Happy New Year, today is the first day of 2014, initially I planned to binge watch Korean dramas, but I changed my mind, instead of watching TV, I would read a book. I chose fairy tales! The book was "The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories". I bought this book because Neil Gaiman was one of the persons in the acknowledgements and partly due to the illustrations.
It's a collections of short stories about fairies. In this book, the fairies were huge, most of the times taller than normal human beings, very different from my imagination of fairy, in my imagination, fairy is around the size of Thumbelina. The tones of the stories are quite dark and touches a bit on ladies power!
"The Ladies of Grace Adieu" is the first story, it's about three friends who did some 'magic' to protect two children under the care of one the ladies.
The second story is "On Lickerish Hill", a retelling of Rumplestiltskin (Tom Tit Tot). It's quite difficult to read because standard English is not used in this story. (Howse, sayz, owd, doe, thinges, selfe, yeare, knowe is kind of distracting). In this story, instead of the child, the fairy demanded the woman instead. Then, she knew the name of the fairy from a group of scholars her husband supported financially. I like the last part on memory, "begin where you chuse, Miranda, but putte in downe very quick while it is fresh and sprightly in your braine. For remembrances are like butterflies and just as you thinke you have them flie out of window." Nice!
Third story is "Mrs Mabb", it talks about a woman named Venetia who was very persistent to bring back her lover, Caption Fox who was trapped under the spell of Mrs Mabb (a fairy). Although she got hurt many times, she still bravely confronted the fairy and finally, she succeeded. The moral of the story is if you work hard enough, you will get what you want. LOL!
Next, "The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse". The story is set at the Wall (from the Neil Gaiman "Stardust". However, this story has nothing to do with Stardust. The Duke met a lady who embroidered a tapestry on the other side of the Wall, then he realised that it's his future on it, in order to avoid his own death, he snipped the pictures that pictured his own death and re-embroidered the tapestry showing he got out of danger. However, since the Duke was not very good at needle-work, his figure on the tapestry was a "stick". When the Duke became a politician later in life, he told his friend that, "On the battlefields of Europe I was master of my own destiny, but as a politician there are so many other people I must please, so many compromises I must make, that I am at best a stick figure." and turned pale!
Fifth story is "Mr Simonelli or the Fairy Widower". A Cambridge scholar and illegitimate son of a fairy, Mr Simonelli went to a village to become a priest or pastor. In that village, he helped to deliver a baby, but he couldn't save the mother. The father of the baby turned out to be a fairy and a cousin of Mr Simonelli. At first, he didn't think much about it. Then, he found out that the fairy kidnapped a woman from the village to feed the baby and planned to marry one of the sisters of the Gathercole family. He devised a plan to rescue the woman and prevent the fairy to marry the Gathercole girls. At the end, he killed the fairy and rescued the woman. However, in order to prevent the fairy to marry the Gathercole girls, Mr Simonelli secretly engaged with all the girls, when that was exposed, he had to leave the village. I think this story is very interesting!
Sixth story is "Tom Brightwind How the Fairy Bridge was Built at Thoresby". It started with David, a Jewish doctor and Tom, a fairy. They are good friends. When David wanted to visit a patient, they went together and passed Thoresby. The landowner in Thoresby, Mr Winstanley asked for their help in building a bridge there. Earlier in the story, David lectured Tom to treat his children better. After Tom was smitten with Mrs Winstanley, he impregnated her and decided to built the bridge in Thoresby with some magic for the benefit of his son. This story explains a bit on the culture of the fairies too.
The seventh story is "Antickes and Frets". This story is about Queen Mary, and wife of Earl of Shrewsbury, Bess of Hardwick, fictionalised, of course. After this story, I googled about the Bess of Hardwick, very interesting!
The last story is "John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner". Somehow, the king John Uskglass was outwitted by the Charcoal burner, although both didn't understand what exactly happened. This story is quite funny! After John Uskglass turned the Charcoal Burner's pig into salmon in a hunting accident, Charcoal Burner went to the Saint Kentigern for help. Saint Kentigern made John Uskglass tumbled into a cleft and couldn't hunt for whole day. Then, somehow John Uskglass ate Charcoal Burner's toasted cheese and left. So, Charcoal burner went to Saint Bridget for help. All the flowers, dogs then accused John Uskglass of theft or how they were disappointed with him. John Uskglass have magic and since he couldn't undone the magic cast on him, he sent ravens to Charcoal Burner to get the truth and created destroyed many things. Charcoal Burner was so angry with John Uskglass because he wouldn't speak to him. So, Charcoal Burner went to Saint Oswald for help. Saint Oswald made John Uskglass talked non stop for three days, all the secrets were blurted out. So, finally John Uskglass went to Charcoal Burner and asked what he wants. All the Charcoal Burner wanted was a pardon for turning his pig into salmon, repaired all the hurts and another pig. John Uskglass granted all the wishes and never went back to Cumbrian until he was sure the Charcoal Burner was dead. Mmm, interesting! Sometimes, what one needed is only a sincere sorry.
The end.
Third story is "Mrs Mabb", it talks about a woman named Venetia who was very persistent to bring back her lover, Caption Fox who was trapped under the spell of Mrs Mabb (a fairy). Although she got hurt many times, she still bravely confronted the fairy and finally, she succeeded. The moral of the story is if you work hard enough, you will get what you want. LOL!
Next, "The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse". The story is set at the Wall (from the Neil Gaiman "Stardust". However, this story has nothing to do with Stardust. The Duke met a lady who embroidered a tapestry on the other side of the Wall, then he realised that it's his future on it, in order to avoid his own death, he snipped the pictures that pictured his own death and re-embroidered the tapestry showing he got out of danger. However, since the Duke was not very good at needle-work, his figure on the tapestry was a "stick". When the Duke became a politician later in life, he told his friend that, "On the battlefields of Europe I was master of my own destiny, but as a politician there are so many other people I must please, so many compromises I must make, that I am at best a stick figure." and turned pale!
Fifth story is "Mr Simonelli or the Fairy Widower". A Cambridge scholar and illegitimate son of a fairy, Mr Simonelli went to a village to become a priest or pastor. In that village, he helped to deliver a baby, but he couldn't save the mother. The father of the baby turned out to be a fairy and a cousin of Mr Simonelli. At first, he didn't think much about it. Then, he found out that the fairy kidnapped a woman from the village to feed the baby and planned to marry one of the sisters of the Gathercole family. He devised a plan to rescue the woman and prevent the fairy to marry the Gathercole girls. At the end, he killed the fairy and rescued the woman. However, in order to prevent the fairy to marry the Gathercole girls, Mr Simonelli secretly engaged with all the girls, when that was exposed, he had to leave the village. I think this story is very interesting!
Sixth story is "Tom Brightwind How the Fairy Bridge was Built at Thoresby". It started with David, a Jewish doctor and Tom, a fairy. They are good friends. When David wanted to visit a patient, they went together and passed Thoresby. The landowner in Thoresby, Mr Winstanley asked for their help in building a bridge there. Earlier in the story, David lectured Tom to treat his children better. After Tom was smitten with Mrs Winstanley, he impregnated her and decided to built the bridge in Thoresby with some magic for the benefit of his son. This story explains a bit on the culture of the fairies too.
The seventh story is "Antickes and Frets". This story is about Queen Mary, and wife of Earl of Shrewsbury, Bess of Hardwick, fictionalised, of course. After this story, I googled about the Bess of Hardwick, very interesting!
The last story is "John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner". Somehow, the king John Uskglass was outwitted by the Charcoal burner, although both didn't understand what exactly happened. This story is quite funny! After John Uskglass turned the Charcoal Burner's pig into salmon in a hunting accident, Charcoal Burner went to the Saint Kentigern for help. Saint Kentigern made John Uskglass tumbled into a cleft and couldn't hunt for whole day. Then, somehow John Uskglass ate Charcoal Burner's toasted cheese and left. So, Charcoal burner went to Saint Bridget for help. All the flowers, dogs then accused John Uskglass of theft or how they were disappointed with him. John Uskglass have magic and since he couldn't undone the magic cast on him, he sent ravens to Charcoal Burner to get the truth and created destroyed many things. Charcoal Burner was so angry with John Uskglass because he wouldn't speak to him. So, Charcoal Burner went to Saint Oswald for help. Saint Oswald made John Uskglass talked non stop for three days, all the secrets were blurted out. So, finally John Uskglass went to Charcoal Burner and asked what he wants. All the Charcoal Burner wanted was a pardon for turning his pig into salmon, repaired all the hurts and another pig. John Uskglass granted all the wishes and never went back to Cumbrian until he was sure the Charcoal Burner was dead. Mmm, interesting! Sometimes, what one needed is only a sincere sorry.
The end.
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| The Ladies of Grace Adieu (front cover) |
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| The Ladies of Grace Adieu (back cover) |
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