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The Sky Tree
Of the origins of The Sky Tree, P.K. Page wrote:
All my life I have loved fairy tales. When young, I was lucky enough to have parents who read them to me-parents who loved them too. Now that I am older, I approach them less literally and respond to them more deeply. They are tales of hope. They show me unexpected things about myself and the world. They are rich in reminders of perseverance and kindliness. And, even more important, they persuade me that another, invisible world can manifest itself within our three-dimensional, daily one.
In the light of all this, it is not surprising that I should want to write a fairy story myself-a traditional fairy story. But I was never able to do so. And then, one night, the phrase "blue blood"; came into my head. Webster defines it-and I quote-as "membership in a noble or socially prominent family";. The Shorter Oxford-to quote again-says, "tr. Sp. sangre azul claimed by certain families of Castile as being uncontaminated [sic] by Moorish, Jewish or other admixture; probably founded on the blueness of the veins of people of fair complexion.";
"Blue blood";-sea-blue blood-so my idle thoughts ran. But, of course! Why hadn't I seen it before? "Blue blood"; had nothing to do with class or race. It was a term applied to the wise, to those who, symbolically, had been to the sea-that mythical source of all life, the "great mother";, which, in most cultures, represents wisdom, wholeness, truth-and as a result, in whose veins flowed, symbolically again, blood that was [sea] blue.
And as far as Royalty being "blue-blooded";-[royal blue, note!]-perhaps, in some Golden Age, "blue blood"; had nothing to do with lineage and everything to do with wisdom; and that seeking his successor, the old King in the fairy tales was trying to find a young man as wise or, in my terminology, as "blue-blooded"; as he. I can't think of a single tale in which the Kingdom automatically goes to the rightful heir.
But I am no scholar. I am no etymologist either, and I am not trying to persuade you of the rightness of my notion. Perhaps there was no Golden Age when Kings were chosen for their wisdom-perhaps that happens only in fairy tales. But, interestingly, on checking four historically wise rulers, I found that three-Solomon, Alexander the Great, and Charlemagne-had no clear titles to the kingdoms they ruled, and that the fourth-Haroun el-Rashid, Charlemagne's friend-had a curiously unconventional line of ascent.
So that is where my ruminations about "blue blood"; led me; and how I came to write a traditional fairy tale in which a young man, in order to win the hand of the Princess, made the long journey to the sea. In so doing, he proved himself a wise and worthy successor to the old King.
All my life I have loved fairy tales. When young, I was lucky enough to have parents who read them to me-parents who loved them too. Now that I am older, I approach them less literally and respond to them more deeply. They are tales of hope. They show me unexpected things about myself and the world. They are rich in reminders of perseverance and kindliness. And, even more important, they persuade me that another, invisible world can manifest itself within our three-dimensional, daily one.
In the light of all this, it is not surprising that I should want to write a fairy story myself-a traditional fairy story. But I was never able to do so. And then, one night, the phrase "blue blood"; came into my head. Webster defines it-and I quote-as "membership in a noble or socially prominent family";. The Shorter Oxford-to quote again-says, "tr. Sp. sangre azul claimed by certain families of Castile as being uncontaminated [sic] by Moorish, Jewish or other admixture; probably founded on the blueness of the veins of people of fair complexion.";
"Blue blood";-sea-blue blood-so my idle thoughts ran. But, of course! Why hadn't I seen it before? "Blue blood"; had nothing to do with class or race. It was a term applied to the wise, to those who, symbolically, had been to the sea-that mythical source of all life, the "great mother";, which, in most cultures, represents wisdom, wholeness, truth-and as a result, in whose veins flowed, symbolically again, blood that was [sea] blue.
And as far as Royalty being "blue-blooded";-[royal blue, note!]-perhaps, in some Golden Age, "blue blood"; had nothing to do with lineage and everything to do with wisdom; and that seeking his successor, the old King in the fairy tales was trying to find a young man as wise or, in my terminology, as "blue-blooded"; as he. I can't think of a single tale in which the Kingdom automatically goes to the rightful heir.
But I am no scholar. I am no etymologist either, and I am not trying to persuade you of the rightness of my notion. Perhaps there was no Golden Age when Kings were chosen for their wisdom-perhaps that happens only in fairy tales. But, interestingly, on checking four historically wise rulers, I found that three-Solomon, Alexander the Great, and Charlemagne-had no clear titles to the kingdoms they ruled, and that the fourth-Haroun el-Rashid, Charlemagne's friend-had a curiously unconventional line of ascent.
So that is where my ruminations about "blue blood"; led me; and how I came to write a traditional fairy tale in which a young man, in order to win the hand of the Princess, made the long journey to the sea. In so doing, he proved himself a wise and worthy successor to the old King.
Submitted on March 10, 2010 in By David.
