You know, I saw the picture and the comment (Which I know was meant Ironically Sarah, I’m not trying to be a dolt here), and it occurred to me that this entirely innocent illustration from a Victorian children’s book illustrates how completely we’ve been indoctrinated by Hollywood. We see it, and the urge to twist it becomes immense. I have to make an effort to go back to the children’s story version.
Which I am not ashamed to say I did. Immediately constructing a cute narrative about friendly bunnies helping out the baby chick for Easter made me feel better. Mostly because it puts a thumb in the eye of every sick bastard trying to make things ugly. I’m weirdly aggressive about my cute narratives.
Given the pose of the chick and the way the bunnies have reins leading to their mouths, it looks to me like the chick is being presented as a person and the bunnies as dumb horse-analog animals. Which is perfectly copacetic if the bunnies pictured really are dumb animals.
Right? It’s supposed to be cute, there’s no need to read some darker nightmare into it. Unless you’re an Ivory Tower academic of course, they never seem to do anything else.
I know that. I grew up with the beasties. Even had a few that were mine particularly, and therefore pets.
My most memorable Easter, I must have been three, and I woke up to grandma bringing me an egg that was starting to hatch. The flurry chick came out on my hand. He — alas — grew up to be one of ugliest naked-neck roosters ever. But…. very gentle, and being one of the grandkid’s pets allowed to live out his natural life. I considered saying “the cruel spur of the chickens” but well, tradition.
:sings: Don’t you want some bunny to love?
Don’t you need some bunny to love?
Woul’n’ya love some bunny to love?
You betta find some bunny to luuuu-uh-uh-uuuuuuuhv…..
Oh dear. Mine too.
To the tune of I’m an elephant too, after Robert was immensely cheered by Jurassic park (what? It was a drive in. He woke up in the middle of it.)
“I’m a dinosaur too
I can do all that dinosaurs do
I can eat raw goat
And chase a jeep or two
That’s what dinosaurs do.”
Or
“Are you lonesome tonight
Are you neckbolts too tight
Did you know that your bride is a fright”
Rock-a-bye baby in the tree top
If there’s an earthquake the tree’ll go kerplop.
If there’s a thunderstorm and lighting strikes,
You’ll get kind of fried and glow in the night.
I’d send in the feline cavalry, but… Looks at all four of them H is a little too chunky to catch up, L would eat both sides, and R and C would be too busy demanding snuggles from the human to make like their namesakes and fight! We’ll just have to wish the bunnies good luck!
:) The poor downtrodden rabbits are all out of luck if they pass by my household, too. There’s a total chungus that’d just watch them go by, a little furry killer that’d eat ALL of them, and a big playful guy that’d pounce on them, bat them around, and cheerfully harass all of them until either they died of exhaustion or he got distracted.
Good old Amazing Cultivation Simulator (a xianxia game, if you’re familiar with that genre). Yesterday I was collecting dragon poop for my cultivation room.
I looked at the illustration and my first thought was “Oh, albino bunnies. They need dark glasses.” (The eyes show up as red-pink on my laptop screen.) And I second the thought about being too conditioned to see something bad in a purely innocent Victorian illustration.
And now, looking at the pink ears and claws, I’m wondering if they are rabbits of Annwn, or might once have been part of a Wild Hunt . . . [When writer minds wander, they go very, very Odd places.]
My Himself bless and keep you, all who read this. May your conscience be light no matter your burdens, may you find joy and happiness despite the bustle and mess, may there be meaning in what suffering you bear, and the nasties of the world find something else to do for a bit.
May we face our follies and wrongheadedness with humility, our families with pride, and our future with clear eyes, whatever it may be.
That picture brings to mind a story about my niece from about 15 years ago. My dad hatched a brood of chicks in the kitchen, and kept them there in a pasteboard box until they were old enough to transition to the coop. I was up the hall; my ~6 year old niece was quite enamored of the chicks, and I could hear her exclaiming how cute they were (um, “clucking” over them?). Anyway, I heard her say, “Look, granddaddy, I have one on my lap! And another! I’m going to get them all on my lap!” I thought to myself, “THIS isn’t going to end well – for her.” “One…two…three…four…GRRR-OSSSSSSS!” I knew egg-zactly what had happened; just what I thought would. A learning experience for her…she learned what chicks do…and that “gross” can have two syllables, at least in the South!
Don’t worry, the chicken will be dead soon– that’s Lily of the Valley, and chickens can NEVER resist pecking what’s nearby!
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Clickum boxosis.
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I call drumsticks
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So, you’re saying that the artist should have had a stem of hare-bells? https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/campanula_rotundifolia.shtml
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Ooh, now those are pretty!
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You know, I saw the picture and the comment (Which I know was meant Ironically Sarah, I’m not trying to be a dolt here), and it occurred to me that this entirely innocent illustration from a Victorian children’s book illustrates how completely we’ve been indoctrinated by Hollywood. We see it, and the urge to twist it becomes immense. I have to make an effort to go back to the children’s story version.
Which I am not ashamed to say I did. Immediately constructing a cute narrative about friendly bunnies helping out the baby chick for Easter made me feel better. Mostly because it puts a thumb in the eye of every sick bastard trying to make things ugly. I’m weirdly aggressive about my cute narratives.
Go bunnies go!
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Given the pose of the chick and the way the bunnies have reins leading to their mouths, it looks to me like the chick is being presented as a person and the bunnies as dumb horse-analog animals. Which is perfectly copacetic if the bunnies pictured really are dumb animals.
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Right? It’s supposed to be cute, there’s no need to read some darker nightmare into it. Unless you’re an Ivory Tower academic of course, they never seem to do anything else.
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Do chickens have heels?
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no. It’s poetic heels.
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Was trying for lieteral-minded humor. Ah, well.
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Good thing it wasn’t littoral or they’d all get wet. Carp can live there though.
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Oof.
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Chickens have spurs, even protective mother hens; Ask me how I know :)
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I know that. I grew up with the beasties. Even had a few that were mine particularly, and therefore pets.
My most memorable Easter, I must have been three, and I woke up to grandma bringing me an egg that was starting to hatch. The flurry chick came out on my hand. He — alas — grew up to be one of ugliest naked-neck roosters ever. But…. very gentle, and being one of the grandkid’s pets allowed to live out his natural life. I considered saying “the cruel spur of the chickens” but well, tradition.
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Yes, but some chicken spurs come in through the door, and others come in through the window :)
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Bunny One to Bunny Two: “Don’t blame me, I voted for Kodos.”
-Obligatory Simpsons reference
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:sings: Don’t you want some bunny to love?
Don’t you need some bunny to love?
Woul’n’ya love some bunny to love?
You betta find some bunny to luuuu-uh-uh-uuuuuuuhv…..
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…you are evil. Even on my sliding scale
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My kids all got custom lullabies, though!
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Oh dear. Mine too.
To the tune of I’m an elephant too, after Robert was immensely cheered by Jurassic park (what? It was a drive in. He woke up in the middle of it.)
“I’m a dinosaur too
I can do all that dinosaurs do
I can eat raw goat
And chase a jeep or two
That’s what dinosaurs do.”
Or
“Are you lonesome tonight
Are you neckbolts too tight
Did you know that your bride is a fright”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Rock-a-bye baby in the tree top
If there’s an earthquake the tree’ll go kerplop.
If there’s a thunderstorm and lighting strikes,
You’ll get kind of fried and glow in the night.
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To be fair, I only hate her because I didn’t think of it first.
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Every bunny needs some bunny sometimes …..
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Sounds like you’re shilling for a certain bunny YOU keep mentioning:
I’m guessing he won’t mind the help, though.
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Still a hilarious video. :D
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I’d send in the feline cavalry, but… Looks at all four of them H is a little too chunky to catch up, L would eat both sides, and R and C would be too busy demanding snuggles from the human to make like their namesakes and fight! We’ll just have to wish the bunnies good luck!
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:) The poor downtrodden rabbits are all out of luck if they pass by my household, too. There’s a total chungus that’d just watch them go by, a little furry killer that’d eat ALL of them, and a big playful guy that’d pounce on them, bat them around, and cheerfully harass all of them until either they died of exhaustion or he got distracted.
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Well, at least that way the communist Peter the Rabbit finally is gainfully employed in a useful job.
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“I’m telling you man, if we were carnivores this wouldn’t happen to us.”
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Good point. Maybe they just need some inspiration from the right rabbit:
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https://pin.it/5rcjbuA
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Free the bunnies! Chicken out!
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Every bunny needs some bunny sometime…
(Sing it in Dean Martin’s voice)
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The little bunny wrapped in a pink ribbon is so pretty. I want to hug her!
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<3
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Happy Easter!
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Hoopy oyster
More a Good Friday tune, but here:
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“I know a guy who knows a guy who has a war-surplus panzerfaust. One well-placed HEAT round, and that tyrant bird’ll be Extra-Crispy….”
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Right, time to go make some egg salad!
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Good old Amazing Cultivation Simulator (a xianxia game, if you’re familiar with that genre). Yesterday I was collecting dragon poop for my cultivation room.
And by cultivation, I’m not talking about plants.
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Very familiar with the genre.
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Don’t you want some bunny to love
Don’t you need some bunny to love
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Is “go hug some bunny” similar to “go hug a Chinaman”? [Crazy Grin]
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Probably safer. Unless they’re wild bunnies.
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Or a Vorpal bunny.
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I looked at the illustration and my first thought was “Oh, albino bunnies. They need dark glasses.” (The eyes show up as red-pink on my laptop screen.) And I second the thought about being too conditioned to see something bad in a purely innocent Victorian illustration.
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And now, looking at the pink ears and claws, I’m wondering if they are rabbits of Annwn, or might once have been part of a Wild Hunt . . . [When writer minds wander, they go very, very Odd places.]
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I’m thinking that Frith would be most disappointed in El-ahrairah’s descendants.
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Hazel and Bigwig will be along soon, and those who have the old spirit will have their chance to slip the harness.
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Do you see the size of that chick? Imagine that of the chicken!
Yeah, you can say, “Man, those Victorians had funny notions of perspective,” but if you treat them as real. . . .
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Happy Easter to you and may your day be bright and full of the things you need.
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My Himself bless and keep you, all who read this. May your conscience be light no matter your burdens, may you find joy and happiness despite the bustle and mess, may there be meaning in what suffering you bear, and the nasties of the world find something else to do for a bit.
May we face our follies and wrongheadedness with humility, our families with pride, and our future with clear eyes, whatever it may be.
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Amen.
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Happy Easter, everyone! He is risen!
That picture brings to mind a story about my niece from about 15 years ago. My dad hatched a brood of chicks in the kitchen, and kept them there in a pasteboard box until they were old enough to transition to the coop. I was up the hall; my ~6 year old niece was quite enamored of the chicks, and I could hear her exclaiming how cute they were (um, “clucking” over them?). Anyway, I heard her say, “Look, granddaddy, I have one on my lap! And another! I’m going to get them all on my lap!” I thought to myself, “THIS isn’t going to end well – for her.” “One…two…three…four…GRRR-OSSSSSSS!” I knew egg-zactly what had happened; just what I thought would. A learning experience for her…she learned what chicks do…and that “gross” can have two syllables, at least in the South!
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c4c
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