Sarah Beth Durst's Obscure Fairy Tales

Filed under "Things I Wish I Had Thought of Myself," here is author Sarah Beth Durst's collection of Obscure Fairy Tales, complete with commentary. For all the times you wondered, "What part of 'my brothers were turned into swans by a woman in a gown and crown with a majestic bearing and an evil disposition' did not arouse suspicion? (The Seven Swans) or, in the case of Molly Whuppie, "What sort of engineer makes a bridge of one hair? And how is she able to cross it? And why doesn't the giant petition the town to have a sturdier bridge built? It can't be good for trade." You'll find commentary on some of the not-so-obscure tales: Red Riding Hood, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty all get their due as well.

Oregon Shadow Theatre presents "Thumbelina"

"Flower Child Number Nine"

On Tuesday, I took Lucia and my mother to see Oregon Shadow Theatre perform their sixties musical shadow puppet production of Thumbelina at one of our library branches. Mick Doherty was the musician and DJ named "Hans" who provided narration and voices while Deb Chase worked the puppets and also provided voices for Hans Christian Andersen's tale of a tiny "flower child" and her travels through the world. Bugs sang "Food Chain" to the tune of "Chain Gang," Buford the frog sang, "I ain't nothin' but a bull-frog..." and during an insect beauty pageant, a caterpillar sang, "These boots, boots, boots, boots, boots, boots, boots are made for walkin'." The dialogue abounded with coy references to sixties songs, too. The mole in the story is named Darkness just so that the mouse (named Strawberry Fields) can say, "Hello, Darkness, my old friend." I'll admit it: the humor was right up my alley.


Thumbelina with the Sun King

Lucia thoroughly enjoyed the show, and was riveted from beginning to end. When she said she wanted to sit up in front with the other children, I was a little concerned that she would try to interrupt the program with her incessant questions, but those worries were unfounded. I had waited for years to take her to an Oregon Shadow Theatre program, as the program is geared for children ages four and up. Since the Oregon Shadow Theatre usually performs in a darkened room (which wasn't an option here), the age guidelines are particularly important. However, there were plenty of children under four, plus quite a few babies. The babies cried, the toddlers fussed, and I mentally gave gold stars to Doherty and Chase for plowing through all the distractions to give a stellar performance.

If you have a chance to see Oregon Shadow Theare in the future, do so! I got to see Pecos Bill as a children's librarian before I had a baby, and always intended to take my husband to subsequent productions. Now that Lucia has reached the age where a wider variety of performances are appropriate for her, we're going to be attending many more shows.

Jack Be Nimble: Theme and Variation in American Lit

In my junior year at Goshen College, a small, liberal arts Mennonite school, I took an American Literature Survey course. Our big project for the end of the semester was a term paper (I wrote mine on E.E. Cummings), a timeline, a few other things I can't remember but which seemed important at the time, and a creative piece. In the class, there was a quiet guy who had transfered to my college as a senior, although I didn't know it at the time. When it was time to share our creative projects, he pulled out a series of poems based on the nursery rhyme, "Jack Be Nimble" as if it had been written by different American authors and poets.

I thought it was funny. I thought it was brilliant. I wish I had written it myself. So did my classmates! When the English department newsletter printed it, I stuck it to my bulletin board. The following year, I found out that the American Literature professor had everyone in his class write parodies in a similar vein.

Years later, I looked for the Jack Be Nimble project among my papers, but couldn't find it. I wanted to share it with other people, but I couldn't remember more than the gist of the Walt Whitman section followed by Emily Dickinson and Gwendolyn Brooks. I couldn't even remember the name of the guy who wrote it-- all that I knew was that he had shown up one year, and was gone the next.

Then, K.Jay of Amish Guitar wrote to me after finding the chords to a Mennonite hymn I had posted, and pointed out that we were English majors together for a brief time. I didn't really remember him, but we had enough in common that we struck up an online friendship. Earlier this week, after discussing poetry, K.Jay wrote, "As a treat I pulled out a old assignment from American Lit. I hope you find amusement in it."

It was the Jack project! Suddenly, I remembered K.Jay perfectly, and told him how much we all enjoyed his poems. K.Jay gave me permission to publish them here for Poetry Friday:

The Mother Goose rhyme:

Jack be nimble.
Jack be quick.
Jack jump over the candlestick.

* * *

Walt Whitman

Jack and Jane, Bill and Sarah
Mike, Lisa, Fred and Barney.
All of us
and me
and you.
We are nimble, quick, and agile.
Lively, spry, deft and dexterous.
For the impulsion to lift ourselves over the candlestick.
We can. We can do it.
The challenge is ours.

Emily Dickinson

Jack.
Stick.
Jump.

Gwendolyn Brooks

That Jack. He
Be nimble. He
Be quick. He
Jump stick. He
Fall down. He
Hit ground.

e. e. cummings

@jack is jump
nimble, bimble, up, down.
all over town%(>>
candlestick over jump he
nimble, bimble, up, *down.

J. D. Salinger

Well, you know, Jack. I mean, Jack, He is quick and all. I mean quick and nimble and all. God. I mean he jumps over candlesticks and everything. That is, a candlestick. I mean Jack could, if he wanted to, jump over the candlestick and all. God.

Edward Albee

THE STORY OF JACK AND THE CANDLESTICK
I looked at the candlestick and I think it looked back at me if you know what I mean. At first I tried to be nimble. But soon I found that I also had to be quick. But then I took another look at the candlestick as it dared me to jump over it. I jumped over it. And then the candlestick and I became friends.

* * *

©K.Jay 1993, 2008

By the way, there is an unofficial saying among the Mennonites, based on a potato-chip commerical: "Mennonites. You can't meet just one." Although there may be only one and a half million Mennonites in the whole world, chances are that if you (1) are Mennonite (2) meet another Mennonite, you will find out that (a) you are cousins (b) someone in his or her family dated and/or is married to someone in your family. As far as we know, K.Jay and I are not cousins, but one of his wife's ancestors broke his engagement to one of my ancestors! (We don't harbor any hard feelings about the matter.)

This week's Poetry Friday Round-up is at The Well-Read Child.

Pete Seeger's Flow Chart, the Urban Mennonite, and the Amish Guitar

This flowchart by MisterHippity, (courtesy of The Urban Mennonite) of how Pete Seeger would write songs if he had been a software engineer delights me:


Speaking of urban Mennonites, I'm also pleased to have been introduced to this guitar blog written by one of my fellow college alumni: Amish Guitar. As much as I enjoy reading blogs by musicians proficient in guitar, it's good to have forums for questions and discoveries among the rest of us. I had to laugh with recognition when I read the post where K.Jay's family clamored that he not play the guitar. It turned out, they just wanted him to watch the movie with them, but I was reminded of Lucia shrieking, "Mommy don't play! Hold you like a baby!" because she knew that once I picked up my guitar, I'd want not to be pestered. (Singing along and dancing is fine-- putting her foot over the sound-hole is not.)