#eugene field

[nijinokanatani]

Willy Pogany (1882-1955) 'Wynken, Blynken, and Nod' from "A Treasury of Verse for Little Children"

[onefootin1941]

[blondebrainpowered]

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod

By Eugene Field

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night

    Sailed off in a wooden shoe--

Sailed on a river of crystal light,

    Into a sea of dew.

"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"

    The old moon asked of the three.

"We have come to fish for the herring fish

That live in this beautiful sea;

Nets of silver and gold have we!"

                  Said Wynken,

                  Blynken,

                  And Nod.

The old moon laughed and sang a song,

    As they rocked in the wooden shoe,

And the wind that sped them all night long

    Ruffled the waves of dew.

The little stars were the herring fish

    That lived in that beautiful sea--

"Now cast your nets wherever you wish--

    Never afeard are we!"

    So cried the stars to the fishermen three:

                  Wynken,

                  Blynken,

                  And Nod.

All night long their nets they threw

   To the stars in the twinkling foam---

Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,

   Bringing the fishermen home;

'T was all so pretty a sail it seemed

   As if it could not be,

And some folks thought 't was a dream they 'd dreamed

   Of sailing that beautiful sea---

   But I shall name you the fishermen three:

                     Wynken,

                     Blynken,

                     And Nod.

Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,

   And Nod is a little head,

And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies

   Is a wee one's trundle-bed.

So shut your eyes while mother sings

   Of wonderful sights that be,

And you shall see the beautiful things

   As you rock in the misty sea,

   Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:

                     Wynken,

                     Blynken,

                     And Nod.

[mythosidhesdollhouse]

SO, obviously this requires some explanation XD

(It's long. Click through to go on this journey with me--)

Alright, soooooooooooooo recently I was browsing the new doll listings on shopgoodwill, as has become my habit, and I saw one titled 'Madame Alexander "Gingham Dog & Calico Cat Set"' with a closed generic MA box as the main photo.

The name meant nothing to me, but I enjoy cat-themed dolls so I decided to check it out, expecting the typical MA baby-faced dolls in cute, mid-century inspired outfits.

Instead I found this:

What. Why.

No answers were forthcoming. It didn't matter. As soon as I saw them I knew with unwavering certainty that these little weirdos belonged in my collection. I mean, LOOK AT THEM. They're odd. They're purple. They look extremely vintage even though they were made in the year 2000.

The ear tag both were wearing left me with more questions than answers. It contains nothing but the text of an unattributed poem, which I identified as 'The Duel' by 19th century American poet Eugene Field:

All of which again leaves me asking why. Why did someone working at a collectibles company in the late 90s feel inspired to create a pair of dolls based on an obscure nonsense poem for children written more than a century prior, and why was their interpretation THIS? I have no basis for supposing a heavy dose of hallucinogens were involved, but one does wonder

In the end I suppose it doesn't matter one way or the other. I saw them, I bid, I won. They arrived today and are every bit as delightfully strange as I expected. I will refrain from horrifying you further with the spectacle of how they look with their hoods off and their bald little babydoll heads sticking out XD

[tail-feathers]

I was indoctrinated at a young age.

[artisthomes]

Eugene Field's home in Denver, Colorado, United States

[nestingdollset]

this book fucking terrified me as a child

read the whole thing for free here: https://archive.org/details/ginghamdogcalico00fiel

[itonje]

Howard Pyle, The Werewolf

Illustration for the short story of the same name by Eugene Field