HAIKU

I was reading through Mrs. Trowbridge's poetry the other night and one particular poem, a haiku about a Coast mole, prompted me to take you back to where the Shrew Khan story and all the other stories originated...in the rain forest village of Huckleberry Hollow.

If you're not familiar with the haiku, it's a simple poem consisting of three lines. The first line contains five syllables, the second seven, and the third five syllables. With these limitations, the poem must convey the message very simply. Mrs. T was a master, or should I say, a mistress of the haiku, as evidenced by this poem that she wrote about her Coast mole neighbor, Phinneas, who lived just down the path:

Mole, he burrows deep
to find some fat grubs to munch
Does he ever sleep?

Several months ago I posted this page, but it was one of Mrs. Trowbridge's sketch pages. I thought you might like to see her full color page.

ALOFT!

Since the last episode when the war balloons were introduced, many have inquired about the inventor of the shrew hot air balloon. He was briefly mentioned in a recent episode, but few details were given. Mrs. Trowbridge mentioned him frequently in her historical writings but unfortunately she never sketched him. His name was Ajith Gee. Mrs. T described him as a peculiar looking erudite individual with a squatty body and an especially long snout---"geeky" might best describe him in the modern vernacular.

The shrew hot air balloon was but one of his many inventions. He was a prolific innovator, notable in the ancient shrew world for creating numerous devices that became a part of the shrew culture during the Nang Dynasty, and up into the time of Mrs. T's writings. Perhaps in another episode we will discuss some of Gee's other noteworthy inventions.

So now our story takes to the sky...but where and how will it land? We shall see...