Once Upon A Time

About 2 dozen years ago I read The Kith Of The Elf-Folk for the first time--written by Lord Dunsany.  That story so inspired me and sparked my imagination that I shared it with a friend of mine who was a singer/songwriter.  Upon reading it, inspiration led her to write a song about it.

Mike was working in a recording studio in those days and while we were there recording that song, we found a tiny kitten in the parking lot cold and shivering, who seemed to have come from nowhere.  Somehow he ended up coming home with us and stayed for 14 years.  We called him Wispy.

Just a little reminiscence which led me to pick up this story again, so perfect for reading on these misty October days by the fire, where the view through my window is of red and green dogwood leaves which look like they are lit from within--fixed to their branches for only another day or so.

The Kith Of The Elf-Folk is an absolute work of art, as so many of Lord Dunsany's stories are.  You get the sense that he just sat there on the edge of the marsh and wrote what he saw in real time. 

We are shown the cathedral on the edge of the marsh, and then he writes this...

"So evensong was held, and candles lighted, and the lights through the windows shown red and green in the water, and the sound of the organ went roaring over the marshes.  But from the deep and perilous places, edged with bright mosses, the Wild Things came leaping up to dance on the reflection of the stars, and over their heads as they danced the marsh-lights rose and fell."

And in this way, we are introduced to the Wild Things who are The Kith of the Elf-Folk who all night "dance over the marshes treading upon the reflection of the stars (for the bare surface of the water will not hold them by itself)."

A story definitely worth revisiting.

--I wish you Good Reading