Youth vs Innocence?

[cal val]

Auriel...

I forgot to mention. I ordered "The Portable Dragon" as soon as you mentioned it. It arrived last Wednesday or Thursday, but I didn't really get a chance to get into it much until last night, and I'm really enjoying it. Whether the passages quoted are a good match for the lines or not (and what I've read so far seems to be) is immaterial at this point. I'm having too much fun reading the diverse points of view and styles of writing.

Thanks for mentioning it!

Love,

Val

 

[freemanc]

Isn't the Portable Dragon an august thing!

Since Val is reading it, I may be motivated to pick it up again and read it *well*.

I have to confess aching with envy of the author for getting picked up by MIT press. (But 1971 was a strange planet, and I guess he was "family" there at MIT.)

I think it has the grandeur and swashbuckling style that (I guess) you must learn at MIT, and by turns, I love it and am exasperated by its businessy hauteur.

What do you think of it so far?

 

[cal val]

A prowling wolf, whose shaggy skin
(So strict the watch of dogs had been)
Hid little but his bones,
Once met a mastiff dog astray.
A prouder, fatter, sleeker Tray
No human mortal owns.
Sir Wolf, in famished plight,
Would fain have made a ration
Upon his fat relation:
But then he first must fight;
And well the dog seemed able
To save from wolfish table
His carcass snug and tight.
So, then in civil conversation,
The wolf expressed his admiration
Of Tray's fine case. Said Tray, politely,
"Yourself, good Sir, may be as sightly:
Quit but the woods, advised by me;
For all your fellows here, I see,
Are shabby wretches, lean and gaunt,
Belike to die of haggard want.
With such a pack, of course, it follows,
One fights for every bit he swallows.
Come, then with me and share
On equal terms our princely fare."
"But what with you
Has one to do?"
Inquires the wolf. "Light work indeed,"
Replies the dog; "you only need
To bark a little now and then,
To chase off duns and beggar-men, --
To fawn on friends that come or go forth,
Your master please, and so forth;
For which you have to eat
All sorts of well-cooked meat --
Cold pullets, pigeons, savory messes --
Besides unnumbered fond caresses."
The wolf, by force of appetite,
Accepts the terms outright,
Tears glistening in his eyes;
But faring on, he spies
A galled spot on the mastiff's neck.
"What's that?" he cries. "Oh, nothing but a speck."
"A speck?" -- "Ay, ay, 'tis not enought to pain me.
Perhaps the collar's mark by which they chain me."
"Chain! chain you! What! run you not, then,
Just where you please and when?"
"Not always, Sir; but what of that?"
"Enough for me, to spoil your fat!
It ought to be a precious price
Which could do servile chains entice;
For me, I'll shun them while I've wit."
So ran Sir Wolf, and runneth yet.

<font size="-1">FELIX MARIA DE SAMANIEGO, SPANISH (1745-1801)</font>

41.2

The man renders faithful service without sacrificing himself.
Forfeiting one's dignity and personality to do the bidding
of a person of high rank is shameful.


So far I love it... *grin*

Love,

Val

 

[auriel]

val-
"Egads, I've created a monster!"-Mary Shelly
44.1 ". . .he should be tied firmly down."

 

[cal val]

Auriel...
lol

Ya think?

Love,

Val

 

[auriel]

keep those stories coming!