[COMPLETE]The desirable alien at home in Germany/V Hunt-ans

[annise]

My opinion when it's a new chapter is that the author intended there to be a break. And if it's a thought provoking book I enjoy having time to think

Anne

[barbara2]

Hi Paul, Section 12, A Landgräfin and her Confessor:

https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/desirablealien_12_hunt_128kb.mp3
M:S
17:35

Best,

Barbara

Charlemagne's signature! (or his mark, rather)

[SkyRider]

Section 12 PL OK

[barbara2]

At last, Paul, Section 13 - Lions and Lace Curtains


https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/desirablealien_13_hunt_128kb.mp3
M:S
22:40


Best,

Barbara

I googled Hildesheim, where you "are in the Middle Ages", and read that it had taken Bomber Command only 17 minutes to destroy it.

[SkyRider]

I guess a Middle Ages town is more wood than stone so fairly flimsy compared to wartime bombs - of course, these days even stone wouldn't be enough.

Anyway, section 13 was another tour-de-force on your part - PL OK.

Cheers,
Paul

[barbara2]

Thanks for another prompt PL, Paul. Violet Hunt is such a flamboyant writer and, I read, personality too.

Best,

Barbara

[SkyRider]

I'm certainly enjoying listening to it - I've just realized that you're already halfway through!

[barbara2]

Section 14, Grand Dukes and Gipsies:

https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/desirablealien_14_hunt_128kb.mp3
M:S
18:18

Best,

Barbara

And, in case you haven't had enough of Pied Piper poetry yet , here's Goethe's take on him (set to music):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ63dJ1__ok

[SkyRider]

Section 14/Chapter 13 (confusing!) PL OK

I remember seeing the Pied Piper legend painted on the side of a house on one visit to Germany but it was a long way form Hamelin. Bavaria somewhere, might have been Oberammergau? Many of the houses were decorated with motifs of folk tales. I don't know if the decorations predated the Grimm brothers or were inspired by them but it was quite a spectacle.

[barbara2]

Section 15, Paul:

Great Danes, Geese, Mice and Schoolmasters


https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/desirablealien_15_hunt_128kb.mp3
M:S
31:50

Best,

Barbara

[SkyRider]

Section 15 PL OK

Interesting that it's the Great Dane that was popular rather than one of the more Germanic breeds. Perhaps it's a regional thing...

[barbara2]

Section 15 PL OK

Interesting that it's the Great Dane that was popular rather than one of the more Germanic breeds. Perhaps it's a regional thing...

Thanks, Paul. You inspired me to Google. I hope you enjoy trivia too. The German name is Deutsche Dogge*. The French name is Dogue Allemand. The English name used to be "German boarhound" then, as tempers flared, the breed name was changed to "grand danois" (from Buffon's Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière).

*Dogge, because they were bred in the early C17 from English Mastiffs imported into German courts as canine body guards for princes. So my guess is that there was some lingering social cachet in being accompanied everywhere by a Great Dane.

Best,

Barbara

[SkyRider]

So Great Danes are really German? Who'd have guessed? I also recently discovered that Danish pastries come from Austria so at this rate I'm going to be very suspicious of anything claiming Danish provenance...

[annise]

most of Europe spent thousands of years marching backwards and forwards over each other so its not really surprising that it's hard to know where things started from

Anne

[barbara2]

most of Europe spent thousands of years marching backwards and forwards over each other so its not really surprising that it's hard to know where things started from

Anne

Exactly, so now Sweden has had to acknowledge that its eponymous meatballs are actually Turkish and were adopted after some sort of affray with the Ottoman Empire. As "Örjan, the Forlorn" from Swedish Tourism admitted: "My whole life has been a lie".

Barbara