Pookah!
I've been trying to remember this word for three days!
The other morning I went off (as I said) grumbling about my failure to get up early. But there was still some mist around the ford and though a bit bleary*, I pointed the camera up river and what with the sun in my eyes** and the sparkle of the water, really, I didn't know what I was looking at. Just that it looked quite possibly like a picture.And when I got home, there was the Pookah : Which roughly translates from the celtic as a riverhorse. A creature of myth which would emerge from the river, change into a horse shape and lure the unwary human into riding on its back. Whereupon it would leap back into the water, change back into its fearsome pookah shape and first drown and then devour the foolishly greedy*** and unfortunate rider.
And then of course there was the Kraken.
Mind, I think Krakens inhabited the ocean and trapped unwary sailors with their tentacles. Still, in a Berkshire bog you may see something like this pretending to be a tree. Obviously it's something much more .... monstrous than a tree :)*My typo for bleary was 'brealy'. It took me ages to work out what I'd meant to say - brealy looks quite meaningful don't you think. Once I'd started trying to work out what I could possibly have meant by brealy, it took me ages to remember the original.
**It's probably an occupational hazard - little suns floating across the vision because you forgot not to look at it while trying to work out how best to catch the light:)
***Which only goes to show that there was no such thing as a free ride, even in mythic celtic times. And possibly, that you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth because it might eat you!
9 comments:
that horse has wings! AMAZING!!!!!!!
:-D
(my mother always told me never to look a gift horse in the mouth, and I never understood why and then I thought about it a while back I figured that it was perhaps because its teeth might not be up to much)
and what with mel's gimps and goobers, now I can add "brealy" to my vocab too. . .
;-)
But what does it mean??? (brealy)
You don't look a gift horse in the mouth because it's teeth will tell you how old it is (not literally, I mean they don't talk or anything.) And it would be rude to appear to be judging the age of your gift.
brealy is a word that describes a fashion of walking slowly and carefully thru thorny undergrowth and striding across dew filled fields early in the morning and down hidden paths not quite knowing what is around the corner, in almost a state of suspension (in the adverb form)
but it is also one of those bizarre English words that describes a scene (in the adjectival form), and a brealy scene is kind of quiet and mute but with a hidden message if you are patient, the colours of the scene are muted, but not faded or "removed" like sepia - the opposite, just about to all burst out; and a brealy person is someone who might need their fringe trimmed a little so you have a clearer view of their sparling eyes, and you know that if you listen to them you will hear wisdom but at the same time they do not strut or squark about their wisdom - it's more subltle than that
it is not a word with negative connotations*, but is a subtle word with hope and light and hidden depths and a clarity that only comes with pausing to take time to appreciate what will come if you pause and take time (*altho like many words, people sometimes get that wrong)
Ooh what a fabulous word! Did I really discover all that in a typo? I shall treasure it :)
Whoaaaaaa......
Not only do I see the Pookah, I see the wings!
Brealy!
What a great word.
Might haffta steal that hopefilled one...
In the photo of your Kraken, I see a kodama which is a tree spirit. Now how cool is that? If you Google images Kodama you can see what i am talking about!
VERy cool! It means your forest is healthy!
I believe it's my word Mel, so you may have it for free :)
And yes it does seem to have wings! Have to watch out for wet, winged horses then :)
A japanese tree spirit at that! How satisfying :)
Thank you Sorrow :)
:-)
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