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Putri Prihatini

@BlogTolkien

Jun 20

For #Tolkien, Faerie is the land of endless beauty and peril, where humility is required. The concept is present in many of his works, but it's also something I'm familiar with from what's known as Hutan Larangan ("sacred forest").

A 🧵for #TolkienTrewsday #TolkienTuesday 1/8

In Tolkien's early writing, an explorer, Eriol, was about to enter a tiny magical house called the Cottage of Lost Play. The house asked him to will himself to be as tiny as the "little folk" to enter. We can read it as a test of humility. 2/8
🎨: Amani Warrington

https://twitter.com/BlogTolkien/status/1667514979191525377

One of Tolkien's "fairy poems" showed the consequence of acting with arrogance when you got a chance to enter the Faerie: the unnamed narrator was reduced to a rambling wreck, suffering an indescribable feeling of loss. 3/8

https://twitter.com/BlogTolkien/status/1667514979191525377

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Putri Prihatini

@BlogTolkien

Jun 13

The Ebony Horse in Arabian Nights and Iron Dragons in The Fall of Gondolin shared fascination over mechanical beasts in classic fantasy tales, and how they are viewed in the lens of folktale/fairy tale and modern eyes. 1/4
#TolkienTrewsday #TolkienTuesday #Tolkien

In The Ebony Horse, the flying horse was made by a craftsman who was later imprisoned over a disastrous flying test; he tampered with the horse for revenge. Meglin (Maegln) suggested the Iron Dragons to Melko, who ordered his smiths and sorcerers to make them. 2/4

Note that Tolkien started The Fall of Gondolin after his experiences in the battlefield of Somme. The Iron Dragons, with their "hearts and spirits of blazing fire" and clanging hollow bellies from where Orcs poured out, sounds like magic infused with the image of tanks. 3/4

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Putri Prihatini

@BlogTolkien

Jun 13

"The Battle of Sơn Tinh and Thủy Tinh" is a Vietnamese myth behind monsoon flooding; a fight between Mountain God and Lord of Waters to win the hand of a princess, ending in perpetual grudge of the water lord.

A tale for #FairyTaleTuesday #FairyTaleFlash theme of weather. 1/4

Mỵ Nương, a great king's daughter, was so beautiful that she wanted only the best suitors to show their powers. Sơn Tinh waved his hand to grow trees and raise mountains. Thủy Tinh summoned strong wind and rain and increased the sea level, making the choice difficult. 2/4

Seeing Thủy Tinh's high temper, the king asked the suitors to race in bringing wedding gifts: a nine-tusk elephant, a nine-spur cockerel, and a nine-mane horse. This was a ploy to choose the gentler Sơn Tinh, since the gifts could be found more easily on his realm. 3/4

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Putri Prihatini

@BlogTolkien

Jun 10

For #BookWormSat theme of the sea:

a 🧵 on one of my favorite #Tolkien's poems, The Sea-Bell (Frodos Dreme). First published on 18 January 1934 in The Oxford Magazine, it has themes like dream, mortality and alienation; beginning with a shell that emits the sound of the sea. 1/8

A stranger found a white shell on the beach. When he put it on his ears, he heard the distant sounds of harbors and the seas. He saw "a boat, silently float/on the night-tide, empty and grey." It took him to a strange land where the inhabitants fled upon seeing him. 2/8

He climbed a mound and made himself a king, but darkness descended upon him, turning him "blinded and bent." He dwelt in the forest "wandering in wit", growing old and weary. A year and a day later, the ship returned and he boarded it to his own land. 3/8

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Putri Prihatini

@BlogTolkien

May 23

For my second #TolkienTrewsday tweet on "animals": a thread on Tolkien's quaint poem about a dreaming cat. In the legendarium, this poem was written by Samwise Gamgee, showing Hobbits' love toward lighthearted animal lore. 1/12

#TolkienTuesday #Tolkien
🎨: Patrick Tolen

Tolkien wrote it in 1956 for his granddaughter, starting it with a cute image of a cat sleeping. One might think this cat was dreaming of mice and a bowl of cream:

The fat cat on the mat/
may seem to dream/
of nice mice that suffice/
for him, or cream.
But they're wrong!

2/12

This seemingly tame cat dreamed about being a large, ferocious beast. Tolkien described the animal in the cat's dream as its distant kin:

Lean and slim/
or deep in den/
in the East feasted on beasts/
and tender men.

3/12
🎨: Alan Lee

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Putri Prihatini

@BlogTolkien

May 21

#FolkloreSunday 🧵 on whale sharks as local folklore in some areas in Indonesia:

Balikukup locals in my home province East Borneo call them Hiu Nenek ("Grandmother Shark"). Seen as a benevolent grandmother, fisherfolk consider it good luck if a shark swims past their boats. 1/8

Still in East Borneo, fisherfolk of Derawan Islands and Talisayan see the sharks as a blessing, since their appearance signify more fish to catch. In Talisayan, whale sharks even swim up for "breakfast" when fisherfolk throw less-than-ideal fish from their nets to them. 2/8

Villagers of Botubarani, Gorontalo Regency, call whale sharks Munggianggo Hulalo ("Moon Shark"). When they appear, people see it as a good time to fish. Locals feed the sharks fish and shrimp's heads to beckon them, and they are so friendly that children can play with them. 3/8

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