Reed-house

In yesterday’s post “Lady in Green,” I quote Tolkien’s description of Goldberry’s gown as being “green, as green as young reeds.”

I don’t know why my train of thought went in this direction, but seeing that word reeds made me think of a scene in Gilgamesh where (as some people, including me, understand this badly fragmented and confusing story) one of the gods, bound by an oath not to warn any humans of the impending Flood, finds a loophole by addressing his warning not to a person but to the house the person lives in. If its resident happens to overhear, that’s not the god’s fault and can’t be considered a violation of his oath. Thus, the god’s warning message to Utnapishtim (Noah) begins, “Reed-house! Reed-house!”

In another of yesterday’s posts, “I worry so for dear old Bill,” I revisit a poem I wrote back in 2009 and propose various identities for its character Bill. The post ends with a link to my 2023 post “William Alizio’s links to other stories,” in which it is suggested that Alizio, like Bill in the poem, may be ill. Rereading that post, I was surprised to find that it mentions a “reedhouse” belonging to Joseph and Asenath.

That post is also where the leprechaun novel Green by Laura Peyton Roberts is first introduced. The main character in that novel wears a green velvet dress which was her grandmother’s and which symbolizes her office as leprechaun keeper, so there’s a clear link to “Lady in Green.”