April 15, 2021

P is for Plurimiregia #AtoZChallenge

         (My A-Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Mythical and Imaginary Places.  You can visit the Master List here to see all the other bloggers who are on this A to Z journey with me.)
        Plurimiregia is one of a pair of neighboring island kingdoms, the other being Allexanassa, somewhere far away from England.  The country is attractive, with fresh clear air, rolling wooded hills, and a charming, small capitol with a wall around it on which oranges grow.  One of its special properties is that the kings of this nation are allowed to know everything without having to learn it.  It’s all most idyllic.  Unfortunately, once a month the seawater runs away and great waves of thick treacle come sweeping around the islands so that no boat can sail through it.  Then a two-headed dragon swims up - he’s so hot inside that as he swims the treacle melts before him, creating a swimmable path - and arrives at the quay, where he is fed the king.  The dragon’s pig-shaped head eats the king of Plurimiregia, while the lizard-shaped head then eats the queen of Allexanassa.  This is why these kingdoms must constantly advertise for new rulers at the employment office.
        At least, so it was for many years, until one of the queens of Allexanassa found out about the tradition in time to warn the current king of Plurimiregia, and the two of them devised a plan, defeated the dragon, and lived happily ever after.  Upon the death of the dragon, however, the treacle remained and cooled into toffee.  It now stands up in cliffs two hundred feet tall above the borders with the real sea, and the great toffee-mines of Plurimiregia are the source of all the toffee sold in the rest of the world.
        Unfortunately, I can’t show you a good picture of this place because there aren’t a lot of illustrations and such as they are, they all focus on the characters rather than the setting.  However, I do have a scene from the garden of the palace of Plurimiregia, and a scene on the shore of the island as the two-headed dragon approaches in the distance.
        This short history of the Kingdom of Plurimiregia can be found recorded in a story by E. Nesbit, and shows us that kings and queens and prime ministers are much like other people, although of course much smarter and more talented once they’re able to know everything without learning.  We also see that people everywhere are inclined to let others suffer in order to keep themselves comfortable, although luckily the present king and queen are forgiving of this sad facet of human nature, and model better behavior for their people.  Which shows how nations thrive when their leaders are the best among them, rather than the worst.  (Just sayin'.)
        The MORAL of Plurimiregia:  When something goes wrong, best to be honest about the problem and ask for help, instead of lying to people.
              OR:  Know your Latin and Greek.
        So, if you could master any skill without having to learn it, what would you pick?


[Pictures: He came upon a little person in a large white cap, illustration by H.R. Millar from “Billy the King” by E. Nesbit, The Strand Magazine, July 1904 (Image from Internet Archive);
The arrival of the dragon, illustration by Brian Robb, 1977.]

12 comments:

Charlotte (MotherOwl) said...

I am in tow minds. Either Japanese or medicine given a skill for free. This was a new to me fantasy-kingdom. ... and I know my Latin and Greek ;)

Olga Godim said...

People skills, for certain. Sadly, I lack those, introvert to the bone. I don't even know how to learn those skills, or from whom?

Melanie Atherton Allen said...

This is charming! I thoroughly enjoyed reading about this, and was smiling for much of it.
As for skills... wow, I want so many of them, if no work is required. Computer programming. Playing a musical instrument (any would do). Sewing and clothes design. General gadget-skills. Languages!!! And among them Latin, which I studied for four years in high school but which I have allowed to fade slowly away. Oh, and if it is a skill to enjoy exercising, I could really use that one, too.

Lisa said...

I expected the illustrator of the dragon coming out of the water to be by Jules Feiffer. It reminds me very much of The Phantom Tollbooth illustrations.

Anne E.G. Nydam said...

Charlotte and Melanie, I'm definitely with you on the languages. My first choice skill would probably be knowing LOTS of languages (if I can count that as one thing.) But I, too, find it unfortunate that I don't particularly enjoy exercising. Perhaps I could choose "being in great shape" as a skill I didn't have to work at?

Lisa, you're right, that illustration does have that sketchy, loose look of Feiffer.

JadeLi said...

What an extraordinary place! Skills auto-known? My first would be to play the piano. I'd also love to know woodworking skills. Maybe 2 would be ok instead of just one?



My "P" song for the day:
http://tao-talk.com/2021/04/19/a2z-2021-jethro-tull-songs-day-16-pibroch-cap-in-hand-from-songs-from-the-wood-1977/

Anne E.G. Nydam said...

Jade, in Plurimiregia and Allexanassa you get it all! I just said "pick one" arbitrarily for my question. So, yeah, you would be a wonderful piano player and fabulous at woodworking... and also effortless at math, expert at plumbing, great at memorizing poetry (and presumably writing it, too), and with a solid working knowledge of everything else, too!

Anne Higa said...

I love this story! When I have more time, I am going to have to come back and visit all of these lands. I feel like they need to be savored. I am going to bookmark this page. If I could master any skill, I would want to be able to design my own world. I'd want this world to be able to hold all the worlds I really like in it. Okay that's pretty much my childhood dream in a nutshell. Alas, it hasn't happened yet! I love a great world system and love to visit!
Anne from annehiga.com

Deborah Weber said...

This tale delights me. I will forever have a treacle-swimming two-headed king-eating dragon imprinted in my memory. As far as skills-without-learning that I'd like to claim, I'd totally go for all of them that I have when I'm dreaming that have absolutely no reflection in my waking reality. In my dreams I'm a hidden polyglot, able to listen to all sorts of conversations in languages no one suspects I know; I am a fabulous dancer known to break out in spontaneous performance in the most unexpected places; and I can enter any place and find a secret room filled with all manner of treasures. I'd like all of those please.

Anne E.G. Nydam said...

Anyone who wants to read the whole story can find it at the "Internet Archive" link for the first illustration. That sends you to a digitised version of the Strand Magazine, where you can flip through the pages to the beginning of the story. (It's the same issue in which was published The Adventure of the Golden Pince Nez, which is pretty awesome!) I love this story, but I will issue a warning, though: I had read the version from which the 1977 illustration was taken, which has been slightly edited to remove just a few small bits of egregious sexism that you will find present in the 1904 original.

A Tarkabarka Hölgy said...

I need to read this story right away! :)


The Multicolored Diary

Ronel Janse van Vuuren said...

Interesting story!

Ronel visiting for the A-Z Challenge with an A-Z of Faerie: Paladin