Basilisks

I'm back after a long wait, with many exciting things happening, not the least of which is that I am now reading The Book of the Dun Cow. That is pretty much the cause of this post, so pay attention.

In The Book of the Dun Cow, the character Cockatrice is quite interesting. Wangerin writes: "Senex commanded one Toad to stay in the Coop. ... The Toad was forced to sit upon the little egg. [I]t ripped apart. ... Then... the Rooster chick began to grow... a serpent's tail. ... The Rooster chick continued to grow, ... it developed grey scales underneath its body, from the throat to the tail; and the tail itself was covered all over with scales."

Also, I will now draw from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets before I introduce my point. Rowling writes: "'Of the.. beasts... there is none more curious... than the Basilisk... [which] is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad.'"

The emphasis is mine. I believe that you realize what I am getting at, namely that Cockatrice is a Basilisk. Rowling goes on to describe the Basilisk in a manner somewhat contrary to Wangerin's description, but many are the disagreements of authors. Also, it seems that this last part will be important to the story of The Book of the Dun Cow (for I am only in chapter six): "'...the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it.'"

I believe, but I am not certain, that Wangerin agrees with this statement. The whole thing fits, and I will read The Book of the Dun Cow with the assumption that Cockatrice is a Basilisk, and that Chauntecleer, the rooster, will be able to defeat Cockatrice by crowing, especially since Wangerin writes: "A third category of crows would... burst from Chauntecleer's throat with a terrible power. ... Within the year Chauntecleer would find his land under... attack; and then, in that war, this third kind of crowing would become his necessary weapon."

Good-bye for now, and I recommend The Book of the Dun Cow to all book-lovers, even though I have only read less than six chapters.

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Of Birds at Busch Gardens

Hello, all! My family and I are currently awaiting the arrival of Hanna, and so I am trying to snatch some time before the risk of power loss becomes too great.

Yesterday Dad took the day off and he and Mom whisked us off to Busch Gardens Europe. I will try to keep this post short, so only two highlights of the day. Dad and I "defied the five," as Busch Gardens advertises it, or, more commonly, we rode all five of the roller coasters, and here they are in the order we rode them: Apollo's Chariot, The Big Bad Wolf, Alpengeist, Griffon, and, finally, The Loch Ness Monster.

The other highlight of the day took place in the Aviary at Busch Gardens. We went in (I, for the first time) quite wet and tired, as it was near the end of our trip. 'ding3, encouraged by the fact that one of the men there had two or three canaries perched on him, tried, two times, to get a canary, and the canary, two times, bit her finger.
I was more successful. I got three different birds to climb on my finger, but two of them flew away when Mom tried to get a picture. The third, however, had a more ingenious way of discouraging photos, which was to climb up my arm and fasten his little beak on my ear. It hurt like crazy, and I just stood there, shouting, "What do I do? He won't get off!" A worker came to the rescue, shaking a rod at the bird. It flew off (and though the rest of my family would argue this fact, I maintain my position), taking a chunk of my ear with it. Needless to say, I cried a little.

I'm better now, with only a scar and a very good memory left from the incident.

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Of More Books and Fish

The other day, we (that is, Mom, Dad, and the four 'dings) went back to the pet store where the other three 'dings had gotten their fish, because 'ding4's tetra, Rhubarb, had died, as had 'ding1's goldfish, Marlin and Coral (think about Finding Nemo). This time, we left with four fish: another tetra (again named Rhubarb) for 'ding3, two guppies (unnamed as yet) for 'ding1, and, wonder of wonders, a betta fish (named Epsilon) for me!

The worker told me to feed him every other day, so, as this is the second day I've had him, I didn't feed him this morning. The worker also said that bettas are livelier when the bettas' owners talk to them, so I have been faithful to say good morning to Epsilon every morning, good night to him every night, goodbye to him whenever I leave the house, and hello to him whenever I return to the house. He seems to be enjoying himself.

Now, for the books part of the title of this post. Like I promised two months ago, when I finished The Count of Monte Cristo, I read, in this order, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, Crime and Punishment, and, today, I started Les Miserables.

Goodbye after this short post.

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The Conscience

Wikipedia defines the conscience as "a hypothesized ability or faculty that distinguishes whether our actions are right or wrong."

I personally believe that the conscience is a worldly view of the Holy Spirit, which is (to me) a counselor and helper to lead us away from sin and to convict us of our sin when we have sinned.

The Holy Spirit was there from the very beginning. Take Genesis 1:2, for example. This shows that the Holy Spirit was moving about on Earth before any life existed there. The opinion of one teacher that I heard in a Bible study is that the Holy Spirit was the one who did the work of creation. (I don't know if I agree with him on that point, but that might just be from ingrained habit, you know, the God-spoke-everything-into-existence kind of thing.)

Another thing about the Holy Spirit is that it worked in people even during Old Testament times. In 1 Samuel 11:6, we can clearly see that the Holy Spirit has come upon Saul and made him extremely angry. In 1 Samuel 16:14, we can see that the Holy Spirit has gone away from Saul.
These are only two instances of clear action from the Holy Spirit, but they prove my case that the Holy Spirit worked in people even in Old Testament times, and it is therefore a mistaken belief that the Holy Spirit is only from the New Testament.

Your brother in Christ,
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