all the alphabets of her land

[asakiyume]

Posting two days in a row, what?? Is this 2010?

But I wanted to share this quote from Zig Zag Claybourne's Breath, Warmth, and Dream, which I'm reading at a very leisurely pace:


"'There was once'--Orsys stopped to think--'that I taught a child queen to print her name in all the alphabets of her land.'"

Now that's a worthy thing for a child queen to learn. And after learning to write her name, she can learn to write the names of people who use these alphabets, can learn to conform her mouth to their names. But not all alphabets are human-made. Maybe the child queen also learned the alphabet of leaf miners, or the alphabet of animal tracks across a snowy field, or the alphabet of clam siphon holes in the sand.

What language and alphabet would you like to learn to write your name in?

Comments

How lovely

[smoothbores]

Oh! The language and alphabet of the wind, if possible, please)

Re: How lovely

[asakiyume]

May it be so!

[sartorias]

So lovely!

[asakiyume]

🥰💛💛

[sovay]

What language and alphabet would you like to learn to write your name in?

Rockweed, barnacles, periwinkle-tracks; or moss.

[asakiyume]

I was thinking about barnacles. And about the patterns on humpback whales' flippers and tails.

Of course there's the language of humpback whales themselves, too...

[sovay]

Of course there's the language of humpback whales themselves, too...

An alphabet of whalesong would have to be carved in currents and bubbles.

[asakiyume]

--giving new meaning to Keats's "writ on water"

[lokifan]

To write it in the curlicues of ivy, I think. Or to speak it in the wind over the sea.

[asakiyume]

Oh, I would love to learn the alphabet and language of tendrils, yes!

[summersgate]

I love reading your thought excursions.

[asakiyume]

Thank you so much--that makes me very happy!

[cmcmck]

Badger!

[asakiyume]

Now that would be a great language to learn!

[puddleshark]

The language of the flocks of wading birds wheeling above the harbour. Not an easy alphabet, I think - the way it shimmers and vanishes as the flock twists and turns above the water.

[asakiyume]

Yes, the cursive of those twists and turns. So much personality in the (collective) handwriting.

[light_of_summer]

Belated comment: This is a beautiful post, and question, and set of responses—thank you!

It reminds me of a three-part short story by Ursula K. Le Guin, called "The Author of the Acacia Seeds"—do you know it? If not, you may be able to find it online, here: https://xenoflesh.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/ursula-k.-le-guin.pdf (but that link could go away if UKLeG's estate gets wind of it...)

In more traditional publishing, the story is included in several different short story collections—this LibraryThing web page lists them in the "Work Relationships"(!) section of the page: https://www.librarything.com/work/3848245/main

As for me, I think I might like to learn the language of marine rays (bat rays, manta rays, stingrays, pelagic rays...), and possibly octopus. Not so much to be able to write my name in them, as to be able to dance them, and to understand the dances of those born to those languages. (Ahhhhhhhh...😌)

[asakiyume]

I don't know that LeGuin story, and I'm always down for reading more of her, so thank you for that! I downloaded it and will read it later today. ... and I have an email in my inbox from myself to myself reminding me to borrow her short story collections from the library...

And I love your wish to be able to dance like/understsnd the marine rays and the optopuses. Beautiful <3

[light_of_summer]

Yay! I'm glad to be able to introduce you to the story! 😊

If/when you go looking for other UKLeG short stories in collections, I particularly liked some of the other stories in the collection where I first read "Author of the Acacia Seeds:" Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences.

Wishing you enjoyment and wonder!