Time for more Bellman! ¡Hora de más Bellman!

Démosles a nuestros efebos

vino y dulces y caramelos,

pimpinela que escancien ellos

en este cristal...

*

Ahí baila la bella,

con su falda rosa y su jersey,

¿qué es de la bandeja

que llevaba ayer?

Cestas de limones

nunca más sus brazos lastrarán:

¡ahora entre barones

se calentará!

Besamanos y reverencias,

se abanica y se refresca,

come gofres y toma néctar,

¡rom pom pom pom pom!

Traducción de Sandra Dermark

31/8/MMXXVI

************

Where are the sweets for our little mam'sels,

wine and damsons for pretty damsels?

Pimpernel spices old Madame sells:

each their glass allows...

*

Dancing see the maiden

clad in rosy skirt and blouse appears...

where's her tray, aye, say then

that she wore last year?

Basket filled with lemons

hangs no longer heavy on her arm;

she with counts and barons

dances herself warm!

Curtsying deeply so they beset her,

fanning her cleavage, even better,

eating waffles and drinking nectar

to the drums' alarm!

Adapted from Paul Britten Austin's translation

ELEVEN MOONS ECLIPSED - Plot Reveal - a Tourney

 In StrixAlluka's Eleven Moons duology, her Aritsar AU, you may recall that Book I, Eleven Moons Aligned, ended with Oba Mace's funeral and the reveal of Moon Mask as Montparnasse, who reveals himself to be another raybearer, accompanied by Musichetta, Hay Lin, a little Gavroche, and a Mewish lordling by name of Devin Trunswick.

Ever since that cliffhanger, we wondered how Eleven Moons Eclipsed would transcur and if there would be a civil war - rest assured, the late Oba's/High King's council decided that there would be a tourney between the members of the Sun Prince's (Enjolras') and the Moon Prince's ('Parnasse's) councils. And yes, Musichetta and Gavroche will partake in the council on 'Parnasse's side...

**********************

Here are the members of each council:

On Enjolras' side:

Oloye/Crown Prince Enjolras; son of the oba and High Lady Ambassador Cvetka, heir to the throne, raybearer

High Lord Archdean Combeferre - Djbanti, death by poisoning / hallow of eidetic/photographic memory

High Lord General Courfeyrac - Nontes, death by battery / hallow of optimism inducement and happiness inducement

High Lord Laureate Grantaire - Sparti (cabin boy), death by bleeding / hallow of slowing down and taking away entropy (which works like the Stand Crazy Diamond)

High Priestess Cosette Valjean - Biraslov (half-Nontish half-Biraslov isoken), death by gluttony / hallow of glowing in the dark, a different colour based upon her mood

High Lady of Castles Éponine Thénardier - Swana (one-quarter-Nontish one-quarter-Blessid half-Swanian isoken), death by burning / hallow of lie detection

High Lord Judge Marius Pontmercy-Ghàilenor - Mewe (half-Nontish half-Mewish isoken), death by drowning / hallow of giving/taking away hallows

High Lord Ambassador Feuilly - Quetzala (realmless -ie stateless- orphan isoken dreamcatcher maker, origins unknown), death by suffocation / hallow of speaking and understanding every human language

High Lord Magus Jo-Lee Lin - Moreyao (born in Songland, Redemptor adopted by the Lins), death by contagion, hallow of healing illnesses and injuries and transferring them to himself

High Lord Treasurer Lesgle "Bossuet" - Nyamba, death by organ failure / hallow of giving good luck at the cost of suffering bad luck himself (he does so by shaking hands or having a kiss blown his way, alluding to the lyrics of "Chim Chim Cheree")

High Lord of Husbandry Bahorel - Dhyrma, death by mauling / hallow of unstoppable righteous anger-trance (think Cú Chulainn or the Incredible Hulk)

High Lady of Harvests Jehanne Prouvaire - Blessid Valley (half-Nontish half-Blessid isoken; trans girl), death by hexes, hallow of making plants grow by petting them and singing to them (her power is even seen to affect fungi, but half as much as plants).

*********************

On 'Parnasse's side (all of these take the same drug that Aidana takes, kuso-kuso, and they have been trained in secret in a chamber underneath Enoba Palace):

Moon Prince/Oloye Montparnasse - son of the late oba and of High Lady Archdean Klytemnestra, spare to the throne, raybearer

High Lord Laureate Devin of Trunswick (Mountain Cat Mask) - Mewe - Hallow of controlling fire (excellent breeding) - death by burning

High Lady Judge Tahlia (Frog Mask) - Biraslov - Hallow of superhuman intelligence / calculating (exceptional intelligence) - death by contagion

High Lady Ambassador Ana Garcés (Gila Monster Mask) - Quetzala - Hallow of venomous bite - death by poisoning (exceeding connections)

High Lord General Karmo (Thunderbird Mask) - Nyamba - Hallow of controlling lightning (exacerbating strength / and Hallow powers) - death by organ failure

High Lady Magus Hay Lin - Moreyao - Hallow of controlling air - death by suffocation

High Lord of Husbandry Gavroche Thénardier - Swana - Hallow of climbing up walls - death by battery

High Lady of Harvests Fleur Delacour - Nontes - Hallow of breathing underwater - death by drowning

High Lady Archdean Musichetta - Sparti - Hallow of compelling music - death by hexes

High Lord/Lady of Castles  - Dhyrma - - Hallow of - death by -

High Lady/Lord Treasurer - Djbanti - Hallow of - death by -

High Priest/ess - - Blessid Valley - Hallow of - death by

UPDATE ON TV TROPES (Female autism depiction)!

Today I visited the TV Tropes page on Hollywood Autism (stereotypes / fictional depictions) and I was PLEASANTLY SURPRISED on its mention of the recent trend of female and hyperactive autistic characters who are just like Yours Truly - Luna Lovegood, Entrapta, Zoey from KPDH et al. It also highlights that this depiction / stereotype is pushed by algorithms on social media (although, IMHO, it was Rowling's creation of Luna that broke the mold of Always Male autism depictions and created the new paradigm):

There are some concerns that the 'new' depiction of autism as mostly white, young women with a hyperactive, unstable personality and marketable interests (such as fashion, cosmetics, and media consumption), pushed by algorithms on social media platforms, is just as destructive as other existing stereotypes, given that it continues the pattern of erasing the lives and experiences of a wide range of people in favour of focusing on a tiny facet of a much larger phenomenon.

And for some individuals, many of these symptoms and qualities are truth in television.

TSQ-IV: THE ATLAS OF CLASSIC TALES

CLAUDIA BORDIN

In the kingdom where we are now, there is a very clever princess. One day, when she was terribly bored, she made up her mind to marry, but she wanted a husband who could give a good answer to any question and wasn't boring. On the third day of receiving prospective husbands, a boy made his way boldly up to the palace. His eyes sparkled and he had handsome long hair, but his clothes were those of a peasant.
Can ... get ... inside the palace?
... works at the palace and knows of a back door that leads to the royal chamber.
When the lights went out in the palace, ... led ... to the back door which had been left ajar. They climbed the broad staircase, at the top of which they met the housekeeper ... who led them to the princess' chamber. ... over the bed, lifted a corner of the bedsheet and saw dark hair on the pillow. ... (add continuation soon) 


(Cut out the palace at the bottom left corner)

THE TRUTH ABOUT LORD VERISOPHT

 --this post I had planned to do for AGES but always something came in between--.

In El semen de los ahorcados, it is very clear that the plot is a massive multiplayer crossover to rival the works of Kim Newman, whose concept of the Xeniades Club (a secret society of supervillains, who in El semen are all more or less queer) the fic author, StrixAlluka (now StrixLuluka), borrowed. Next to Count Jean de Satigny, his rival/kismesis/frenemy Lord Henry Wotton is one of the most relevant characters in the Seedverse. The reason he wants Enjolras as his "servant" so badly? He lost his own catamite/protégé, Lord (Frederick) Verisopht (borrowed from Dickens, just like Mme. Defarge). 

After a tennis match, sipping some Bellinis prepared by Montparnasse (Bellinis that fortunately aren't poisoned), Enjolras arrives and Lord Henry confides in his French kismesis that the blond stripling is a diamond in the rough - exactly what he needs to replace his late lover, Lord Verisopht, a young and slender lordling in his twenties who was found dead and covered in cherry blossoms in a public park, with a serene smile on his face. The coroner's report revealed no trace of weapons or poisons... at this point Enjolras whispers "Avada Kedavra," and both Muggle nobles are intrigued... Enj says that this was merely an intrusive thought.

In an omake, it was revealed how Lord Verisopht died. He was a homeschooled Squib whom Lord Henry took under his wing when his granny / guardian died, but he still had knowledge of the wizarding world (think Neville Longbottom but Squib and more unfortunate). The older noble introduced him to high society and together they led a life of self-indulgence in ballrooms and casinos. His debut was in a Shakespeare-themed masked ball where Lord Henry was dressed as Oberon and young Verisopht as Titania, in green fairy costumes with glow-in-the-dark details and flapping wings. Here they met Count Jean de Satigny, dressed as Mercutio, who made a critique of their costumes. The lordling was very naive and believed everything his mentor said.

Ultimately some Knights of Walpurgis (actually hitmen employed by a mysterious employer) "set a trap for Lord Henry and Count Jean de Satigny in order to obtain an ancient relic." (This was all a lie). It was Lord Henry who set a trap for the lordling, and killed him because he had grown tired of his "boy toy" - which reveals that he had some knowledge of the wizarding world. Henry gave the order to the masked hitman to Avada Kedavra Lord Verisopht, whose last expression was to look at his mentor and collapse backwards swaddled in that green light, barely unable to make out his mentor's face in the dark but suddenly understanding who had given the order. His peaceful smile when his lifeless form was discovered among butterflies and dragonflies, covered in cherry blossom, seems to say "so be it..."

UNA DE MIS CUENTAS TIENE LOS DÍAS CONTADOS

 O Literary Rambles, o Evenkia, o mi cuenta de Facebook va a dejar de existir, en el peor de los casos, dentro de poco.

En el mejor de los casos, sólo me van a quitar los posts/las imágenes que ofenden a los derechos de autor.

Quien avisa no es traidora...

THE UMPTEENTH BLANK POST