100 Days And Nights 1000 Years Ago

Rapidly written micro fictions accompanied by medieval motives found or created in the wayward course of researching a new novel about the dark ages—a part of the 100 Days 2011 project.

May 23rd 2011

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Is it true, Gisela asked Gerbert, that at a time before our time there were no children at all. How so, said the monk. Because we were born already fully shaped and perfectly groomed, said the girl, from birth to death to Heaven. And where does this idea come from, said Gerbert – not from studying the bible, I presume. No, she said, I dreamt it. I dreamt that there was no play, only work: infinite numbers of men and women were weaving an endless tapestry without knowing why or if they could ever stop. Surely for the glory of God, said Gerbert, who’d begun to roll his rosary, and surely only until the Day of Judgement. I’m not sure, said Gisela, I’m not sure at all. She smiled and returned to her handiwork. The monk looked at her sideways, quickly running the wooden pearls through his fingers. The girl’s mind struck him as spidery and he wondered if there was a spider goddess anywhere in the Lord’s kingdom and if it might assume the shape of a young woman.

#2/100 Days 2011. Photo: detail from Pieter Breughel, Children’s Games (1560)

Posted at 6:01pm and tagged with: 100days2011, breughel, play, toys, children, kids, Gerbert, Gisela, bible, birth, death, Judgement, games, spider, goddess,.

Is it true, Gisela asked Gerbert, that at a time before our time there were no children at all. How so, said the monk. Because we were born already fully shaped and perfectly groomed, said the girl, from birth to death to Heaven. And where does this idea come from, said Gerbert – not from studying the bible, I presume. No, she said, I dreamt it. I dreamt that there was no play, only work: infinite numbers of men and women were weaving an endless tapestry without knowing why or if they could ever stop. Surely for the glory of God, said Gerbert, who’d begun to roll his rosary, and surely only until the Day of Judgement. I’m not sure, said Gisela, I’m not sure at all. She smiled and returned to her handiwork. The monk looked at her sideways, quickly running the wooden pearls through his fingers. The girl’s mind struck him as spidery and he wondered if there was a spider goddess anywhere in the Lord’s kingdom and if it might assume the shape of a young woman. #2/100 Days 2011. Photo: detail from Pieter Breughel, Children’s Games (1560)