Types of Prose Narratives: A Text-Book for the Story WriterFansler, Harriott Ely
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Types of Prose Narratives: A Text-Book for the Story Writer
Fansler, Harriott Ely
English prose literature; Storytelling
If you are afraid to try the experiment of original sightseeing and
fear Sir Topas's fate, do the next best thing. Seek out somebody who
has witnessed a fairy revel, or been at a brownies' banquet, has
outtricked a bogie, or propitiated an angry gnome, or, best of all,
likely, has made a little green cloak and hood for the lubber-fiend
of the kitchen hearth, and has seen him fling himself out-of-doors in
high glee to return no more except with good luck. Watchers who have
seen these things, I dare say, will have much to tell you. Get their
narratives.
The Filipino fairies are not so winsome as the English, but they are
far more actual. The English fairies are "but mortals beautifully
masquerading," says Mr. W. B. Yeats. He could find no fault with the
Filipino fairies; for they are potent forces. Like the Irish deenee
shee, the Filipino supernatural beings are thoroughly believed in by
the peasants, and, like the Irish creatures, the Malayan are not always
small, but may be small or large at will. Some of their manifestations
are indeed gruesome; a few are harmless or even helpful; all are very
interesting.
The educated young people of the Philippines have a mission to perform
for the native fairies. It has become the fashion in some places to
frown upon the unseen folk and to attempt to drive them out. The
endeavor is commendable so far as it discriminates. The bad fairies
should go. The wholesome ones should stay. They should stay for the
sake of future native poetry and for the sake of all the little brown
children who love stories.
[Northern fairies and their attributes]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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