unforum

[CoffeeJedi]

[SPEC]The Sleeping Princess's new email 8/13

[Dorkmaster]

Actually, not only that, but we have evidence that the QUEEN wrote the coordinates! WHAT A HUGE EMAIL!!! This was great info!

[Genesis11]

Sweet. Oh, and Dorkmaster got the wish- now everyone got the update.

[Freelance]

Yes! My first in-game email! And I got it... twice.

[CoffeeJedi]

hmmmm. and we all recieved it on Friday the 13th.... probably nothing but symbolism, but still.... odd

[BGMalone]

Interesting text

[clamatius]

At a meta-level, this is a BIG HINT that the locations are important and are actually locations - i.e. it isn't just a crypto manipulation of the numbers, but something else.

Blaming the ocean location typo on the Spider was pretty funny. Well, I laughed.

I think this may have been sent to help us because we haven't solved the GPS coordinates puzzle yet.

[Ben_Dover]

Just an FYI about the secret garden part of the e-mail:

"Mary Lennox has no one left in the world when she arrives at Misselthwaite Manor, her mysterious uncle's enormous, drafty mansion looming on the edge of the moors. A cholera epidemic has ravaged the Indian village in which she was born, killing both her parents and the "Ayah," or Indian servant, who cared for her. Not that being alone is new to her. Her socialite mother had no time between parties for Mary, and her father was both too ill and too occupied by his work to raise his daughter. Not long after coming to live with her uncle, Mr. Craven, Mary discovers a walled garden, neglected and in ruins. Soon she meets her servant Martha's brother Dickon, a robust country boy nourished both by his mother's love and by the natural surroundings of the countryside; and her tyrannical cousin Colin, whose mother died giving birth to him. So traumatized was Mr. Craven by the sudden death of his beloved wife that he effectively abandoned the infant Colin and buried the keys to the garden that she adored. His son has grown into a self-loathing hypochondriacal child whose tantrums strike fear into the hearts of servants. The lush garden is now overgrown and all are forbidden to enter it. No one can even remember where the door is, until a robin leads Mary to its hidden key. It is in the "secret garden," and with the help of Dickon, that Mary and Colin find the path to physical and spiritual health. Along the way the three children discover that in their imaginations—called "magic" by Colin—is the power to transform lives.

While The Secret Garden is an exquisite children's story, its timeless themes, precisely drawn characters, and taut narrative make it worthy of the serious discussion due any classic novel. It is a tale of redemption, rich with biblical symbolism and mythical associations. In Mr. Craven, his stern brother, and Mary's parents, readers have found evidence of a fallen adult world. Consequently, Mary and Colin are physically and spiritually malnourished, and, in the words of Burnett, down-right rude. Mr. Craven's redemption at the hands of Colin and his niece ensures the return of good rule to the ancient, gloomy house and of health to the children. Dickon—constantly surrounded by fox, lamb, and bird—evokes St. Francis or Pan. His mother, Mrs. Sowerby, a plain-speaking Yorkshire woman, resembles the archetypal earth mother and embodies an ancient folk wisdom seen neither in Craven nor in Mary's deceased parents. Invoking traditional nature myths, Burnett aligns the spiritual growth of Mary and Colin with the seasons. Mary arrives at Misselthwaite in winter a dour and unhealthy child. She begins her gardening in the spring, and as crocuses and daffodils push up through the warming earth, her body begins to bloom and her manners to soften. Summer sees the complete regeneration of both Mary and Colin, and by the time Craven returns to Misselthwaite in autumn, the children are harvesting the fruits of their labor—health and happiness. Finally, the overarching symbol of the book is the secret garden, a lost paradise of love and happiness—a version, perhaps, of the Garden of Eden, now reclaimed and rejuvenated.

Throughout The Secret Garden, Burnett seamlessly intertwines the elements of her craft, moving easily between the teasing narrative and dialogue that speaks to a child and the strands of dramatic development, complex characters, theme, and symbolism. Indeed, it is this extraordinary balance that makes

The Secret Garden not just "one of the most original and brilliant children's books of this century," as Alison Lurie says in her introduction to the Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics edition, but also an enduring novel of ideas. "

http://www.penguinputnam.com/static/rguides/us/secret_garden.html

[Ben_Dover]

I assume by Gretel, she is alluding to the Grimm Fairytale of Hansel and Gretel:

"Early in the morning, Gretel had to go out and hang up the cauldron with the water, and light the fire. "We will bake first," said the old woman, "I have already heated the oven, and kneaded the dough." She pushed poor Gretel out to the oven, from which flames of fire were already darting. "Creep in," said the witch, "and see if it is properly heated, so that we can put the bread in." And once Gretel was inside, she intended to shut the oven and let her bake in it, and then she would eat her, too. But Gretel saw what she had in mind, and said: "I do not know how I am to do it; how do I get in?" "Silly goose," said the old woman. "The door is big enough; just look, I can get in myself!" and she crept up and thrust her head into the oven. Then Gretel gave her a push that drove her far into it, and shut the iron door, and fastened the bolt. Oh then she began to howl quite horribly, but Gretel ran away, and the godless witch was miserably burnt to death. "

http://www.mordent.com/folktales/grimms/hng/hng.html

[clamatius]

Yes, seems like the Princess is very big on fairy-tales. Like The Widow's Journey, for example.

The only thing that doesn't make sense for me is that the Widow's Journey would have to have been written before the Princess got her language skills up to speed. It may be just a PM oversight.

[kingchaos2]

That story was interpereted by somebody who could read the computer code, right?

P.S. Do you think the words in caps mean anything?

[Danzilla76]

I looked up Lambkin and Gerda on Google
There are stories on each.
La Lambkin is a Hispanic fairy tale about a lamb (La Lambkin) and her friend La Fluffy who meet up with El Coyote.
El Coyote is going to eat both of them, but they trick him and get away.

Gerda is a folktale about a girl (Gerda) and her friend Karl. There is a Snow Queen involved, and splinters of a magic mirror. The splinters changed Karl to being evil, and then the Snow Queen took him away. Only by Gerda's searching for him, and her love for him did the evil spell get broken.

[Danzilla76]

Here are the URL's for both stories I just posted about:

Lambkin:
http://www.latimes.com/features/kids/readingroom/la-et-story3aug03,0,7169151.story?coll=la-living-kids_reading_room

Gerda:
http://childhoodreading.com/Edmund_Dulac_and_Gus/Snow_Queen.01.html

[Ben_Dover]

Actually, the Lambkin and the Fish is another fairy tale by the Brother's Grimm in which a girl and her brother are transormed into a Lamb and Fish by their evil step-mother.

The girl/lamb is about to be butchered by the cook when it cries out to her brother, the fish in the pond. The cook hears the lamb speaking and decides to give the lamb to a peasant woman, who happens to be the lamb's real mom.

Anyways, they both get turned back to their normal selves and live happily ever after.

As far as Gerda, I can't find a direct link, but I've seen some references to it as being another Grimms Fairy Tale. Does anyone know what the name of the tale is?

[hamatoyoshi]

Any significance to the Sleeping Princess' writing being in green and the Queen's diary being in red?