Beyond the Veil

Blog: Hideaway Pond 12-15-23 hideawaypond.com

 

Christmas. Not the “Christmas” of Bloomingdales or WalMart, Kohls or even Amazon or Ebay. Nor the religions that have lent their names to some of today’s most troubling times.

Let’s instead indulge ourselves for a few moments and pretend that this is the Christmas of our childhood. When “visions of sugar plums danced in our wee little heads”. Until a we grew “to old” for sugar plums.

A sort of 21st century Brigadoon. Sort of. An invisible area in space and time occupied by people and things that didn’t happen or don’t exist but once a year. Things behind that thin veil that separates us mortals from myth, mystery and the paranormal. 

 

What if it’s not a mere vision?

 

What if. Really.

 

We can’t see through that veil.  But if we could what might we see?

 

Well, we might find dispelled, for example, the rumor that Santa Claus doesn’t exist. Through the curiosity of a small schoolgirl, we might even find clear evidence that he does. We might.

 

 

 

This editorial, as it first appeared in The Sun, was prefaced with the text of O’Hanlon’s letter asking the paper to tell her the truth; “is there a Santa Claus?” O’Hanlon wrote that some of her “little friends” had told her that Santa Claus was not real.

 

Frederick Church, the Sun’s editor, responded: “Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge. 

 

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. 

 

Not believe In Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world. 

 

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. 

 

No Santa Claus! Thank God he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.”

 

 

What better proof that Santa exists than that he will continue to “make glad the heart of childhood”?

 

Really.

 

 

Then there’s the issue of whether Santa is an elf or a human. Well, the poem “The Night Before Christmas” refers to him as a “Jolly Old Elf”. That should be enough, in itself, to be potential proof. Furthermore, imagine a full size guy flying around in a miniature sleigh hauled by 8 tiny reindeer. Or slipping down a chimney. And if successful, into a pile of still smoldering coals? Probably not.

 

Really.

 

The elves. If Santa exists, his elves must also exist. These would be the small, peaceful, happy and productive people who make the toys that Santa delivers to good little girls and boys on Christmas Eve. Some have asked how the little elves get all of those toys onto Santa’s tiny sleigh. The elves are magic. No further comment.

 

 

On to the fairies. This is a much more complex and weighty subject than those previously discussed here. First, they live behind the standard issue Fairyland veil which conceals Fairyland and the rest of the mysterious unseen world. Secondly, three branches of the fairy community live behind that veil.

1. Good fairies -Tricksters (hide various items, steal candy set clocks at wrong time, put salt in the sugar bowl, etc) and gift givers (fresh spring rains, taste and aroma of a ripe apple, rainbows, butterflies, birdsongs, etc) who eat flowers, mushrooms and burp in small bell like tones.

 

 

2.Bad Fairies–Forever bathed in darkness, these fairies cause
sadness, angst, loneliness, acne, halitosis and the heartbreak of psoriasis.
They speak only to each other in low unintelligible whispers.

 

 

 

3. Goblins, trolls, ogres, and their ilk–uncouth and evil brutes who cause crushed bones, bleeding ulcers, car accidents, hemorrhoids, etc who eat road kill, raw bats and sewage. Also scratch in public  and noisily expel large dark clouds of acrid smoke. And drool. Green stuff.

 

 

Fairies of all types are said to be invisible to humans except on rare occasions such as during a flash of lighting or the soft glow of the Aurora Borealis.

 

They are also apparently without sex or religion. Scratch two potential really serious problems right there.

 

It’s alleged also that fairies communicate only with animals, birds and unborn children. I’ve interrogated dogs, cats and Hideaway critters at length and received in return nothing but blank stares and utter silence. And pity. Perhaps their reticence is some unknown form of omerta that’s practiced only in the Fairyland behind the veil.

 

Could be. Really.

 

Unborn children? Well, once they’ve slid down the birth canal and been slammed in the sensory receptors by the harsh sounds and sights of reality they’re totally pissed and speechless. And in no mood to chat. They immediately reach for their mother’s breast. The human’s nascent tendency to use food as a comfort during times of stress.

 

Perhaps you remember. I know, neither do I. Not really.

 

 

Making all of this more complex and mysterious is the following note, found scratched on a tree fungus near Elk Lick, Idaho– which denies the very existence of fairies. Allegedly authored by fairies, themselves. If you care to see the original, it’s on display in the Elk Lick Grange Hall.

 

Dear Humans,

This may come as a surprise to you, but we fairies are not real. Surprise! We are mere figments of your imagination, inspired by the wonders of nature and those things which lie behind the magic veil that separates our mystical world from that of you mortals. We do not exist in your world nor do we wish to. Period.

Please do not disturb the peace and harmony of the forest.  It is our sanctuary. It is home to many mystical creatures, plants, and elements that deserve care and admiration. So please don’t screw it up.

We hope you understand and will let us continue to enjoy our quiet life of song, dance and joy in our beautiful, enchanted forest. We understand your curiosity, but we prefer your absence. No hard feelings.

Really.

Sincerely, The Fairies

P.S. We unequivocally deny the rumor that is currently circulating among you humans that we are responsible for the AI infestation that is presently afflicting your world. That’s pure unicorn poop.

 

A disclaimer from the Mgr., Hideaway Blog Editorial Staff: Regarding the text above, mea culpa. The illustrations were done, according to Staff specifications, by the fairies with their mystical AI tools. 

 

Also really.