26/1001 - 2/5/25 -

Short Story: The Cricket from Chinese Fairy Tales & Fantasies translated & edited by Moss Robert's

The story was borderline tragic at the end, but there was a twist and shake in the plot that reminded me of O. Henry. 

Essay: A Child's Garden of Bewilderment by Martin Gardner from "Only Connect: readings on children's literature." Check out the cover art. I'm not sure what's going on there. An armless, winged, well-endowed mermaid ferry in a cloud? With fake blue eyelashes and curly mullet? Printed in 1969. The 60s were wild, man.

Poem:

"There is a Budding Morrow in Midnight"

by Christina Rossetti

Wintry boughs against a wintry sky

        Yet the sky is partly blue

         And the clouds are partly bright.

Who can tell but sap is mounting high

        Out of sight,

Ready to burst through.

Winter is the mother-nurse of Spring,  

    Lovely for her daughter's sake,

         Not unlovely for her own;

For a future buds in everything

         Grown or blown

Or about to break.