The Setting Of: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

King Arthur’s Castle- Dungeon

Mark Twain Version: While Mark Twain didn’t describe the dungeon at all, going on reference from other medieval castles, here is how I would have described the dungeon.

Clarence led me down a spiraling, narrow stone staircase to the darkest, lowest part of the castle. When we got down, I had trouble seeing. It was very dark in the dungeons, and the only light came through tiny barred windows only big enough for a cat to walk through. The floor was ice cold, and as I walked through the dungeon to my cell, I could hear rats squeaking and I could smell rotting hay and dead rats. When I got to my cell, I was locked in. It was a relatively small cell, maybe 12 feet by 12 feet. In the cell across from me and all around me, I could hear the whimpers of prisoners. I felt more and more closed in. The only thing keeping me company was a wet, moldy pile of hay that I was supposed to sleep on. I preferred the stone floor.

King Arthur’s Castle- Courtyard

Mark Twain Version: I was lost. There was no help for me. I was dazed, stupefied; I had no command over myself; I only wandered purposelessly about like one out of his mind; so the soldiers took hold of me, and pulled me along with them, out of the cell and along the maze of underground corridors, and finally into the fierce glare of daylight and the upper world. As we stepped into the vast enclosed court of the castle I got a shock; for the first thing I saw was the stake, standing in the centre, and near it the piled fagots and a monk. On all four sides of the court the seated multitudes rose rank above rank, forming sloping terraces that were rich with color.

My Version: The guards dragged me from my cell early in the morning and told me I was to be burned at the stake. Upon hearing this, I laughed. They couldn’t be serious. I was dragged roughly up the stairs and into the blinding sunshine. The day was breezy and the sky was bright blue. I was walked to the large courtyard. I looked around me and saw hundreds of people staring at me. There were large, high up bleachers all around, all in bright colors. The grass was burned and brown from the sun. A muddy path led up to the stake. Near to the stake was a pile of dried wood. The bleachers cast a shadow over the courtyard as everyone stood up to see who was being burned. Everything seemed so big; it felt like I was as little as a mouse.

Valley of Holiness

Mark Twain Version: We made good time; and a couple of hours before sunset we stood upon the high confines of the Valley of Holiness, and our eyes swept it from end to end and noted its features. That is, its large features. These were the three masses of buildings. They were distant and idle temporalities shrunken to toy constructions in the lonely waste of what seemed a desert- and was.

My Version: We were very tired when we finally reached the cliff overlooking the Valley of Holiness. It was a deep gap with a few buildings scattered in it. It was a desert, with bones of animals that had gone without water for too long scattered across it. The sun was setting behind this desolate scene. As we made our way down into the valley, it grew very cold. The sky darkened and the stars came out. If you looked up from the Valley, you felt like you could see all the stars in the sky. It was such a difference from the bone dry ground and empty desert we were walking through. Nothing could be seen for miles from level ground, and the buildings that seemed so close from above were not.

The Small Pox Hut

Mark Twain Version: Mark Twain did not describe the hut very well, only stating that it smelled foul and that it had a thatched roof, making it obviously the home of a peasant.

My Version: When we first saw the cabin, we both knew it was the home of a peasant. It was in shambles, the roof was caving in almost, there was but one dusty window on the whole house and the door stood ajar all the way. We entered the cabin and smelled death. It smelled like corpses that were a week old. A thin layer of dust covered everything in the room, which wasn’t much. A small straw bed was crammed into a corner near a ladder that was missing a few rungs. On the bed was the corpse of a man, and it had flies all around it. Upon climbing the ladder we entered a small loft, where light was coming in from the window. There were 3 straw beds lined up along the wall. The floor creaked underneath us as we explored. There wasn’t much to see, as the beds were the only thing in the room except a threadbare rug.

The Death Cave (Cave where Hank dies)

Mark Twain Version: Everywhere dead men were lying outside the second fence- not plainly visible, but still visible; and we counted fifteen of those pathetic statues- dead knights standing with their hands on the upper wire.

My Version: I and Clarence entered the cave without our army, fearing that they would make too much noise. As we walked, the stalagmites and stalactites got so long that they almost touched tips in places. A long, chain-link fence ran through the cave, and hung up on in were many dead bodies of knights. They smelled of rot. But farther ahead in the cave was a far different smell. Smoke! Ahead we could see the dim glow of a small campfire. Around it sat many knights, polishing their armor and boasting. In the ceiling above the fire there was a large hole so that the smoke could get out and not trap the knights in a cave filled with smoke.

News

I am just going to do this blog post on miscellaneous things. For one, as of February 2nd, our house will be up on the market. Anyone looking to buy a secluded yet beautiful house in New Hampshire can comment below! For more information on our house, please look up "houses for sale on candlelight rd, rindge, nh". Remember, it will not be listed until the 2nd.

Second. Remember that post where I taught you how to make your own blog? Well, while I think it's great that you guys start your own blogs, I would really appreciate if you didn't use my ideas. I am a firm believer in thinking for yourself and not stealing from others. From now on, PLEASE use your own ideas and not mine. Thanks.

Now that that little crisis is dealt with, I will move on to a new subject. That subject is: The books I have been reading lately! Recently, I have been reading a lot of Mark Twain, such as Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer Abroad, Pud'nhead Wilson, and most recently, a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Dad has me do different assignments for each book. Sometimes I write reports, sometimes I do synopses, and sometimes I do 2-page papers just on the setting of the book alone. 

The next and final thing I want to talk about is my sister's favorite toy. Her favorite toy is Lego Duplos, which are just a larger and more colorful version of legos. They can entertain her for hours, and even though I am a bit sad to say it, I am getting hooked on them too! She and I will sit down and play with them and build houses for her dolls and animals all the time. She recently has started making trees by stacking brown and green duplos together. It is very cute. I have pictures of most of her creations in my camera. Maybe sometime I will put them up.

That's all,
Maddie

February

Ah, February. The second month of the year begins soon... and STILL NO END OF THE WORLD! HAHA MAYANS! February has 2 good holidays in it, though you might not celebrate one as it is only in my family. With February comes Valentines day, and on the 23rd of February comes my Dad's Birthday! Can you believe he is going to be 47 this year? This year, Dad says he wants to make healthy changes in his lifestyle. He is already well on the way and has lost 23 lbs since Thanksgiving. 

Valentines Day, while NOT my favorite holiday, is very nice. I always like picking out valentines for everyone. Sometimes, me and Ashleigh get little boxes of chocolate from Dad. I was reading a cooking magazine the other day, and a national poll showed that Caramel Chocolates were the most popular Valentines Day candy. The least popular were Cherry Cordials, which I think are the most delicious out of them all.

All my family does for Valentine's Day is give each other valentines and maybe a box of chocolate. Other than that, we just sit at home and enjoy a day off from work! If there isn't any snow down on Valentine's Day, maybe Dad can take me and Ashleigh to the park.

NOT MY CAKE! NO COPYRIGHT INTENDED.

For Dad's birthday, I am baking him a cake. I would tell you what I am getting him as a gift, but he reads my blog and would see. I am going to bake a half chocolate, half vanilla cake and decorate it to look like a yin-yan. Since Dad does karate, it is a perfect cake. The chocolate frosting will go on the vanilla side, and the vanilla frosting will go on the chocolate side. 

I will post a picture of my own cake when I bake it at the end of the month. 

Later,

Maddie

Time Flies

Wow. I can't believe my sister turned 3 just a few weeks ago! I planned her a party and baked her a cake and everything, and today, looking back on old pictures of her, it made me think: "Wow. She's really come a long way since she was born. She can talk, she can walk, she is out of diapers, and most recently, has upgraded from a crib to a big girl bed. Please watch the slideshow below.

The Search for a Queen

The Search For a Queen

By Madison Nef

Glenson was a small fairy world.  It had, for many centuries, been the happiest place on Earth. But that was when there was a queen. The queen of Glenson had disappeared into the vast, unexplored and dangerous jungles of Vamomore a year ago, in search of a healing fruit for her dying daughter. She promised to be gone only a week, but after a month without any word from the queen, she was announced dead. By this time, the princess had died, which meant the queen left no heir behind to inherit the throne.

  The queen’s head advisor before she died, Kimball, took it into her hands to find a new queen.  Kimball interviewed only the most high and prestigious fairy ladies she could find, but could not find anyone within the village that would serve as a noble queen. Every fairy she interviewed was high class and snobby, and only cared about where they would stand in popularity by becoming queen. After months of searching, Kimball gave up. She couldn’t find anyone! She would have taken the job herself, only there was a rule that no one who worked for the past queen could take the job, to avoid evil fairies trying to kill the queen to take her position. 

Kimball finally decided that she would go to the King of the Dragons for help. The King of the Dragons was always willing to help the fairies. Surely he would know where she could find a worthy queen. The trip would take Kimball two days, one day to get to the Dragon kingdom, and one day to get back. She figured that nothing bad could happen within that time. Kimball packed a small bag with a sandwich and a change of clothes in it, put a thick jacket on, and set off. Now, it was no easy thing to get to the Dragon kingdom.  In order to get there, Kimball needed to get through the Mushroom woods, The Thorn Patch, and worst of all, the Plant cave. First, Kimball came to the Mushroom woods. The mushrooms were very pretty during the summer. The sun also made it easy to distinguish poisonous mushrooms from good ones. The sun melted the evil mushrooms and always allowed the good ones to flourish.

 There was only one or two bad mushrooms here and there. The rest looked magnificent. They glistened bright and beautiful colors and dripped off magical dew that had different magical properties. Kimball knew that the innocent look from above would not stand once she landed in the woods. Sure enough, she was right. As she flew down to the mushroom-line, she saw the most annoying part of the woods- the fiendish imps that lived in them. The imps always set traps for any fairy that traveled the woods, like nets in mid air, ropes that snapped on a fairy’s wings, and dangerous rock catapults. 

Fortunately for her, she dodged all traps but one- she set off a rock catapult. Luckily she realized her mistake just in time to dodge a boulder that was launched at her.  Once she was out of the mushroom woods, she came to the Thorn Patch. The thorns extended up just far enough where she couldn’t fly over them. It was very dangerous to go into the thorn patch alone, because if a thorn pricked you, it would knock you unconscious for an amount of time. Depending how powerful the thorn was, it could knock you out clean from 5 minutes to 5 days. No one who got pricked by a thorn ever lived to tell of it, because once you were pricked, unknown beings came and carted your body off.

 Kimball knew she had to be especially careful here. It was very dark and dreary in the patch. Not a ray of sunshine could get through the thick thorns, so Kimball had to resort to magic for her light. She heard a rustle close behind her, and fearing it was a monster, she ran away. It was a good thing she had her light on, otherwise she would have run clean into a large thorn that jutted out right in the middle of the patch. Soon, Kimball was out of the thorn patch. She was starting to get hungry, so she pulled out her sandwich and ate it. As she ate, she watched the sun setting slowly. She had picked a wonderful place to eat her lunch, at the top of a cliff looking out towards toward the Plant Cave.

 The view was incredible from where she sat. She could see all of Glenson from there. The breeze rustled through her hair gently.  The sun set and disappeared quickly, making it hard to see. Soon, the moon came around and the sky lit up with stars. It was peaceful and no noise was heard. The sky seemed to come closer, and closer to Kimball. Slowly, she drifted off to sleep and had a wonderful rest. However, she knew that she had to keep moving if she wanted to make it back by the next day. She used her magic light as bright as she could make it. 

The Plant Cave, while it might sound like a wonderful, nourishing place where flowers grow, was the exact opposite of that. Fairy and beast alike feared the cave, for it was a soggy, disgusting, ugly place where water leaked and created mold and horrible plants worse than you could ever dream of grew. The plants that grew in the cave, no one could tell what they were. They were big and carnivorous, and some made you hallucinate. The plants were big enough to swallow a human being whole if they wanted to. Kimball slowly made her way into the cave. She felt very afraid that something would reach out and snap her up.

 She slowly made her way through the cave. As she flew, she got thirsty. She had forgotten to pack anything to drink, and she longed for water. She grew groggy and tired as she flew, and the cave just kept getting darker and darker, until not a ray of light was seen. As she got groggy, her magic dwindled, leaving her in the cold cave with no light. She suddenly saw sunlight ahead, and as she moved closer, she saw an underground lake flowing through the cave. As she drew near to the lake, she lowered down to the ground.

It felt mushy under her delicate feet because of the dripping ceiling. She realized it was a hallucination as she moved closer to it. Had she tried to drink any water, she would have scooped up bones and mud. She quickly flew up in the air again. The ground felt disgusting. She knew her journey through the cave had only just begun. According to the book she had read on the cave, the hallucination plants always came before the carnivorous ones. As she walked on, she started to smell an awful stench from somewhere below her. 

The ceiling of the cave got lower, forcing her to drop to the ground and walk. Every step she took made her feel sick. The mushy ground combined with the intensified stench of rotting flesh did not make a pretty pair. At times, her thirst almost got the best of her. She knew water dripped from the ceiling of the cave, and at one point almost tilted her head back to catch a drop as it splashed down. However, to Kimball, the drop was gigantic, and instead of dropping in her mouth like she planned, it splashed down all over her, soaking her to the skin. There was a small draft in the cave, and it sent chills down her spine when the wind hit her. It was so cold due to the water that it almost felt tingly and warm. 

She knew she had to keep moving. Soon, she saw a gap that she was sure was not a hallucination. She flew up it and out into the moonlight. Even though it was still nighttime, it felt good to be out in the “light” and the fresh air. She heard rushing water, and looked to the side. WATER! She flew eagerly to the stream. She cupped her small hands and filled them with the cool water. She gulped it down. It was cold and very refreshing. She looked up, and saw that she had to climb a hill. The grass was cold and wet with dew, and felt good on her feet. While it was much like what the cave had felt like, it was more comforting to her to see what she was walking in.

 Her wings were tired, so she decided to walk up the hill. When she reached the top, a glorious sight greeted her- the dragon castle. In reality, the only thing glorious about it was that she had FINALLY REACHED IT!!! The castle was giant, dark, and cast a shadow over the barren wasteland that surrounded it. Dragon nests lay scattered all over the wasteland. There weren’t any trees or grass, just dusty dirt. A few tumbleweeds occasionally tumbled by. 

Kimball excitedly flew up to the castle doors. A sleeping guard, surprisingly her own size, was sleeping near the door. She tapped him on the shoulder and he awoke with a jump. “Excuse me sir, I would like to talk to King Murphy please.” She said politely. “Of course,” said the guard. “Can I ask you a question while I am here?” said Kimball. “Shoot,” the guard said. “Why does the dragon king have fairies for guards?” she asked, trying to make the question sound as polite as possible. “BECAUSE HE KNOWS HE CAN ROAST EM’ AND EAT EM’ IF THEY ARE UNLOYAL WORKERS! NOW DO YOU WANT TO SEE THE KING OR NOT!?” roared the impatient guard.

 Kimball hurried into the castle. The interior was surprisingly clean, and the marble floors shone. This cleanliness only lasted to the throne room.  The throne room had no windows, and was dark and messy. It also smelled disgusting, like the Dragon King ate rot and then didn’t bother to clean up. “Who is visiting?” a booming voice roared. The dragon’s breath was so strong and bad smelling it almost blew Kimball out of the room. “It is I, Kimball of Glenson.” She said. She then proceeded to explain her dilemma as fast as she could. The smell in the room was far worse than the Plant Cave.

 As she was half-way through her story, a small fairy peasant came into the room, dragging a huge piece of meat. She bowed and dropped the meat. Kimball looked at her carefully. The girl was younger than she, and looked to be of very low class. She probably thought she had no chance in the world. Something deep down in her heart told Kimball that she had found the new queen of Glenson. She asked the king if she could possibly make the peasant their new queen. “SADIE?” boomed the king. “HAHAHAHA! IF YOU WANT.” He said, laughing so hard it made the castle shake. Kimball went over to Sadie and explained. You could never have seen a happier look on anyone’s face than the look that crossed Sadie’s when Kimball told her the news.

 Sadie immediately packed her bags, and was ready to leave the palace forever. The trip back passed quickly, as Kimball got to know Sadie better. Sadie came from a lowly family in Glenson, and when she had been little, her family had been killed by dark fairies. She had been sent to live with the dragon king, who made her his personal assistant. However, the happiness did not last long. For when they rounded the bend to see Glenson, they saw a horrible sight. 

Glenson, a once lush town, was now a grim and ugly hole. Dark fairies flitted in and out of broken down cottages, and sat around fires that were started out of fairies’ old possessions. The fountain that had once stood in the center of the village was broken into rubble and was far beyond repair, with a lonely stream of water spurting up out of the ground where the piping had used to be. Kimball was horrified. The dark fairies must have come shortly after I left! she thought.

   She hung her head in shame. She knew it was her fault for leaving in the first place. Suddenly, she smelled something familiar. Something that smelled rotting. “Don’t worry, Kimball, we are here,” said the dragon king as he looked down upon Glenson. Kimball looked behind him and saw that 3 other dragons were standing there at the ready. “I sent a scout after you to ensure you had a safe trip, and when he informed me, I came at once,” said the king. 

The dragons burned out the fairies and the remainder of the village, and then flew away. Once the dark fairies were gone, the fairies that had not been killed came out from hiding. It took about a month, but soon, Glenson was fully repaired. Sadie was a wonderful queen and reigned for 70 solid years before passing away at 90 due to old age. She left the throne to her son, who was in full health and 40 years old at the time, and from that day on, the throne was left to family only, and to no one else.

Denmark

Denmark is a tiny country that guards the channel connecting the North and Baltic Seas. While it is only the size of Maryland, Denmark rules the large island of Greenland off the coast of Canada. It also has rule over the Faroe islands in the North Atlantic between Norway and Iceland. Most of Denmark is made up out of a peninsula called Jutland. Jutland's southernmost border just touches Germany, serving as Denmark's only land connection to the European Mainland.

 Only 1/5 of Denmark's 500 islands have people living on them. Copenhagen, Denmark's capital, is located on Zealand, Denmark's largest island. Because of it's location, for many years Denmark has been a trade route for Scandinavia to the rest of Europe. Many bridges now link Denmark's many islands together.

Denmark's Zealand is now connected to Sweden via bridge and tunnel. Most of Denmark is grassy, treeless heaven. Unlike it's neighboring countries, Denmark is very flat. It's highest point, located in Jutland's lake district, is only 568 feet above sea level. The damp air and plentiful grassland allows Denmark to farm more than 70% of their country.

Some of the produce that comes from Denmark includes: butter, cheese, bacon, and ham. Denmark is considered to have the best farming and produce in Northern Europe. The Danish people also export ships, diesel engines, and beautiful furniture, silver, and porcelain. Royal Copenhagen porcelain is considered some of the best porcelain in the world. Just to add the icing to the cake of fame, the Danish also invented and still export Lego building blocks for kids.

FUN FACT: Denmark has a population of over 5,000,000 people!

I'M BACK!!!!!

My family got back from NJ late last night. Dad's interview went OK, from what I understand. He didn't get an interview for the job he really wanted though, because they were late in calling him back. But his meeting with his friends went well. Now, Dad is still waiting for a call back to go into the city for an interview hopefully. Our biggest worry was that we would be halfway home and Dad would get the call. Thankfully, that did not happen.

I had a great time in NJ. Dad took me and my sister to the playground a few times, and we had a great time swinging and playing. Mostly swinging for me. Me and Ash had a competition on who could swing higher, and that little sneak swung higher then me! I swung with all my might, yet still couldn't beat her. Probably because she had help from Dad.

Also, my family celebrated Christmas with my Aunt Michelle and Uncle Rick. It was wonderful, from the meal to the gifts to just seeing family I hadn't seen in awhile. Even though we stayed longer then we initially planned, it was worth it. Grandma needed some tests done, and she was able to get them done. However, she needs a few more tests done up here in NH.

The last big thing that happened was me and Dad went to see the Hobbit. We couldn't make the afternoon show, so we went to the late night show at 8. Now, if you have seen any other movies in the series, you'll know that the movies run about 3 hours. Well, so did this one. Me and Dad also went on a Tuesday, so we got in for 5 dollars each. We were out till around 11:00 p.m. It was awesome!

Report on Switzerland

Switzerland is one of the three well known Alpine countries. The other two are Austria and Liechtenstein. The reason these countries are called the Alpine countries is because the Alps form most of the territory. The Alps are a perfect barrier between northern and southern Europe. For centuries, the Swiss have guarded the few only passages through the Alps. Because of it's location, Switzerland practices peace and refuses to take part in any conflict. As a result, the Swiss haven't been to war since the 1500's!

The Alps make Switzerland the continental divide of Central Europe. A continental divide is a high place where water flows into separate rivers. Believe it or not, the Rhine and Rhone rivers start in the Alps. Another mountain range, the Jura mountains, runs along the northern side of Switzerland. Between the Jura and Alp mountains, there is a low valley called Mittelland, or Middle Land. This is where most of the industries and lush farmlands are found.

And what is made in Switzerland, you might ask? Well, Swiss watches, Swiss cheese, and my personal favorite, Swiss chocolate. Switzerland is VERY well known for the making of it's delicious chocolate. Just under half of Switzerland is Catholic. A slightly smaller number are Protestants. The Protestant Reformed Faith developed in Switzerland during the 1500's and soon carried over to many other countries.

News

 

My new blog is finally designed and out for the world to see! I have not yet posted on it though, as I only designed it last night. I named it the Book Stack, and it's address for the web is www.thebookstak.blogspot.com. If you want to take a look and see what I have done with it so far, you are more then welcome to. (www.thebookstack.blogspot.com was already taken, so I used stak.)

I am making a trip to NJ tomorrow! Me and my family will be staying for close to a week, then coming back. Dad has a few job interviews and get-togethers set up, so hopefully things go well. It'll be a nice vacation off of schoolwork for me, as usually I am allowed some off time when in NJ.

Other then that, not much is going on. The New Year is going great for me so far. Everyone is sticking to their resolutions, including me. I have been practicing my karate with my Dad a bit and have been getting a little better. Just yesterday I finished a new form I have been learning for awhile.

Not good interview.

Good interview.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

IT'S A NEW YEAR!! I can't believe how quick last year went! It seemed to just slip right by! So much is changing every day for me right now, and I hope this year will bring better fortune for my family then last year. My two resolutions were to eat healthier and improve myself in karate. I would love to be able to test for my second degree black belt this year or next. I decided that I would write a New Year poem.

New Year Changes

Last year was great, for most of us,

For others it was sad,

For many there were days of joy,

And many more to be had,

But how can we move on in life?

If we don't let go?
Last year is past,

That's why it's last,

Not forgotten, just moved on,

A new year's upon us!

With new challenges, and new things to learn,

And this year I will only yearn,

for happiness for my family,

for my Dad who helped me learn,

for my Grandma who is always there for me,

for my sister that means everything to me,

and for my dog, who I couldn't live without, 

there will be change, both good and bad,

and though some of it may be sad,

life goes on, and so do the years,

there is nothing to be done to stop it.

Happy New year everyone. I am very sad right now because one of the unfortunate changes due to  unspecified problems is forcing my family to move temporarily back to NJ. I am torn right now because my karate, friends, basically life is here in NH. As I was saying, some change can be bad and sad. Hopefully, we will be able to return to NH once things are turned around again. The thing I find worst is that my Dad is not going to be working out of the house anymore. He teaches me everything, and I don't know how I am going to manage without him. I love you Dad. Thanks for a wonderful year. You have taught me so much.

Maddie