The Story That Breaks Your Heart & Puts You Back Together Again

"Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale."

~Hans Christian Andersen~

There were times as a child, when I was read aloud to or read quietly alone, a story that broke my heart and remains with me always. The Velveteen Rabbit still brings me to tears.  But before I had even heard of the bunny who became real, I heard the tale of the Emperor and the Nightingale by Hans Christian Andersen. Today we remember Andersen on his birthday.

Read the tale in its entirety HERE.

Painting by Heinrich Lefler: Image Source

""The nightingale? I know him well. Yes, indeed he can sing. Every evening I get leave to carry scraps from table to my sick mother. She lives down by the shore. When I start back I am tired, and rest in the woods. Then I hear the nightingale sing. It brings tears to my eyes. It's as if my mother were kissing me.""

The Nightingale is often dismissed as a story about Hans' love for the famous singer Jenny Lind. The reader cannot help but see so much more in the profound story. The story is about what is artificial and what is real. The story is about what should be valued. The reader explores mortality and the human experience both good and bad. The story champions those who are overlooked by society in raising a poor girl and a plain, little songbird as the heroes of the story. Andersen reminds us of our commonality as people whether we are poor or rich, talented and beautiful or very ordinary. The nightingale song is a treasure offered as equally to peasants as to nobles and to a young girl just as generously to even the emperor himself. The Nightingale is an affirmation of life. We all need these reminders.

The Nightingale has inspired the arts all around the world from Stravinsky's opera to illustrators in many times and different places. Here are a few of my favorites:

Lisbeth Zwerger

Quentin Gréban

Perhaps even popstars?

Demi Lovato's The Nightingale:

"Where words fail, music speaks."

~Hans Christian Andersen~

PS

Are you happy that it's April? Me too.

<3

the Local Gal

Literary Love: Wonder & What's Real

“Never question the truth of what you fail to understand, for the world is filled with wonders.” 

― L. Frank Baum, Rinkitink in Oz

Image Source

One special aisle in the children's department of Morrison Reeves Library in Richmond, Indiana held on its shelves a row of magic portals to the Land of Oz. I liked the movies, but I revered the books. Time and time again I would return to check out the Patchwork Girl of Oz, Queen Zixi of Ix, Ozma of Oz and the Emerald City of Oz. There were other magic countries by the Baum series. Not all of the books were even written by Frank himself. Some of the other countries I grew to love as much as the land of Oz, if not more than that first magic country.

As a child, I was troubled with big worries: mortality, religion and fear. It was thrilling to escape into a world where I was sure to be safe from these and where I could be sure that even the villains couldn't harm me or my beloved protagonists. 

My family did not go in for feminism (at least by label). Sandwiched between so many boys, who I sometimes envied, I did not catch onto the girl power trend that was present in the 90's. However, in an outdated series from long ago, I saw the future. 

The Land of Oz was ruled almost exclusively by women. The one male leader was a fraud (not malevolent), succeeded by a scarecrow (who was less and yet more of a man?) and all true, best governance was issued by a wise woman, namely Glinda the good. When the rightful ruler is restored to the throne, you find a female too- a young one at that! Ozma of Oz shares her power with Dorothy of Kansas, an ordinary little girl from the Midwest, who is a savior and liberator almost by accident. 

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In Oz, Glinda has a magic book that she can look into to see what is happening in the world (more than one!). I realized recently, as I pondered the wonders of the worldwide web that The Magic Book is very like the internet. In the morning, I like to wake up and Google countries to see what is happening. Because of the internet I can! I look to see what is happening in Nepal, in Latvia, in any country I might know by name. The internet is magic! Sometimes Ozma wants to look in on her dear Dorothy who lives in another world on Earth. She consults the Magic Book, just as I login to Facebook to see my friends on this side of the world and on the other. How far we've come from when I was young, and lucky enough to have access to an early computer the Tandy. 

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On Facebook, I watch the exploits of astronauts on the Space Station. On the NASA site I can see photographs of the outside of our world. And the magic of all of these things, stokes my imagination and my heart in the same exciting way I experienced as a little girl in the local library. 

NASA Photo of the Day: Image Source

Now the Oz series is not exactly revered in most literary circles. I can't be sure that it isn't Science Fiction, and I can't say with conviction that it is, either. They are silly books for silly children. But even in these silly books, I look back and discover wisdom, social commentary and forward thinking. There are beautiful ideas described so succinctly that even a small child can absorb them. For example: 

“In this world in which we live simplicity and kindness are the only magic wands that work wonders” 

― L. Frank Baum, The Emerald City of Oz

Just a thought.

Because it is nearly Christmas, I'll end with this quote:

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“. . .It is the Law that while Evil, unopposed, may accomplish terrible deeds, the power of Good can never be overthrown when opposed to Evil. . .” 
― L. Frank Baum, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and an Insightful New Year to all my readers!

<3

the Local Gal

Main Street by Sinclair Lewis Distilled by the Local-Lady

"a rebellious girl is the spirit of that bewildered empire called the American Middlewest"

~Main Street~

Sinclair Lewis 

(for all of the Carols of the world)

"Even when she was tired her dark eyes were observant. She did not yet know the immense ability of the world to be casually cruel and proudly dull, but if she should ever learn those dismaying powers, her eyes would never become sullen or heavy or rheumily amorous."

"She took walks, and was sensible about shoes and diet. And never did she feel that she was living."

"She slowly confessed that she was not visibly affecting lives." 

But

"Whatever she might become she would never be static."

"I think perhaps we want a more conscious life. We're tired of drudging and sleeping and dying. We're tired of seeing just a few people able to be individualists. We're tired of always deferring hope till the next generation. We're tired of hearing politicians and priests and cautious reformers... coax us, 'Be calm! Be patient! Wait! We have the plans for a Utopia already made; just wiser than you.' For ten thousand years they've said that. We want our Utopia now — and we're going to try our hands at it."

There is a passage in Main Street, that describes in a few words the sameness of America's small towns: the doctor could "wake up anywhere" stumble out of bed walk down Main Street towards his office and not realize he was in another city until he reached the door with another name above it. It's true that if you drive for long periods of time along an interstate today that you may find yourself turned around, discouraged by the sameness & the sprawl, or perhaps you are one of those comforted by the familiarity and you might see the brand logos as helpful angels along your way. Not only are our streets names the same in many cities, even the names of our cities are duplicated: Portland, Oregon, Portland, Maine, Portland, Indiana. Main Street, America. 

But while, Lewis wrote of human nature, exposing the worst of us, that lurks even in small towns, I also see Carol on Main Street, the heroine doing her best and never admitting defeat,

"I do not admit that Main Street is as beautiful as it should be! I do not admit that Gopher Prairie is greater or more generous than Europe! I do not admit that dish-washing is enough to satisfy all women! I may not have fought the good fight, but I have kept the faith."...

I see the name above the door and the implications of our individuality, our involvement and the fact that it is who we are and what we do in the towns where we live that potentially makes the difference, the impact. And if we never succeed in altering human nature or the dynamics of our Main Street, our existence and attitude runs through the fabric like a bright and lively thread, adding beauty to it. 

"But I have won in this: I've never excused my failures by sneering at my aspirations, by pretending to have gone beyond them."

It is your "name above the door" that signals the possibility of change. This was not Lewis's intent or point, but it's what I come away with from Main Street believing. 

It's autumn in Richmond, Indiana, and the colors of the foliage outside blaze against the gray sky. The ground this morning was covered in icy frosts. It's a perfect Sunday for reading cozily inside. What are you reading? 

Here are a few titles popular in Richmond, Indiana now:

I hope your Sunday is peaceful. 

<3 the Local Gal

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