Dec 19 2024 - Blow-Up Gnome

 

Remember the western movies where they had dynamite set to bring rocks down on the bad or good guys  with that dynamite detonator?  That's what comes to mind with a blow-up gnome. To be fair, the retrievals of blow-up gnome show happy balloon gnomes for the Christmas front yard.  Gnomes are "believed to help Santa deliver toys on Christmas Eve." Christmas gnomes are good beings. Take a simple turn right, and what do you find when you look for exploding gnomes? You get two things:  the world of lawn gnomes exploding in slow motion on videos or video game conversations about how to explode the gnomes.  Maybe the game is Explode Gnome - plants vs zombies:  garden warfare 2.   Keep exploring and here's a much more interesting topic:   "Peaceful Gnome" or "Project Gnome" - the project to explode nuclear devices underground as part of the nuclear testing in the US in 1958.  It was part of "Project Plowshare."  It was supposed to be testing to find  peaceful uses for nuclear bombs.  "Gnome" was placed 1,184 feet underground at the end of a 1,115 ft tunnel that was supposed to be self-sealing upon detonation.  Gnome was detonated on Dec 10, 1961 with the plan going otherwise than planned.  Smoke and steam began to rise from the shaft, releasing radiation which was detected off-site.  Big hole instead - 170 feet wide and 90 feet high. Read all the rest HERE in Wikipedia.  The hole was filled up, but you can still visit the site today and read its historical plaque.  That's in Loving, New Mexico.  A perfect name.

I don't have any garden gnomes, even though they are well-represented in historical gardens. My preference is for frogs and toads.  This one is at Butchart Gardens and part of the one of the bronze fountains there.

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The Frog Princess

It is time now for the Frog Princess.  I found out yesterday about the fairy tale classification system.  This is type 402 - animal bride - in the ATU Index. "The Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index (ATU Index) is a catalogue of folktale types used in folklore studies. The ATU Index is the product of a series of revisions and expansions by an international group of scholars: Originally composed in German by Finnish folklorist Antti Aarne (1910); the index was translated into English, revised, and expanded by American folklorist Stith Thompson (1928, 1961); and later further revised and expanded by German folklorist Hans-Jörg Uther (2004). The ATU Index, along with Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature (1932) (with which it is used in tandem) is an essential tool for folklorists." ~Wikipedia "The king (or an old peasant woman, in Lang's version) wants his three sons to marry. To accomplish this, he creates a test to help them find brides. The king tells each prince to shoot an arrow. According to the King's rules, each prince will find his bride where the arrow lands. The youngest son's arrow is picked up by a frog. The king assigns his three prospective daughters-in-law various tasks, such as spinning cloth and baking bread. In every task, the frog far outperforms the two other lazy brides-to-be. In some versions, the frog uses magic to accomplish the tasks, and though the other brides attempt to emulate the frog, they cannot perform the magic. Still, the young prince is ashamed of his frog bride until she is magically transformed into a human princess." Can you imagine being considered the heroine because of the ability to perform household tasks for a King.  What does he need a daughter-in-law servant for?   There's the core of fairy tale lessons:  innocence, beauty and virtue are valued as the attribute a woman should possess (and passivity is good too). Ambition is evil and possessed by witches and stepmothers. I read this article by Dr. Silima Nanda   "The Portrayal of Women in the Fary Tales" and had to admit it was discouraging to find out about social and cultural values through the centuries.  Rather than dwell on the past, the index of tales is fascinating  - I found the index HERE.  It starts with animal tales and progresses through to people tales. For example, ATU 425 - Beauty and the beast ATU 440 - The Frog King ATU 510A - Cinderella Our pictures for today are our Spring stories - what's blooming in the garden yesterday.

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March 21 2020 - The Frog Prince

How did a frog get to be associated with a prince?  The story "The Frog Prince" or "The Frog King, or the Iron Henry" is a Brothers Grimm story, and the first in their collection.  It dates from 1810. Wikipedia says that the Grimms treasured this tale, and it has been postulated that part of it may extend back to Roman times. It is also postulated that the particular line in the story is a jab at the emperor Nero who was often mockingly compared to a frog. That seems mild compared to Nero's vices - his rule is associated with tyranny and extravagance, he was considered compulsive and corrupt, he murdered his mother.  He's the one who allowed Rome to burn.  And one article claimed:  He was known to play the part of a bride in mock weddings.   In the original Grimm version of the story, the frog's spell was broken when the princess threw it against the wall, while in modern versions the transformation is triggered by the princess kissing the frog.  In between, the frog was transformed after spending the night on the princess' pillow.  Or 3 nights, depending on versions. Here's the Iron Henry subplot: The frog prince also has a loyal servant named Henry (or Harry) who had three iron bands affixed around his heart to prevent it from breaking in his sadness over his master's curse. When the frog prince transforms into his human form Henry's overwhelming happiness causes all three bands to break, freeing his heart from its bonds. And of course, here's the ending:  "... they lived happily a great many years." I went looking for frog and princess jokes, but they are creepy.  This is an amusing one. Why did the frog say meow? He was learning a foreign language.

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Frogs into Princes

So today we wonder how frogs and princes got associated together.  This wonderful frog was in the pond of a garden we toured in May.   Here's what I found about the frog metaphor from frog-life-cycle.com: In fairy tales and many folklore stories, the frog is one of the main creatures that appear.  Whether the frog is being kissed to turn into a prince or the frog’s eyes are being boiled in a pot and stirred by a witch, there are many different frog myths that are constantly floating around in all sorts of different stories. Long ago in medieval Europe, the frog was something to be attributed to the devil because of their use in many witch spells.  Frogs are definitely not the sign of the devil, they are actually some of the most harmless creatures in the world and are definitely should not be associated with Satan any longer.    Another misconception about frogs is the fact that if you touch one, you will develop warts instantly.  Warts have now been proven to be caused by a human internal viral infection, but way back when, toads and frogs were handled by glove-wearing humans or not handled at all. While frogs have gotten a bad reputation a lot of the time, there are still quite a few countries and cities that hold the frog up high.  For instance, Egyptians take the frog as a symbol of life and fertility since millions of them were born after the inundation of the Nile.  They had many different myths about there being a frog-goddess named Heget (which means frog in Egyptian).  Heget was essentially a woman’s body with a frog’s head and this goddess was highly-respected and sought after, even though she was just a myth. In China, the frog represents the lunar yin.  They have even created a frog spirit, Ch’ing-Wa Sheng, which is associated with healing and good fortune, which is one of the main reasons why you will see a lot of frog relics around businesses and in homes.