I is for Imp

As used in English vocab, an imp is a mischievous, troublemaking child. It refers to the mythical creature from fairy stories. An imp is a small fairy or gremlin-like character who spends a lot of time pulling jokes and hanging out in the underworld. Unlike other meddling underworld creatures, imps have a certain innocence about them. This little blurb from Wikipedia reminds me of some of my past students - don't tell them!

"Imps were often portrayed as lonely little creatures always in search of human attention. They often used jokes and pranks as a means of attracting human friendship, which often backfired when people became tired or annoyed of the imp's endeavors, usually driving it away."

So don't mind the imp's misbehavior. It's just a screen for needing attention. Not that they'd do anything seriously troubling...

"Most of the time, the pranks were harmless fun, but some could be upsetting and harmful, such as switching babies."

Oh. 

The Fox and the Crow

Took a break from my current project to paint something besides monsters doing alphabet yoga.

The painting's based on one of Aesop's fables. In the story, the fox flatters a vain crow into singing for him. The crow opens his beak to sing, thus dropping a piece of cheese which the fox quickly steals away.

My favorite version comes from the band mewithoutYou, which is based on Bawa Muhaiyaddeen's interpretation of the fable in My Love You My Children. It culminates in a very different moral played out in bizarre lyrical brilliance:

We'll rest upon the Knee

Where all divisions cease to be

And rootbeer float in our banana boat

Across the tapioca sea

When letting all attachments go

Is the only prayer we know

May it be so

May it be so

May it be so

The Ettin

E is for Ettin, a two-headed giant. He's a lazy one, and doesn't get moving much. I applied some watercolor "blooms" to his skin to look as if large patches of lichen had grown over time.

The Ettin is an etymological evolution of the Jøtunn, or Frost-Giants, of old Norse mythology. In Old English, Jøtunn became Eoten which in turn became Ettin.

This guy (or guys?) isn't specifically named in many monster tales. However, they are present in C.S. Lewis' Narnia. The majority of The Silver Chair takes place in a region north of Narnia called Ettinsmoore, which happens to be the cold, mountainous home of the giants.