The Fortune Teller | Susannah Stewart
The Child’s Wonderland
The stories entrance her

The only words that ever satisfied me as describing nature are the terms used in fairy books, charm, spell, enchantment; they express the arbitrariness of the fact and its mystery. Gilbert K. Chesterton
What did I learn in fairy tales?
Show Kindness. Share your food. Lend a hand. Do no harm.
Be Clever. Use your wits. Tell no lies. Do not cheat.
Have Courage. Face your fear. Fight evil. Do not be cruel.
Be Worthy. Strive for goodness. Learn patience. Persevere and persist.
Be the hero of your story.
My enemies had attacked me when I tried to reach the girl in a trance. This time I tried both newer and older ways to learn about her. I searched the internet and found a newspaper account of how she arrived in Haven, Tennessee.
I prayed to the Mother, and she guided me on a vision path through the Old Forest. I saw the child, fearless, innocent, and bearing the beginnings of power like mine.
Penelope

“It was like the car just popped that car seat out like shelling a pea. Never seen anything like it.” one worker marveled “and then that big tree sticking out that branch to hook the seat and hold it out of the river. Something wanted that baby saved, that’s for sure.”
These poems are told from the point of view of a former fortune teller, named Penelope at this point in the 21st century. A combination of a curse and her own powers has allowed her to live many centuries and travel all over the world. She and her young lover, Ronan, are living in New Orleans.
Penelope had traveled the paths of the Old Forest once before.
