Then I started thinking about the myth...I mainly remember hearing recently about the phoenix in a Harry Potter book. Now what was its name?? Something like hawks. Oh, it was Fawkes.
I don't know what that name might mean to Brits, except wasn't there a Guy Fawkes? But when I say the word, I first hear something describing a red-furred canine with a bushy tail, the Fox.
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| The finished vase with Phoenix |
Oh, the other thing J.K. Rowling did was remind us of the ability of a Phoneix's tear to heal, even from death. Remember a heroine was lying dead and Fawkes flew over and cried a tear on her? At least that's how I remember it.
So what about the original myth?
Off I go to the internet.
Whether Egyptian, Chinese, Phoenician, Greek, Roman or ??? it is always a bird which lives very long (500 years often) then dies in a fire, only to arise newly born from the ashes. Great for pre-Easter thoughts, isn't it?
But apparently my brief search didn't find a story or myth in which a Phoenix did anything particularly brave or foolish. So I'm glad that Rowling was able to give him a staring roll with her hero. Incidentally, if you don't remember, Fawkes was a familiar of Gandalf...oh dear, wrong fantasy. Did you catch that? It was another elder wizard with Harry Potter, Headmaster Dumbeldore.
OK, I'll go play in another pile of clay and colors to make something else that tickles my fantasies.
Today's Quote:
As long as
the candle burns, there is time to make repairs.
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Rabbi Salanter
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