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Notes:
1. Written on 16th June, 2019
__________Author: dng
Tale #78: On Hansel And Gretel, And Horror
For me, perhaps for everyone, what I find to be the most dreadful part of Hansel and Gretel, the most horrifying bit, where it ultimately turns it into a tale of horror beyond compare, is the happy-ever-after ending.
There is an escalation of horrors throughout the story, of course – their mother’s death; the jealous malevolence of their stepmother; their abandonment in the woods; the pitcher-plant lure of the gingerbread house; the witch; the imprisonment; the slavery; the threatened (but never actualised) death by cannibalism.
But in a way this is all for show, a deft piece of misdirection, obscuring the real horror at the heart of the tale, the monster lurking at the edge of the screen as the credits roll, that final moment of dread as the screen goes black, that gnaws at you all night.
For here is our happy ending: the witch is dead, the stepmother is dead, and Hansel and Gretel return home to their father.
Their father, who took them to the woods and abandoned them, not once but twice.
Their father, who was perfectly willing to let them die, simply to appease his new wife.
Hansel and Gretel escape from the forest, and they escape the witch. But can there be any possible escape for them from their father. From his blankness, from his pliability, his disinterest and neglect. From his next, inevitable, betrayal.
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Notes:
1. Written in 2017 sometime
2. I remember starting it in January 2017
3. While ill
4. At the Eden Project
5. But I have no idea when I finished it
Support An Accumulation Of Things
If you like the things you've read here please consider subscribing to my patreon or my ko-fi. Patreon subscribers get not just early access to content and also the occasional gift, but also my eternal gratitude. Which I'm not sure is very useful, but is certainly very real.(Ko-fi contributors probably only get the gratitude I'm afraid, but please get in touch if you want more). Thank you!Lalande (places in space #23)
_________
Notes:
1. Written on June 10th, 2019
__________Support An Accumulation Of Things
If you like the things you've read here please consider subscribing to my patreon or my ko-fi. Patreon subscribers get not just early access to content and also the occasional gift, but also my eternal gratitude. Which I'm not sure is very useful, but is certainly very real.(Ko-fi contributors probably only get the gratitude I'm afraid, but please get in touch if you want more). Thank you!Tale #77: The Wolf And The Girl
The wolf watched as the girl came near
And the wolf waited as the girl roamed far
And the wolf pounced when her parents came looking
The wolf ate, the girl ate
And away they went together
Blood red lips, teeth as sharp as lies
__________
Notes:
1. Written on November 3rd, 2016
__________Support An Accumulation Of Things
If you like the things you've read here please consider subscribing to my patreon or my ko-fi. Patreon subscribers get not just early access to content and also the occasional gift, but also my eternal gratitude. Which I'm not sure is very useful, but is certainly very real.(Ko-fi contributors probably only get the gratitude I'm afraid, but please get in touch if you want more). Thank you!4/3/4 (#3)
following on
from the first
and the second
here are some
4/3/4s
they will not stop
***
#53: sunset, full moon
towards the sun
then turn, turn,
towards the moon
***
#54: dead animals by the side of the road (in order)
squirrel, fox, fox
(couldn’t tell)
crow, pheasant, fox
***
#55: half glimpsed scene from car window #1
cows in long grass
motionless
below the bridge
***
#56: half glimpsed scene from car window #2
smell of burnt leaves
canal boat
scene out of time
***
#57: autumn poem #1
the foliage
yellowing
browning, falling
***
#58: autumn poem #2
the trees have gone
all yellow
conkers fallen
***
#59: autumn poem #3
the noise of rain
without end
on plastic roofs
***
#60: autumn poem #4
i like the word
autumnal
it’s nice to say
***
#61: autumn poem #5
park in autumn
much nicer
than in summer
***
#62: winter poem #1
park in winter
best of all
ice underfoot
***
#63: note from niece (pushed under toilet door)
“david which film
snowhite or
littel mermade”
***
#64: trip planning, with smart phone
everyone checks
the weather
and then stays home
***
#65: slight phobia admission #1
i get so scared
(who knows why)
by centipedes
***
#66: slight phobia admission #2
scaffolding makes
me feel a
bit uneasy
***
#67: slight phobia admission #3
just thinking of
space in its
infinity
***
#68: on waking #1
an aching back
short of breath
unfocused eyes
***
#69: on waking #2
happiness gone
yet bad dreams
lingering on
***
#70: day out in suffolk #1
a museum
of radar
in concrete hut
***
#71: day out in suffolk #2
birdsong and waves
where the woods
reach the sea wall
***
#72: looking up (perspective trick)
helicopter
and a drone
both the same size
***
#73: dogs #1
a pug snuffling
and sneezing
wheezing, whining
***
#74: dogs #2
this dog looks like
a huge toy
fluffed up, alive
***
#75: dogs #3
“she won’t hurt you,”
he says while
his dog bites me
***
#76: daily routine (breakfast)
don’t eat breakfast
feel quite ill
when i wake up
***
#77: daily routine (lunch)
eat a sandwich
follow that
with cake and coke
***
#78: daily routine (dinner)
cook too much food
feel quite ill
for rest of day
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Notes:
1. Written in August and September 2019
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