From: Elsa Marston <elsa.marston>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:03:57 -0500

This has been an intriguing sharing ... I must check out the Percy Jackson books. In the Arthurian legend department, some of you may remember Pamela Service's first novel, WINTER OF MAGIC'S RETURN, and its sequel, which posited Arthur and Merlin with some kids who have somehow survived a nuclear winter, centuries hence. Out of print for some years, I believe it is now republished or soon will be.

If this discussion topic is about any and all mythology in children's literature, and since no one has mentioned ancient Egyptian mythology
(unless I've missed someone), I shall say something about my own book, THE UGLY GODDESS (Cricket 2002). It combines mythology (that is, as a working belief system that meant something to the people of that time), actual history, and fantasy. The goddess in question is Tawaret, who has the head and body of a pregnant hippo, human arms, ears of a cow, legs of a lion, and tail (descending from her head) of a crocodile. Appearances notwithstanding, she's a benign deity, watchful over women and children, especially women in childbirth. What gave me the initial inspiration was a statue of Taweret that happened to be on display in the Egyptian Museum
(Cairo) one day when I walked in. It was in virtually mint condition, and it dated from the 26th Dynasty (c. 525 B.C.)--which was a very interesting dynasty for those times, and one that I wanted to know more about.

The plot, which I won't belabor you with, brings together ancient Egyptian society as accurately as I could depict it, a young man from the Greek mercenary armies that were then present in Egypt, a princess destined to be the next Divine Wife of the head God in what is now Luxor, a poor boy who works in a sculptor's studio, and a statue of Tawaret that comes alive (or maybe only to the person who most believes in her, the boy). Because Tawaret is such a sight, I worked in the theme of what is true beauty: despite her outward appearance, Tawaret is beautiful inside, because of her gentle nature and goodness toward those who need caring for. Yet she has some "human weaknesses," too, and can't help being envious, now and then, of Bastet and Isis and the goddesses in the pantheon who really are elegant.

It's a bit of a far-out plot, admittedly, but all the reviewers loved it--except whoever wrote the short annotation for the yearly Horn Book listing and sounded pretty dyspeptic. It was lots of fun to write. And when I had finished it, I went back to Cairo and discovered something that I had completely forgotten--if I'd ever noticed it in the first place: the statue of Tawaret in the Egyptian Museum had indeed been made for the princess who was destined to become the new Divine Wife--just as I had plotted it in my story.

And one more instance of mythology intruding into real life: On the occasion of that second visit, there happened to be several art school students sitting on the floor of that gallery, supposedly drawing the various sculptures around them, but actually much busier flirting and laughing. One girl sat by herself, serious and intent as she drew the statue of Taweret. I asked her why she had chosen that particular statue, and she answered, as though it were the most obvious thng in the world,
"It's beautiful."

Thanks for letting me reminisce about the Ugly Goddess, who didn't get much attention in the commercial book world.

Elsa Marston www.elsamarston.com
Received on Mon 27 Oct 2008 04:03:57 PM CDT