It had been a perilous escape from the book of nursery rhymes but now all the characters stood safe and sound on soothing gray cobblestone. Most notably there was Mr. Poppit the Haberdasher who found he'd married the Boston Slasher. And the much loved Little Girl Red, dreamt of evil things in bed, woke one day with a doll by her head. Next to her stood the Nun from the Abbey of Novgorod whose feet as a horse were to be shod, because she wouldn't believe in God. Children often remembered her in their prayers. The Brothers Snoot with heads of fruit for mother's cupboard they did loot had also made good their flight from the gruesome tome. The others, Ms. Garden the Prison Warden and the horribly abused Mrs. Peyton Wife of Satan had escaped from more or less minor rhymes, even less politically correct, that no one could ever remember. The entire group had just been granted asylum and looked forward now to a life of bliss in the real world where bad things never happened.
Story #72
2 comments:
refreshing and light, the last sentence perfectly ominous;
the shoes reminded me of Garp's mother from "The World According to Garp" although she was a nurse, not a nun, but a nun in a sense;)
K.
I miss those nursery rhymes. It's good to see they've left tales of obscurity for lives of obscurity. As yet, Mother Goose doesn't have a "Where Are They Now?" show so they'll be happy and safe for the time being. Still, we should think of these souls once in awhile, even if it requires dusting off some books and reading stories we usually flipped past as kids because they weren't popular among our friends.
« mush » - Laughter is the Spackle of the Soul
p.s. - Where did Santa Claus ditch his right-hand men, Belsnickle and Black Peter? There's a couple guys from the fairy tales you don't hear much about nowadays. Are they in the Witness Protection Program or something?
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