It was giving me the side-eye as I walked by.
Showing posts with label dryad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dryad. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Dryad
I was struck with wonderment at the sight of this tree, surveying me with its unblinking, intense gaze as if to stare me down.
But it was only after I'd taken the initial shots and walked around it that I realized that this was no ordinary tree -- it was the habitation of a dryad!
In olden days it might well have been -- very likely would have been -- an object of worship, as a guardian spirit of a village perhaps, or maybe a forest god. Tiger hunters and wild ginseng harvesters would have made small offerings on a makeshift altar, barren wives would have prayed for its blessing. But today the busy pedestrians passing by with hurried steps pay it nary a glance. No wonder it's starved for a feeding, waiting with its mouth open. As I, too, walked away I was left in a wistful mood.
Myths need sustenance, just like mortal humans.
Related post: "Mandrake Root"
Thursday, November 17, 2022
Shadow Forest
Originally this image was meant to represent Spring, in a format intended to imitate the traditional folding screens that were so common in Korean households -- the saying went that Koreans were born, got married, and died in front of folding screens -- but now that I look back on it, the choice of color was rather too cool, and I think it actually fits the chilly temps of the present turning of the seasons pretty well.
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EDIT: Here is a newer version of this image after I got done warming it up considerably. It's also brighter. I think it now feels much more like spring.
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Related post: Autumn Forest
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Another Wonderful Discovery
TACKLING "DER ERLKÖNIG" WITH A COLD
Yesterday I happened across this daimon posing dramatically in the shade of a tree:
The figure looked to me like all those mysterious and scary supernatural beings from all the fairytales of old rolled into one. In particular, I was reminded of two characters: Chernobog, the Satan-like deity in the 'Night on Bald Mountain' segment of Disney's Fantasia (1940), and "Der Erlkönig", the sinister spirit in the poem and song of the same name. Which reminded me...
Some years ago I went to a party at a friend's house. There I saw this attractive young woman sitting by herself, seemingly in sore need of a chivalrous gentleman to come and offer her his company. I had come alone myself, so I offered her a glass of punch (turned out she already had one, but I hadn't noticed) and engaged her in conversation. She spoke English with a charming foreign accent, and it turned out she was from Stuttgart, Germany (unlike many people in the English-speaking world, I happen to think German is a beautiful-sounding language). Well, I had to do what I do whenever I run into a German person -- I proceeded to impress her by breaking into a heartfelt rendition of "Der Erlkönig" in the original German. It's a truly wonderful lied, with the words of Goethe set to a melody by Schubert (others have composed tunes for the poem, but Schubert's version is the most famous -- the one most people automatically think of when they hear "Erlkönig"; also, it's the only version I can sing). The song starts thus:
Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind?
Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind;
Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm,
Er faßt ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm.
(Translation)
Who rides, so late, through night and wind?
It is the father with his child.
He has the boy well in his arm
He holds him safely, he keeps him warm.
-- and so on. The words tell of the young child describing to his father the blandishments the "Erlkönig", or the Elf King (also rendered the Erl-King, although that could be a mistranslation perpetuated throughout history), the supernatural lord of the woods through which they are riding, is whispering to him, unheard by the father, to try and take him away. The King starts out soft and seductive at first, but becomes increasingly insistent. With each new enticement the child grows more frightened, and at each turn the father tries to reassure the child that it is only the leaves rustling or a sheet of mist, that he mistakes for the Elf King. Finally the child cries out desperately that the Elf King is dragging him away -- and as the father, now terrified himself, reaches the destination, he finds the child dead in his arms.
Wow, I just got goosebumps as I typed those words, replaying the song in my head! With an amazingly effective piano accompaniment to underscore the action, the song divides the drama among four vocal parts -- the Elf King, the child, the father, and the 'narrator' -- plus the galloping horse, whose hoofbeats are heard in the piano throughout the song. When I first heard the song I was just a kid and had no idea what it was about, but I fell in love with it anyway. I found the German lyrics somewhere, together with a translation, painstakingly worked out the pronunciation (interestingly, even though this happened when I was just ten or so, long before my move to the U.S. and acquirement of English, I had learned to read German and Italian phonetically by reading opera librettos) and read them aloud over and over until I had memorized them. Talk about being obsessive-compulsive -- but I guess when your brain is still young and springy and absorbent you can do things like that.
The thing about trying to sing this song is, though, that the different vocal parts are sung at different pitches; the narrator occupies the neutral, easy-to-sing middle register (except at the very end). The victimized child and the Elf King are at the higher reaches of the range, and the father, calm and dignified, is lower-pitched than the others. Although I like to sing, my vocal range is not so wide and when attempting "Der Erlkönig" I have to take care not to start too low, just so I can reach the lowest notes later.
It so happens I've been fighting a cold these last several days, and my voice is jammed way down in the basement. Earlier while listening to Bryn Terfel's recording of "Erlkönig", I started to sing along, and even though Terfel is a bass-baritone, I found I could sing the low notes just fine, thanks to the cold^^
Anyway, back to the girl at the party -- she was suitably impressed. She said she doubted most Germans even know all the words (no, I didn't sing the whole thing). Then her big tall handsome and buff boyfriend came back. So.
But I'll bet anything he couldn't sing a single line of "Der Erlkönig".
Yesterday I happened across this daimon posing dramatically in the shade of a tree:
"mit Kron und Schweif"
The figure looked to me like all those mysterious and scary supernatural beings from all the fairytales of old rolled into one. In particular, I was reminded of two characters: Chernobog, the Satan-like deity in the 'Night on Bald Mountain' segment of Disney's Fantasia (1940), and "Der Erlkönig", the sinister spirit in the poem and song of the same name. Which reminded me...
Some years ago I went to a party at a friend's house. There I saw this attractive young woman sitting by herself, seemingly in sore need of a chivalrous gentleman to come and offer her his company. I had come alone myself, so I offered her a glass of punch (turned out she already had one, but I hadn't noticed) and engaged her in conversation. She spoke English with a charming foreign accent, and it turned out she was from Stuttgart, Germany (unlike many people in the English-speaking world, I happen to think German is a beautiful-sounding language). Well, I had to do what I do whenever I run into a German person -- I proceeded to impress her by breaking into a heartfelt rendition of "Der Erlkönig" in the original German. It's a truly wonderful lied, with the words of Goethe set to a melody by Schubert (others have composed tunes for the poem, but Schubert's version is the most famous -- the one most people automatically think of when they hear "Erlkönig"; also, it's the only version I can sing). The song starts thus:
Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind?
Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind;
Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm,
Er faßt ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm.
(Translation)
Who rides, so late, through night and wind?
It is the father with his child.
He has the boy well in his arm
He holds him safely, he keeps him warm.
-- and so on. The words tell of the young child describing to his father the blandishments the "Erlkönig", or the Elf King (also rendered the Erl-King, although that could be a mistranslation perpetuated throughout history), the supernatural lord of the woods through which they are riding, is whispering to him, unheard by the father, to try and take him away. The King starts out soft and seductive at first, but becomes increasingly insistent. With each new enticement the child grows more frightened, and at each turn the father tries to reassure the child that it is only the leaves rustling or a sheet of mist, that he mistakes for the Elf King. Finally the child cries out desperately that the Elf King is dragging him away -- and as the father, now terrified himself, reaches the destination, he finds the child dead in his arms.
Wow, I just got goosebumps as I typed those words, replaying the song in my head! With an amazingly effective piano accompaniment to underscore the action, the song divides the drama among four vocal parts -- the Elf King, the child, the father, and the 'narrator' -- plus the galloping horse, whose hoofbeats are heard in the piano throughout the song. When I first heard the song I was just a kid and had no idea what it was about, but I fell in love with it anyway. I found the German lyrics somewhere, together with a translation, painstakingly worked out the pronunciation (interestingly, even though this happened when I was just ten or so, long before my move to the U.S. and acquirement of English, I had learned to read German and Italian phonetically by reading opera librettos) and read them aloud over and over until I had memorized them. Talk about being obsessive-compulsive -- but I guess when your brain is still young and springy and absorbent you can do things like that.
The thing about trying to sing this song is, though, that the different vocal parts are sung at different pitches; the narrator occupies the neutral, easy-to-sing middle register (except at the very end). The victimized child and the Elf King are at the higher reaches of the range, and the father, calm and dignified, is lower-pitched than the others. Although I like to sing, my vocal range is not so wide and when attempting "Der Erlkönig" I have to take care not to start too low, just so I can reach the lowest notes later.
It so happens I've been fighting a cold these last several days, and my voice is jammed way down in the basement. Earlier while listening to Bryn Terfel's recording of "Erlkönig", I started to sing along, and even though Terfel is a bass-baritone, I found I could sing the low notes just fine, thanks to the cold^^
Anyway, back to the girl at the party -- she was suitably impressed. She said she doubted most Germans even know all the words (no, I didn't sing the whole thing). Then her big tall handsome and buff boyfriend came back. So.
But I'll bet anything he couldn't sing a single line of "Der Erlkönig".
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