Anderson Rearick III’s Reviews > Mary Poppins Opens the Door > Status Update

In “Happily Ever After,” Michael asks about the short period of time in between the end of the old year and the start of the New Years. This introduces the temporal ecistance of the cracks, an in between and eternal place.

The entire chapter ends with the mysterious woman, Miss Calico who appears in a Blue Moon who sells the candy horses which allow the children fly about. She arrives and she goes and takes her horses with her. The magic comes and goes.

I’ve never seen the gingerbread canes described in this chapter and so I had a hard time picturing what is going on.

P.L. Travers based Neleus on a classical-style, white marble and Portland stone sculpture called “Boy with Dolphin.” The Sculptor: The fountain was created in 1862 by the Pre-Raphael Ute sculptor Alexander Munro.Location: The sculpture is located in the Rose Garden near Grosvenor Gate in Hyde Park, London. Travers is criticizing the tendency of the English to gather artwork to preserve it.

The marble boy’s name is Neleus According to myth he was the son of Poseidon and Tyro, and brother of Pelias. According to Pausanias, Neleus was the son of Cretheus, King of Iolcus, who was himself a son of Aeolus. Travers is again mixing classical references. Not a happy family in adulthood.

Another reminder. The old man is likely reading Rudyard Kipling.
Collection “Just So Stories” which contains the narrative of how the elephant got his trunk.

One point more, the king who gives up his exclusive academic research and returns to the love of his wife, turns out to be “Old King Kole.” Other literature gets pulled in these stories.

People in authority, grounds keepers, policemen and others are often depicted as bossy busy boys. The story of the over-educated king seems a satire of the entire encyclopedia Britannia approach.

Once again in the world that Trevors portrays there is real peril for those who treat things of magic with unworthy hands. To be forever condemned in a music box environment for what you thought was your dearest wish is a terrible thing.

It’s a wonderful thing to imagine that every living thing has its own melody music. Again very much tied to the Romantics, who loved the Aeolian Harp. I had to look up Jan’s piece “oranges and lemons” but the melody was still recognizable when I found it. “Pop Goes the Weasel “ seems an odd choice for Mary Poppins.