01-23-2018, 01:32 AM
You Will Meet Three Stooges
The stories we tell our children will spin like bright candy on their tongues, but as sweets are to the mouth too much magic will rot expectations. The young girl stands by her bed, awake but still dreaming that her parents are not her parents and that some prince will come to take her away. Her slippers transform to velvet or glass as she minces in royal steps to unheard music. She will meet three men who represent all the men in the world. In fairy tales, there are often threes—a nod to the Trinity, and the divine drive to find the one (three in person, one in nature) who will satisfy all unspoken cravings. She will meet them all: the older brother with the cruel look of a hawk, the middle brother who eats lavish meals in front of the hungry, and the young fool, who is noble in his stupidity, and surely a prince in spite of reason. The girl’s body will age, but she will hold her youth tightly like a clutched pearl until she places her hand into each of their hands in turn. She will dance oblivious through the steps of courtship, and meet the eventual reality that a kiss, no matter how sweet, cannot change a stooge into a prince.
The stories we tell our children will spin like bright candy on their tongues, but as sweets are to the mouth too much magic will rot expectations. The young girl stands by her bed, awake but still dreaming that her parents are not her parents and that some prince will come to take her away. Her slippers transform to velvet or glass as she minces in royal steps to unheard music. She will meet three men who represent all the men in the world. In fairy tales, there are often threes—a nod to the Trinity, and the divine drive to find the one (three in person, one in nature) who will satisfy all unspoken cravings. She will meet them all: the older brother with the cruel look of a hawk, the middle brother who eats lavish meals in front of the hungry, and the young fool, who is noble in his stupidity, and surely a prince in spite of reason. The girl’s body will age, but she will hold her youth tightly like a clutched pearl until she places her hand into each of their hands in turn. She will dance oblivious through the steps of courtship, and meet the eventual reality that a kiss, no matter how sweet, cannot change a stooge into a prince.
The secret of poetry is cruelty.--Jon Anderson