Every American school child is taught: “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue…” My elementary school children study Columbus and the amazing feats of nautical prowess. He and his company sailed wooden ships with fabric sails across a wide and deadly dangerous ocean to uncharted waters, ultimately finding a new world. Much like Max in Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. Perhaps Columbus was sent to bed too many times without supper by his mother. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Iroquois
Midsummer Stew
“Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild,
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.” – W.B. Yeats
Conla picked early sage in her garden. Her family traditionally made a lamb stew for their midsummer feast. Her mother, Bronwyn, was inside their house braising the lamb with spring onions and chives. Conla heard her neighbor’s voice, and turned to see him walking under their archway with its pink roses and purple clematis.
“I can’t find a thing! My jackets are missing their buttons. My trousers all have holes. My wallet and keys are missing again! Are you doing this to me?!” Conla’s neighbor in the white cottage next door was Seamus O’Flanagan. Their two houses were the only ones for miles in that wild part of County Wicklow. The American had retired and come to the old country to write and paint, in the county of his ancestors. His wispy white hair was standing up in the wind, and his cheeks were red with anger.
Friendly Fairy Tales 