I've been working at a fever pitch on the new series of "Shield" wall hangings.
It's also been a week of many interruptions from people I love, who need a little extra support lately. I don't mind--it's almost as if the extra help I'm getting allows me a little extra time to listen.
Yet I feel a sense of urgency with the series that goes beyond the deadlines of exhibition and fair. I can't sense the finished look of these pieces, which makes it hard. I only know I must hurry.
It reminds me of the Hans Christian Andersen story of the Swan Princes. I adored fairy tales as a young person, and this was one of my favorites.
The Swan Princes were eleven brothers turned into swans under an evil spell. To restore them to their human state, their sister had to gather nettles from the graveyard at midnight, trample them with her bare feet, spin the fibers into yarn and fashion cloaks for each of them. But if she spoke a single word before the task was done, her brothers would remain swans forever.
Her silence nearly dooms her, and in her haste to save her brothers--and herself--she leaves one cloak half-finished. At the last possible minute, she covers them with the savage garments and they are restored--except for the youngest brother with the half-finished cloak, who is left with one swan wing for an arm.
This story haunts me. That last little bit about the youngest brother always, always made me cry.
Something tells me to hurry with these shields. And to be quick to get these stories into the world.
http://www.barefoot-books.com/bb_files/1565/1565-02_25_05-image_1_lg.gif
