A Gnome By Any Other Name

My paternal grandmother was born in a rural area of Sweden in 1891, and when I was a boy she told me stories of the Tomte (as I understand it, Tomte is plural and the singular is Tomten), small beings that took the appearance of old, bearded men. The Tomte were no more than 3 feet tall and wore pointed hats, which we’ve of course come to associate with gnomes and similar creatures. Legend tells that the Tomte were capable of invisibility and could shapeshift, sometimes taking the appearance of a large, grown man.

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Dreaming of Elves

Last night I actually had a dream about elves.  It was that time of night when I had just barely fallen asleep.  I found myself walking around in the land behind my house.  It was night time and the grasses and sage were high, as it is now, only there did seem to be a LOT more of it.  When I looked down in the grass there were little men, probably not much more than a foot high.  I suppose they sort of looked like gnomes, so far as clothing, but they had no beards and rather than a pointy hat, they had flat caps.  I remember they had very round faces.  They were holding lanterns and seemed to be searching for something.  I was shocked to see them there, so shocked that it woke me up.

Through someone else's eyes

I am not sure what if anything this has to do with elves, but it has to do with dreams and reality. 

Last year I had a very detailed, real seeming dream.  Now, understand that I don't normally remember my dreams, but I remembered everything about this one and still do.

In the dream, I was not Lesley and yet was Lesley.  In physical form I was a very beautiful and young Chinese girl, early 20s at most.  It was modern times and I was in a big city, perhaps Beijing.  I made my way through the streets and to a large apartment building.  I knew I would see friends in there.  I took the elevator up, got off and walked through a long hallway until I came to the apartment where my friends were.  Knocked and went in.  Everyone was speaking Chinese and I totally understood that something had gone very wrong and they were very upset.  A moment later a group of men come through the door and begin shooting everyone.  They shoot me a couple times and I lay on the floor pretending to be dead.  I made a big mistake and moved.  They tell one of the men to shoot me again.  As I look up at him I realize he is someone that I am very close to, someone that I have a sexual/love relationship with, but it is secret.  He pretends to shoot me, but actually shoots the floor right next to me.  The other guys aren't paying attention because they are looking for something and so they just assume he shot me again.  I lay very still.  They finally leave.  I continue to lay there, afraid to move, afraid they may come back.  I am covered in blood.  I finally crawl to the door, get out and crawl along the hallway.  The dream ends.

The thing that gets me about this dream is that I really feel that while sleeping I had somehow entered the body of a real person and shared her horrible experience with her.  Aside from that I felt she knew I was there and wanted me to see these things.

I still don't know what to make of that dream.  I have never had a dream (that I remember) in which I was a totally different person, in a totally different country and speaking a different language. 

Whoever that girl was I hope that someone found her and that she lived.

Add -- Something I forgot to mention, the only reason I knew that I was a beautiful Chinese girl is because the apartment I was in had a huge mirror that I saw myself in.  I was shocked to not see my actual self in that mirror.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Have a great one -- no matter what you celebrate!  Do make sure you find something to celebrate though.

Santa's Elves

Over at Lisa Shiel's blog she has a poll -- Are Santa's Elves Real?

While I would say that Santa's Elves are not real, that doesn't mean they aren't based on beings that are real.  It is my feeling that all fictional stories have some basis in truth.  Just because I have never seen an elf doesn't mean that they don't exist and that others haven't seen them.