This is a poster currently on sale at Etsy, under the title of "The Fox Catcher," discovered by reader Deborah Newton. Does anyone recognize the fable that it illustrates? The essential events are truly weird.
1) A fox comes to a house and steals away a child.
2) The parents track down the fox to his lair and lure him out with drum and violin music.
3) The fox is beaten and/or killed, and the tearful child is saved.
I thought I knew a lot of fairytales, but this one escapes me!
From the BBC children's science show "Bang Goes The Theory...", engineer Jem Stansfield builds himself a giant vortex cannon, and tries to knock down buildings made of straw, wood and bricks...
Impressive, though I'm sure the "Big Bad Wolf" would not have had much of a problem if the third little pig had likewise left out the mortar. Mind you, one of these is just what I need to keep the neighborhood cats out of my garden!
Having encountered for the first time the phrase "giant bubonic-plague-carrying gerbil of Kazakhstan," (16 inches from nose to tail) I am so stupefied that all I can do is point people to this article and to this one, and then stand back while WU readers have fun with the notion of substituting a giant gerbil for a traditional one in this urban legend.
I can't wait to rush out and purchase this scintillating tome.
Here's the publisher's description of book and author:
Synopsis
They are Satyrs, men endowed with legendary carnal knowledge who demand total and complete control with their sexual prowess.
A Night Of Bliss
Emma anxiously awaits her husband's return home to Tuscany on Calling night. She hopes that the night-long copulation will draw them closer together for she questions whether they truly love one another. But when Carlo arrives, injured in battle and unable to perform, she learns she must mate instead with Dominic, a lusty, royal Satyr. It is a night of hedonistic passion that leaves her wanting much, much more.
A Moment Of Rapture
Like other Satyr lords, Vincent is driven to mate from dusk to dawn every Calling night. But as a bachelor, Vincent must conjure a female from the mist who will satisfy his sexual needs. While his brothers summon a different partner with each full moon, Vincent calls upon the same one time after time. He wants her to experience the same erotic pleasure he feels and one night she does-the magic is real.
Biography
A museum junkie with a fascination for Greco-Roman artifacts, art historian Elizabeth Amber was inspired to write the Lords of Satyr series by her studies in ancient urns, frescoes, and amphorae decorated with lusting satyrs, maenads, and Bacchus (or Dionysus) celebrating the annual grape harvest. Elizabeth lives in North Carolina with two cats and a husband.
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