Forests held the unknown. . .
“Forests to the [early] Northern European peoples were dangerous and generous, domestic and wild, beautiful and terrible. And the forests were the terrain out of which fairy stories, one of our earliest and most vital cultural forms, evolved. The mysterious secrets and silences, gifts and perils of the forest are both the background to and source of these tales....
Forests are places where a person can get lost and also hide -- and losing and hiding, of things and people, are central to European fairy stories in ways that are not true of similar stories in different geographies. Landscape informs the collective imagination as much as or more than it forms the individual psyche and its imagination, but this dimension is not something to which we always pay enough attention.”
― Gossip from the Forest
The illustration of the forest is by Richard Kuczek, Deviant Art
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When the Earth Was Young
Hermann Hesse (1877-1962), Nobel Prize winner, wrote fairy tales, and edited collections of German fairy tales, in addition to writing enduring classics that include Siddartha and Steppenwolf. In 1917, during the first World War, while living in Switzerland, he wrote the adult fairy tale, The Forest Dweller. Here is an excerpt from the beginning of the story:
"At the dawn of civilization, quite some time before human creatures began wandering over the face of the earth, there were forest dwellers. They lived close together fearfully in the dark tropical forests, constantly fighting with their relatives, the apes, and the only divine law that governed their actions was — the forest. The forest was their home, refuge, cradle, nest, and grave, and they could not imagine life outside it. They avoided coming too close to its edges. . . where the terrifying nothingness glistened in the deadly fire of the sun.
I found the story of The Forest Dweller compelling. It follows the journey of young Kubu, who must conquer fear, tyranny, and the obstacle of the primal forest itself to move on to a new life. Like all oppressed people, he must exercise great endurance to survive. His quest requires him to continue when he has little hope. His journey ends suddenly, and he discovers a life beyond the boundaries of the forest, a new life filled with the wonder of light.
"Yellow stripes of beautiful light glimmered in the distance, and the sky seemed to tremble in anticipation, just as Kubu trembled, for he had never seen the beginning of the day in the wide space of air. Yellow bundles of light flamed up, and suddenly the sun emerged in the sky . . . And over his soul in fleeting waves of happiness, the dreamlike presentiment of a bright earth ruled by the sun began to flicker, an earth on which bright, liberated creatures lived in lightness and were subservient to no one except the sun."
Excerpted from: Spells of Enchantment, edited by Jack Zipes.
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"For centuries the forest represented the boundary of civilisation" . . .
"In his book The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning And Importance of Fairy Tales, Bruno Bettelheim explores the significance of the forest in fairy tales. He writes: ‘Since ancient times the near impenetrable forest in which we get lost has symbolized the dark, hidden, near-impenetrable world of our unconscious. If we have lost the framework which gave structure to our past life and must now find our way to become ourselves, and have entered this wilderness with an as yet undeveloped personality, when we succeed in finding our way out we shall emerge with a much more highly developed humanity.’
The forest offers an antithesis to the town. In ancient times when Europe was greatly covered by woodland, the forest represented the boundary of civilization. The forest was literally a wild place, the village or town merely a place where man had cleared a settlement. There were many who found refuge in the forest, not just criminals, and those in exile, but shamans, holy men and women, poets, freethinkers and of course trolls, elves and fairies."
Here is a link to read more of this informative article by Justine Gaunt on The Fairyland Forest posted on the Woodlands.co.uk website: Fairytale Forest
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Hope In A Dark and Painful World
I often wonder about the people listening to wonder tales over the centuries as the population in Western Europe continued to grow, and then, for many centuries, the population became much smaller because of famine, disease, and war. However, in wonder tales. . . . .
Children released in the woods by starving families overcame near death and found prosperity.
Incompetent and cruel kings could be thwarted and fooled, even by a clever cat.
And young boys, acting with courage and using their wits, could overcome dangerous ogres and giants.
Fairy tales brought wonder and hope to a dark and painful world.
The illustration of The Black Death (1347-1351) is by Theodor Kittelsen.
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The Tellers of the Tales
..."The tales came to the tellers from other tellers, or they read tales, digested them, and made them their own. Indeed, we always make tales our own and then send them off to other tellers with the hope that they will continue to disseminate their stories..."
Jack Zipes, The Forgotten Tales of the Brothers Grimm, in The Public Domain Review
The illustration is from a painting of Peasant Women by Albert Edelfelt.
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War Came from Beyond the Forest
"War came, and the soldiers came with it -- hungry, angry, bored, scared men who, as they pushed through, stole the cabbages and the chickens and the ducks, The woodcutter's family was never certain who was fighting whom, nor why they were fighting, nor what they were fighting about. But beyond the forest, fields of crops were burned and barley fields became battlefields, and the farmers were killed, or made into soldiers in their turn and marched away. And soon enough the miller had no grain to mill into flour, the butcher had no animals to kill and hang in the window, and they said you could name your own price for a rabbit."
Excerpted from Hansel and Gretel as retold by Neil Gaiman.
The illustration is by Lorenzo Mattotti.
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The Golden Age of Children's Books Changed The Forest for Children
New tales of wonder were written for children starting in the nineteenth century as part of the great number of wonder books that followed the publication, in English, of the Grimm's tales, and later the breakthrough by Lewis Carrol.
The forest became an enchanting and friendly place with Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows.
There were still dangers and unfriendly creatures, but they were always overcome. And there were never ending wondrous events and adventures. And marvelous illustrations that added another dimension. The forest became a place harboring wonders, surprises, and any number of delightful animals and their homes.
“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”
― The Wind in the Willows
The illustration from The Wind in the Willows is by E.H. Shepard.
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The Hundred Acre Wood Was a Wonderful Place To Be
Christopher Robin Milne played with his stuffed animal toys in Ashford Forest which bordered the area where his father, A.A. Milne, had bought a farmhouse. One of his toys was a bear that Christopher had named Winnie, named after a real bear cub that he had seen in the zoo. The bear became Winnie-the-Pooh and the forest became the Hundred Acre Wood in the wonderful book that A.A. Milne wrote for his son.
The book became a beloved classic and was translated into many languages. Even the Disney Studios have honored the spirit and style of the original.
“If there ever comes a day when we can’t be together, keep me in your heart, I’ll stay there forever.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
The illustration is by E.H. Shepard.
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Movies
The Avengers, Endgame 2019, is a modern silver screen version of the ancient wonder tale Six Who Made Their Way In The World, a tale of six men working together on a shared quest .. A theme for the centuries.
This violent movie is the 4th version of the tale by Marvel Comics/Disney. The Avengers unifying goal, or quest, is to destroy the Marvel comics super villain, Thanos. The forest has become the universe.
I went to see this 3 hour widescreen movie. The story is simple. The overwhelming 3-D computer animation is excellent, albeit violent and explosive; the visuals are supported by loud dramatic music and a pounding dolby sound track.
The financial returns for this film are awesome: Over 2 billion, 682 million dollars and still playing; more than 1.8 billion overseas revenues.
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The Avengers -- Where Violence Becomes TrivialI have a problem with films like the Avengers that trivialize violence. If I was 14, I might react differently. However the world we live in has affected my mindset. The last century was a nightmare of violence and suffering. The world today is filled with refugees and pain. And I see little on the film horizon of stories with meaningful related content.
The newest monster big action adventure hit trivializing violence while glorifying it, John Wick, Chapter Three, is playing worldwide to big audiences. Overseas box office revenues are huge, particularly in Asia, exceeding the already huge domestic grosses.
I understood the great crossover phenomenon created by Harry Potter. But who are the the millions pf people buying tickets around the world to see endless violence, over and over. for their entertainment?
The photo of refugee children is by Behrouz Mehrin AFR/Getty.
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Cash-Filled Dump Trucks at Disney
Film critic Barry Hertz wrote a terrific and very informed review of the Avengers, Endgame. I agree with him.Totally. Here is an excerpt and a link to read all of his review: Barry Hertz, NationalPost, Globe and Mail of Canada.
"Just as in the best of comic books, there is genius, and then there is evil genius. Avengers: Endgame, the 22nd product to roll out from the Marvel Studios factory floor – a staggering achievement in corporate synergy, an everlasting testament to the persuasive power of cash-filled dump trucks over even the most pure of artistic souls – is most certainly the latter. . . This crass quarterly-profit hunger isn’t new to Hollywood – the entire studio system is built on such a philosophy – but the sheer scale of it is. Endgame cost hundreds of millions of dollars to make and market, relies on audiences having consumed a decade’s worth of previous cinematic products with a religious fervor. . ."
Marvel Studios are owned by Disney.
The photo is of the big villain in the Avengers, Thanos.
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The Six and. . .
Here is a link to Household Tales by The Brothers Grimm (courtesy of the Gutenberg project), translated by Margaret Hunt, where you will find the tale Six Who Made Their Way In The World.
Here is a link to 2 hours and 33 minutes of the precursor myth to Six Who Made Their Way In the World: Jason and the Argonauts.
A well reviewed film for the young is Pokemon, Detective Pikachu.
There is a huge difference in the visceral impact of a comic strip and a 3D movie with a blasting soundtrack.
The illustration of Six Who Made Their Way In the World is by Oscar Thomas.
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Why Are There So Many Books About Dogs?
This i s the title of first-class article in the NYTimes about dogs by Vanessa Woods and Brian Hare. Vanessa is a science writer, author, and researcher and Brian is a professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke, They are also the authors of “The Genius of Dogs.” There are 60 million households in the USA with dogs. Amazon has more than 70,000 dog books.
"The spate of dog mind-focused books raises the question: After at least 14,000 years of living with dogs, why are we only now getting around to considering what goes on inside their heads? There are many possible explanations, but one is that in the last two decades science has discovered more about dog cognition than in the previous two centuries combined . . . Then, suddenly, there was an explosion in the field of dog cognition, spanning the fields of psychlogy, anthropology and neuroscience.
Here ia link to read more: Dog Books
The illustration is by Stella Mustanoja McCarty.
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Voiceless Victims
"Social media will continue to change the way we live and work.This book helps animal advocates, regardless of one's experience level,keep up with that ever-changing landscape while making a true difference in the lives of these voiceless victims. Teeming with practical insights and filled with inspiration, "How to Change the World in 30 Seconds" is a must read for anybody who wants to engage in online animal advocacy
Scott A. Heiser, Sr. Attorney & former Criminal Justice Program Director,
Animal Legal Defense Fund
The contents and cover illustration are by C.A. Wulff.
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Memories of Rose and the Human Canine Connection
Susan Purser and her therapy dog, Rose, brought comfort and support to the aged, the sick, and kids for over 13 years. I asked Susan to write some of her thoughts for me. Rose has passed on. A therapy dog named Bandit now visits in Rose's place."I was asked once what it was like to see so many hands reaching out for my dog, Rose. I hadn't really thought much about it, as she is such a giving Australian Cattle Dog and is continually searching for hands wanting to touch her. I thought perhaps you might enjoy seeing some of these hands...aged hands, searching for memories and then sharing them with whispers in Rose's ear or while hugging her neck. Soft spoken or without words, it doesn't get any better than watching this type of unconditional love.
Rose doesn't understand future nor how long or short time is. She does devote her total attention to these lovely people in their time of need. She gives comfort that I can only observe and opens those ever so special memory doors that only she can enter."
The photos are by Susan Purser
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Gun Control Law in Illinois Needed for All of the USA
Excerpts from an NEA article by Dave Arnold, gun owner and self proclaimed sportsman who likes hunting and target shooting:
"Being from Illinois, I adhere to provisions of gun ownership. Every gun owner in Illinois must file for and carry with them a Firearm Owners Identification card (FOID). In Illinois, residents must have the card with them when they have a firearm in their possession and when they purchase a firearm or ammunition.
Whenever a firearm purchase is made, they are then subjected to a background check by the Illinois state police. They must then go through a mandatory waiting period: 24 hours for a rifle or shotgun, three days for a handgun. No one under age 18 can purchase a firearm or ammunition and no one under 21 can purchase a handgun. Anyone underage can only use a firearm while under the direct supervision of an adult who has a FOID card.
The FOID card also contains a chip that permits the owner to be tracked by the state police computers. Yes, Big Brother is watching, but my thinking is: If you’re legal and honest then you don’t have anything to hide."
The photo of parent protesters following the Parkland massacre is courtesy of the guardian.
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Castle In the Mist"The second book, Castle in the Mist, picks up where the first left off in regards to character development and introduces a whole new land and cast of characters (a la Harry Potter). In this one, the past-violent-cum-peaceful Bik of Stone City has his two young children kidnapped by a Prince who doesn't understand peace or dogs or anything really and the dogs, along with the humans, work out a plan to save the children. . .While reading these, I kept wishing I was reading them out loud to a couple of kids instead. I could imagine each night reading another chapter and the kids waiting with bated breath for what would happen next." -- Excerpt from a review by Karen Boss
We have free reader copies of all the books in the Planet Of The Dogs series for therapy dog organizations, individual therapy dog owners, librarians, teachers and independent bookstores. . . email us with a postal address at [email protected] and we will send you the books.
To read sample chapters of any book in the series, visit PlanetOfTheDogs
The Planet Of The Dogs series (including Castle In The Mist and Snow Valley Heroes, A Christmas Tale) is available from many Internet sources and through independent bookstores of all sizes.
The illustration from Castle In the Mist is by Stella Mustanoja McCarty.
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"Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful."
Ann Landers
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