Deby Fredericks's Blog, page 108

Chinese Lantern Festival

Okay, enough with the silly riddles! This month we’re lucky enough to have a public art event that includes a dragon or two. It’s the Chinese Lantern Festival, which brings music, dance, and authentic Chinese cuisine to the heart of Spokane, Riverfront Park.

The installation includes hundreds of lighted silk sculptures that were assembled right in the park, beginning in August. Each of these is hand painted with faces and patterns, and they look just beautiful — as far as we can tell. The trees in the park have kept things mysterious. However, there’s no hiding one of the centerpieces, a dragon sculpture that looks about 40 feet long and should be awe-inspiring.

Now the festival is open, with a significant entry fee. (Okay, anything over $10 is significant for my family, since we all want to go.) I’d love to have one of the meals, but they’re even higher, so I don’t think that’s in the cards.

Click the link above if you want to see a video of the affair.

Just For Fun 34

Q: What do you call a dragon that won’t stop talking about itself?

A: A braggin’ dragon.

Just For Fun 33

Q: What do you call a dragon who falls behind the others?

A: Laggin’ dragon.

And, I’ll be taking part in SpoYo, the Spokane Youth Book Festival on October 10th. It says they connect young people with authors “to nurture love of books, promote literacy, and inspire students to see themselves as creators.” This is a new event for me, and I look forward to going.

Uprooted, by Naomi Novik

Novik, the author best known for her Temeraire series, takes a break with a different sort of dragon. Uprooted is another alternate history, this one set in Eastern Europe during the Renaissance. The two main kingdoms are clearly analogues to Poland and Russia. There are also persistent references to an ancient witch named Jaga, who seems quite similar to the folk character Baba Yaga.

This is an excellent book, full of foreboding. I raced through it, desperate to know what would happen. It has a great Brothers Grimm feeling, along with the thriller’s pacing. There’s a brave heroine whose growing power doesn’t fit the mold of how magic should be done. There’s a best friend who faces the worst and emerges more than human. There’s some fairly scathing comment about how politics work, and how one wounded heart can destroy everything a society tries to build. And there’s the Dragon.

Sarkan is the greatest wizard in the world, a hateful enigma who holds himself apart from ordinary people — except for one young woman he snatches away every tenth year. In this world, wizards and witches stop aging when their powers arise. Time slowly takes all their loved ones. This reality has made the Dragon bitter, sarcastic, impatient and demanding. As the tale unfolds, you can see that he is also lonely, noble, working relentlessly to protect the very people he chooses not to engage with.

Agnieska, the heroine, challenges everything about the Dragon. His way of magic doesn’t work for her, and hers is nonsense to him. Her love of family and friendship cracks his self-imposed isolation. Throughout Uprooted, these two struggle toward an understanding and a partnership that, in the end, Sarkan rejects. He leaves Agnieska and finds a different way to isolate himself.

I’ve heart many comparisons to “Beauty and the Beast,” which I don’t think truly fit this tale. I admire Novik for not making Sarkan fall in love and “get better” in the obvious, romantic way. Only in the last few pages does it seem that Agnieska may have changed him at all.

Some sources say this book stands alone, and others say it’s the start of a series. Whichever the case may be, it’s very much worth reading.

Just For Fun 32

Q: What do you call a cart pulled by dragons?

A: A dragon wagon.

Just For Fun 31

Q: What do you call a mug that’s big enough for a dragon to drink out of?

A: A dragon flagon.

What Kind of Dragon Are You?

Haven’t you always wondered? Take this survey and find out!

River Monsters

Not too long ago, I posted the legend of the Lambton Wyrm, a terrifying dragon who lived in the River Wear. But did you know there are real water-monsters in other rivers of the world?

In fact, two species of giant catfish dwell in deep waters of Africa and the Middle East. The best known of these is the Vundu, a.k.a. Heterobranchus longifilis. This water monster lurks in rivers and lakes from Egypt to the Congo to Zambia. It can grow up to five feet long, with shades of olive and brown on its back and a paler belly. Like many of its kindred, it has prominent barbels, which resemble a crazy mustache. Vundu can breathe water as well as air and are capable of “walking” on land for a few hours.

Like all large fish, the Vundu will eat most anything it can fit in its mouth. Young fish start with insects and bottom creatures, and progress to water birds and small mammals. They also feed on carrion and human garbage that finds its way into their waters. These fish are most active at night, but that hasn’t stopped them developing a killer’s reputation.

Not that Vundu intentionally hunt humans, but when the two clash, it often goes worse for the human. A typical encounter is when a fisherman unknowingly hooks a Vundu. This is especially true if the fisherman doesn’t know what he has and tries to force the fish to the surface. Such a big, strong animal is quite capable of dragging a man off his boat. If the human becomes tangled in the line, he may drown.

Some say these giants have even taken babies from the river banks! They seem able to home in on chemicals like soap, which are associated with humans, and come over to see what they can scrounge. It’s hard to say if this story is true or just represents a parent’s worst fear. However, some fishermen do use soap as a bait, knowing it will attract scavengers like the Vundu.

Although it might not seem like much of a dragon, these fish are true river monsters.

Yofune-Nushi, Part 2

In the 1300s, a samurai’s daughter named Tokoyo went to search for her exiled father in the Oki Islands of Japan.

She stopped to rest on a beach, but was soon awakened by the sound of weeping nearby. She looked for the reason and saw two people dressed in white atop a nearby rock. A priest clapped his hands and prayed, “Namu Amida Butsu” (a Buddhist prayer, literally “think of Buddha” but more poetically “you will be remembered”). Meanwhile a beautiful maiden sobbed with despair. The priest was about to push the girl into the sea when Tokoyo rushed up and stopped him.

She demanded why this was happening, and the priest replied with sorrow that a dragon named Yofune-Nushi lived in a cave deep beneath this cove. The wicked creature had been terrorizing the people of the island for centuries, raising storms at sea and destroying their fishing fleet. It demanded the sacrifice of a virgin woman every spring. The villagers couldn’t live without fishing, and so they had to give in.

Tokoyo replied that her heart was already broken by losing her father, so she offered to be the sacrifice and let the younger girl go home. The priest was very surprised, but the maiden gratefully accepted. They changed clothes, so that Tokoyo wore the white robe of sacrifice. Holding a small dagger in her teeth, she leapt into the sea.

Moonlight illuminated the clear water of the cove, so she was able to swim down past fish and seaweed. She came to a grotto where gleaming pearls and awabi (abalone) shells surrounded a wooden statue. Tokoyo recognized that this represented Takatoki Hojo, the same man who had banished her father. She was furious, and wanted to destroy the statue, but she realized it would be easier to do this if she took it up to the shore.

Before she could lay hands on the statue, a horribie monster lunged at her. This was the dreaded Yofune-Nushi — a twenty-foot-long serpent with clawed legs, fiery eyes, and phosphorescent scales. The dragon assumed she was his annual sacrifice and approached without fear. But as he closed in, Tokoyo slipped aside and struck at his right eye with her dagger. Yofune-Nushi reeled with shock and pain. He tried to flee to his lair, but in turning he exposed his neck. Tokoyo’s blade struck true, and that was the end of the evil sea dragon.

Half-conscious, the brave samurai’s daughter swam back up with the statue and the body of the dragon. The priest and the maiden were very surprised to see her. By the blood in the water, they thought she must have perished. The priest ran to help her out of the waves, while the maiden brought help from her home village. They celebrated until dawn that their village had been saved by the valiant heroine, Tokoyo.

A few days later, the priest reported to his lord, Tameyoshi, that Yofune-Nushi had been slain. In turn, Tameyoshi reported to Hojo that a statue with his likeness had been pulled out of the sea. It turned out that Hojo had been very ill with a disease no physician could understand, but just a few days ago he had miraculously recovered. Now, with the priest’s report, it was evident that he had not been ill but cursed. Since Tokoyo had unknowingly broken the spell, Hojo showed his gratitude by releasing her father from prison. The two of them returned to their home and lived happily for many years.

Yofune-Nushi

This draconic legend is something of an oddity. It was published in 1918 as part of Richard Gordon Smith’s volume, Ancient Tales and Folk-Lore of Japan. However, many aspects are more reminiscent of European dragon lore. Even the author admitted that the tale couldn’t be authenticated as Japanese. This raises a question: where did the story come from?

Sometime in the 1300s, there lived a samurai named Shima Oribe, who fell into disgrace and was banished by his lord, Takatoki Hojo. Shima was commanded to live on an island called Kamishima, in the Oki island group. Oribe had a beautiful daughter, about 18, named Tokoyo. She was devoted to her father, as he was to her. Alone in her house, she wept for over a year.

When Tokoyo could no longer bear the loneliness and grief, she set off to find her father. She was a courageous young woman who knew how to sail and had learned how to swim from the women of her village. At times, she even dove with them to collect oysters and awabi (abalone). Having sold a few of her fine possessions, Tokoyo made her way to a village called Akasaki, where the Oki Islands could be seen in the distance. She asked the local fishermen to take her there, but her money was nearly gone. They refused to help her.

Tokoyo had a bold heart. She found a small boat and sailed off on her own. Coming to land, she searched for her father. He was not there, so she sailed on, from island to island, day after day, always searching. Despairing, she found a sheltered place to rest on land.

Wait a minute — wasn’t there supposed to be a dragon in this story? Yofune something? Check back on Saturday and see if he shows up!