Belle and the dragon. An elfin comedy

...wonder of a superb magnolia, which filled the entire atmosphere with a heavy fragrance. The evening dew drew out a more subtle perfume from a hedge of mock-orange original: syringa, and rare balsams offered up a nightly burnt offering of scent. There were lilies and azaleas in the conservatory, and hollyhocks and sunflowers in the long, lawn-centered garden behind.

Now, "some things are a mockery," as the preacher says A reference to the Book of Ecclesiastes., and what has been said concerning Ravendale has a certain flavor of a parable. It is not possible, even by stretching the literal truth, to convey its complete perfection. At the same time, it is true that it was a desirable villa, pleasantly surrounded by trees in a convenient West End neighborhood. It required a certain opening of one's inner senses to appreciate its spiritual atmosphere. However, once that ability was acquired, it would be easily seen that the whole place was an omen and a sign. Ravendale might well be—as it will prove to be—a kind of suburban gateway original: wicket-gate; a reference to the entrance to the path in John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. to an unseen world.

The plant life original: flora with which it was surrounded has already been partly described. If it had been isolated from all outside influences and had continued its own species undisturbed for countless ages, it could scarcely have produced a more unique and exceptional set of inhabitants original: fauna. Whatever else might be lacking, individuality, at least, had de-

veloped among the Ravens of Ravendale. From attic to basement, there was a happy chaos of physical and intellectual elements that were never intended to merge and could never harmoniously combine. But the combination, such as it was, had a certain harmony in its discord, which was suggestively grotesque. At every point, a secret current of bizarre law appeared to run beneath the discord, and the various elements were woven into a human epic that shared the character of Ariosto Ludovico Ariosto, the Italian poet famous for the fantastical epic Orlando Furioso.. There were many times when it aimed for the grandeur of Milton, but it achieved instead the extravagance of the Orlando.

The chief eccentric of this comedy was possibly the Green Dragon. When the Dragon thought, creation shook on its seat; when the Dragon spoke, the universe rolled up like a scroll; when the Dragon acted, she swept away a third part of the earth and sea, and a third part of the stars of heaven These descriptions are adapted from the apocalyptic language of the Book of Revelation.. This, at least, was the verdict of Ravendale, and the family had good reason to be acquainted with the possibilities of the household. The Dragon was an artist on a scale of creative genius that needed to be accepted broadly and without looking for first principles. She was dressed in a green garment, and in her general proportions, she displayed a raw, unformed divinity. Her brother was called the Oxford Slouch—by virtue of a manner...