The Sign of Four, Ch. 9-12: Knight-Errant

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Title: The Sign of Four, Ch. 9 - 12: Knight-Errant
Author: gardnerhill
Word Count: 60
Rating: G
Warning: None.
Summary: She’s the daughter of a soldier and will wed another. She understands.

***

“Holmes won’t congratulate us, darling.”

Mary laughed. “The poor man fears losing his comrade to wedlock. He is wrong.” My expression redoubled her mirth. “John, a woman who marries a knight-errant knows that his king comes first.”

I stared. “Do you mean that?”

“I expressly forbid you to desert Mr. Holmes!”

I bowed my head, heart pounding. “Yes, Mrs. Watson.”

The Sign of Four: Superstition

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Canon Story: The Sign of Four
Rating: Gen
Warning: Cannabalism
Summary: Small corrects Holmes' reference.
Author's Note: The members of the only pygmy tribe with which I have had personal contact (not of the Andamans) are much more likely to be victims, than perpetrators of cannabalism.

“Little Tonga’s body should be send home, Mister Holmes.”
“That can be arranged.”
“Unlikely. Your book’s wrong. Tonga’s people don’t eat strangers. But those jackals from the mainland hunt his kind like beasts, carve ‘em up, and swallow their flesh. Say it makes ‘em invincible. They’ve fished him out of the Thames and made a feast of him by now.”

Discussion Post: The Sign of Four, Chaps. 9-12

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

This week, the canon story we’re looking at is The Sign of Four, chaps. 9-12 and the chosen topic is The Thames.

( Discussion continues... )

Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page: The Sign of Four, Chaps. 9-12

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Welcome once again to my poetry page!

I hope each week you will read Dr. Watson’s delightful narrative and then go on to write a poem related to it in some way. All forms of poetry are permitted, and further down the page there is a selection you might like to consider using over the coming weeks.

And here, courtesy of my housemaid Rachel, are this week’s suggested poems to read—suggestions inspired by the themes and subjects in this week's story. Hopefully you will enjoy the poems, and perhaps they may give you some ideas for a poem of your own or allow you to look at Dr. Watson's story in a new way.



Samurai Song

by Robert Pinsky


Note from Rachel: Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson take very different views on married life. This poem is an ode to the stoic way of life Mr. Holmes claims as superior, with all its adventure and loneliness.




In Praise of Pain

by Heather McHugh


Note from Rachel: Dr. Watson and Miss Mary Morstan did not meet under the most auspicious circumstances. Amid tragedy, confusion, and loss, they looked at each other and saw beauty. I think they had both suffered much in their lives, and recognized in each other kindred spirits. This poem celebrates love born in painful and imperfect moments.




Portrait of My Father as a Young Man

by Rainer Maria Rilke


Note from Rachel: Miss Morstan must have felt grief not only at losing her father but at finding there was so much about him she had never known.




Thank you so much to Rachel. And here is my suggested form to revisit this week: the quintilla. (The link takes you back to a previous poetry page.)


But you do not have to use that form. Any form of poetry is welcome this week—and every week! Here are a few suggestions for you:

221B verselet, abecedarian poetry, acrostic poetry, alexandrine, ballad, beeswing, blackout poetry, blues stanza, bref double, Burns stanza, call and response, chastushka, cinquain, circular poetry, clerihew, colour poems, concrete poetry, Cornish verse, curtal sonnet, diamante, doggerel, double dactyl, ekphrasis, elegiac couplet, elegiac stanza, elfje, englyn, epigram, epitaph, epulaeryu, Etheree, fable, Fib, florette, found poetry, ghazal, haiku, In Memoriam stanza, Italian sonnet, jueju, kennings poem, lanturne, limerick, lyric poetry, mathnawī, micropoetry, mini-monoverse, palindrome poetry, pantoum, Parallelismus Membrorum, poem cycle, quintilla, renga, riddle, rime couée, Schüttelreim, sedoka, septet, sestina, sonnet, tanka, tercet, terza rima, tongue twister poetry, triangular triplet, triolet, Tyburn, villanelle


Please leave all your poems inspired by The Sign of Four in the comments on this post. I look forward to seeing them!


Warm regards,

Mrs. Hudson

The Sign of Four: Hearts are Trumps

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Canon Story: The Sign of Four, Chaps. 9-12
Title: Hearts are Trumps
Author: scfrankles
Rating: G
Author's Notes: Title from the Millais painting. ...the other young officers would meet in his rooms of an evening and play cards… the soldiers used always to lose...


I was surprised when I heard Small’s story—that such a man as Captain Morstan should have an angelic daughter like Mary.

There are some similarities I will admit: her boldness, and her loyalty. But on the whole she is greatly different from her father.

She is honest.

Selfless.

And you should never, ever play cards with her for money.

The Sign of the Four: Accepted

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Canon Story: The Sign of the Four
Title: Accepted (the serialisation of the Private Journal of Dr Watson)
Author: thesmallhobbit
Rating: G

She has said “Yes”!  That beautiful angel, who I thought quite of of my reach has said “yes”.  The most wondrous lady has accepted my offer and agreed to be my wife.  I must be the happiest man alive.

[Ocelot’s Note: Before any of our readers ask, no, we didn’t ask Mouselet to write this entry.  It is entirely genuine.]