharp half-hearted bark-yelp and tugged at her coat. She allowed him to pull her away and then lowered her hand and ran with him. The shadow seemed to turn and glide back towards her. But she entered the trees and crouched whimpering.
"No such things as dragons. No such thing as dragons." she told herself breathlessly.
The dog flopped at her feet and placed his head on her leg, whining softly. She hushed him and let her breathing slow. Quietly she got up and peered from within the green shadows of the trees. The dragon had landed and she watched the sunlight glint off the almost enamelled scales. Bright colours of blues, greens near the tail and yellows, oranges and reds nearer the muzzle. The great eyes were like those of a cats and she saw that there was an intelligence in them. _________________ Confusion comes fitted as standard.
... The great head moved and she felt her own gaze caught almost hypnotically by the dragon. To her amazement it seemed to smile. Then... it spoke.
"What do you here?"
Philippa gasped softly as if she had been slapped. The dragon moved forward its head swaying as if still questing for her, but the head moved back on the long neck. Then the dragon pushed its great head between the branches and said softly,
"Are you afraid, little one?"
Perhaps because it had called her little one, she answered,
"If you eat me people will come looking for you." she shouted.
"I have no intention of eating you, little one. I have laid my eggs and wish only to protect them. It is a long time... a long time since I have returned to the world of people. So much has changed. But I slept in the earth believing the last of my kind were dead. So they were. Alas, so they were. But one of my cousins of the skies found me and awoke me. For a time we lived together and loved each other. Then something in the sky made him sick and he died. Plooshun, so he said. I left my home in the earth when I realised that I was with young. I came here to hatch them in the bright sun of the meadows." the dragon replied in soft tones.
"What - what do you eat then?" Philippa asked - keeping her distance.
"I am an earth dragon. I eat the things of the earth. Stone and earth, stone and earth. My younglings will be different, they will eat both of earth and of sky. Clouds will not be safe from their hunger, nor will stones or trees. But humans are too much blood and bone. We do not eat them. It is possible you speak of fire dragons, for there is much fire in your kind. I must ask you not to harm my younglings. The new age of the dragons is to come. Perhaps we will be friends unlike the fire dragons of old. Of them it was written that they breathed fire and ate flesh and made war on humans." The dragon answered her.
Philippa took a tentative step forward. The creature may well be telling the truth after all. The dragon met her and together they walked back to the field of stones, the dog unsure of the dragon until Philippa put him on a lead afraid that he might antagonise the dragon. She did not mention that she thought dragons were a myth believing that it might be a little tactless.
She sat upon the hillside beside the dragon and they talked until the sun descended below the horizon and the moon arose. At that time, there was a tapping and the dragon got up and helped a young dragon hatch from the stone. Nearer midnight, all the dragons had hatched and were suckling from their mother. Philippa watched then as the dragon spread her wings and the younglings did the same. For a moment they stood gently waving their wings until all the dragons together leapt into the air and flew away like great shadows. Philippa watched them go until the night sky seemed to swallow them up.
She walked home again, the dog trotting beside her, her head full of thoughts. Once indoors, the cat meowed to be fed and the dog trotted back to the kitchen to feed and sleep. Philippa, having fed both animals, trudged into the living room and collapsed on the sofa. Almost instantly she fell asleep.
Later the next day, she read about UFOs in the paper and saw the blurred photos of the winged shapes. She smiled to herself and hoped the dragons would be safe and well. _________________ Confusion comes fitted as standard.
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