Happy Mother's Day to you from all of us at Beastly Virtues! ❤️

Cause and Effect...

Two rabbits sitting next to the entrance of their burrow while a couple of rabbits are gamboling in the background. Etching by J. Tookeyafter J. C. Ibbetson.

Credit: Wellcome Library, London.

In that moment when Betrüger’s teeth pierced her, the heat of that sharp pain flashed through Flitzen so powerfully that it brought her back to the memory of peace with Schatz. Memories were all that she had and they had begun to feel unreal. The inception of the bond that had been created and the rapport between her and Schatz were fading as she came back to consciousness. Flitzen was tattered and scarred with the trauma from the past few months. But she would awake to a new sorrow. A time of joy but mixed with mourning.

The Linden Tree

Dewdrop Marie-France Boissonneault

I walked into my school library this morning to see Christina Rosetti's Poem Hurt no Living Thing hanging on the wall...  And so, on this Earth Day, I thought I would share Jean Giono’s  L’homme qui plantait des arbres (1953). Giono’ story about Elzéard Bouffier was adapted by Canadian director Frédéric Back and released as The Man who Planted Trees in 1987 going onto win an Academy award for Best Animated Short in 1988. It is a story that is very close to my heart.

In previous posts, I have written about childhood tales that influenced my empathetic path and passion for writing narratives along the humane education stream. The Man who Planted Trees was introduced to me in a brilliant film class I took with my very best friend while in CEGEP. The story is one that speaks to me on several levels; from my ecological interests, respect for the world around me, and equally on a more personal level about the strength of character, dedication, devotion and determination that I see echoed in my family and close friends. In a world that seems more and more transient and less capable of fostering profound relationships, the story of Elzéard Bouffier is one that gives me comfort. Its deeper themes are reflected in the people that I have been blessed to call my family and honoured to call my friends…