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CHAPTER XXXIII: The Shining Line Alveric wandered on, alone of that small company of three without a hope to guide him. For Niv and Zend, who were lately led by the hope of their fantastic quest, no longer yearned for Elfland but were guided now by their plan to hold Alveric back from it. They…

We’ve completed the Pentamerone stories which were published for children in the Victorian period. Seventeen of the stories, however, were taken out as unsuitable. I won’t be recording them, but I’ll be using the Burton translation to summarize their plots and the hooks we can hang on them. Burton’s summary for the what’s now called…

A change of pace on the Venice material – I think that trying to draw all the folklore together, like I did with Cornwall, may be a fool’s errand. I keep heading off into the weeds. My plan is to keep adding the folklore I find, but to try and give the whole thing a…

This week I’m taking time to get the backlog of monsters sorted. As a sort of filler, here’s a poem about a troubadour trying to rescue a maid, by W.S. Gilbert, of musical hall fame. *** A Troubadour he playedWithout a castle wall,Within, a hapless maidResponded to his call.“Oh, willow, woe is me!Alack and well-a-day!If…

This section is where Dunsany starts paying off his earlier bits of folklore, so there’s not much new to discuss, but I do want to flag that Zironderel has the same attitude to magic that House Jerbiton does. Magic causes beauty, even natural beauty. Thanks again to Librivox and Michele Fry for the recording. CHAPTER…

The story which follows seems folkloric, but the MonsterTalk podcast has done some digging and found the places mentioned don’t seem to accord with real geography. The original writer was a bit of a racontuer, known for great dinner stories, so this may have been his own work. For example the reaction of the young…

In Second edition, there was a magus mentioned called Pendule. He refused to join the Order, but met with some members in secret, teaching them his techniques. The key sentence is that his magic was more sensual than Hermetic magic. He expected the magic to change the magus, not be dominated by the magus, as…

This week, we continue our charge through the Pentamerone. Thanks again to Joy Chan for her recording. I’ll be popping in with bits of folklore, and a surprising amount of culinary lore. XXIII: THE TWO CAKES In the penguin edition, the word “pizza” is used wherever “cake” is used here. It’s not a modern pizza,…

And here we see Venice’s absolutely stupidest causus beli. Literally ever. It starts six years before the game period, and ends four years before, so a new group of magi might meet at a gathering held to watch the festivities. During his dogado a year of Jubilee was appointed by the Pope—1214—in thankfulness for the…

A short episode this week, to fill the hole caused when two episodes went live last week. This is a weaker section of Staley, but a necessary one for a few reasons. It covers the game period for Ars Magica. It lists the industries which the magical skills hide behind. It contains a terrible sin…