Bold Sisters in Fairy Tale Families

The stepmother creeps after Little Brother and Sister. Arthur Rackham, Public Domain https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50422017

Fairy tales often focus on relationships within families — interrogating the many ways in which these can break down, but also celebrating family.

A Thousand Years Before Tolkien: The Original Evil Magic Ring

Siegfried und Brunnhilde by Charles Ernest Butler (https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18935890)

An evil magic ring, associated with dwarf and dragon – what a great idea Tolkien had for his books! But he actually borrowed it from ancient Viking legends…

The Victorian Language of Flowers: Hiding Secret Messages in Plain Sight

Poppies. CC0, https://pxhere.com/en/photo/960192, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78130850

If a bouquet of flowers arrives at our door, we’re more interested in who sent them. The Victorians were more concerned with what it meant.The Victorian language of flowers, also known as floriography, was a way to send messages using specific plants and flowers. Combining different flowers allowed them to send more complex or sophisticated messages.Let’s look at how this language developed and how to use it.

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