This is strange

[marina_bonomi]

Since a couple of days I've been reading on and off the RPG manual for 'Changeling the Lost', I've always liked the White Wolf kind of storytelling games, and up to now 'Changeling' looks the best of the bunch to me.
In this version the players aren't fae (the fae are deeply 'other' and loom in the background) but human changelings that have managed to escape the enchanted lands and come back, just to discover that they are deeply changed  and can't possibly fit-in with 'normal' humans. Moreover, did they really escape? Are their former masters looking for them? Or were they let go? And for what reason?

I've been musing about the old folklore regarding the good folk, the many stories and ballads about changelings, kidnappings, pacts and temptations, courtships and riddles, from The Elfin Knight to Poul Anderson's  Queen of Air  and Darkness, and then verses began to emerge and I had to put them on paper.

I'm not quite sure I like them and they left me strangely unsettled, if you feel like commenting I'd love to hear your opinion.


On the Run

I dreamt I was a falcon,
or am I dreaming now?
Wisteria bells are chiming
in the wind from the South.

The hunters are a-gathering
with their red-eared hounds

I dreamt I was a hind
with golden-dappled fur
a silver collar gleaming
on my neck, in the run.

The hunters are a-gathering
with their red-eared hounds

I dreamt I was a hare
with ruby-gleaming eyes
a pale flash of moonlight
hiding in thorny edges.

The hunters are a-gathering
with their red-eared hounds

 Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme...
how did that ancient rhyme go?
Will holly, birch, rowan and ash
be any avail 'gainst the good folk?

The hunters are a-gathering
with their red-eared hounds



    

Comments

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

Strangely unsettled is also how I am left, reading this. Very evocative.

[marina-bonomi.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Ellen.
It remained with me till this morning, maybe I'm onto something, writing in this mood, we'll see where it goes. :-)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I love it very much! You should submit it to Goblin Fruit.

I loved the verse about the hare best.

[marina-bonomi.livejournal.com]

You like it *that* much? Thank you! :-)
I'll try and submit it tonight, thanks for the link!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Yes I **do** love it that much, truly! And your voice on the topic is fresh, and I'd like the wider audience of Goblin Fruit to get a chance to read it.

[marina-bonomi.livejournal.com]

It's on its way to Goblin Fruit right now, fingers crossed. :-)

[marina-bonomi.livejournal.com]

And has just been declined. Ah, well...