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And it's the last session ... Session 558 - The Wee Folk: Folklore and Fairytale in the Middle Ages

I didn't take the laptop to this one, and ended up nodding off over the last two papers despite their interesting topics, so this is sketchier than average.

"They are fairies; he that speaks to them shall die": Speech and Silence in Medieval Fairy Narratives (Lisa L. Spangenberg)

The paper looked compared the Middle English tales of Sir Orfeo, Thomas of Ercildoun, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with respect to the hazards and consequences of talking to people from Faerie. Compare also the hazards of eating or drinking in Faerie.

Changing Views of Fairyland: Exploring Folklore Genres and Motifs in Medieval and Early Modern Chronicles and Natural Histories (Samantha Meigs)

I think I must have nodded off a bit on this one because I vaguely remember bits and snippets of descriptions of fairyland (discussed as an actual location) in several medieval and early modern texts, but I don't really recall the overall take-home message.

Rosemary Sutcliff's "Dark People" (Karen Moranski)

This paper was quite fascinating -- examining Rosemary Sutcliff's use of then-new archaeological and historical theories regarding the historicity of Arthur and possible anthropological bases for "fairy folk" characteristics when writing Sword at Sunset.

And then it was the DISTAFF non-picnic lunch (non-picnic this year because it's been raining fairly steadily all day) and even the informal end of the conference was over. There were evidently some flight delays out of Chicago today due to the storm, but the Delta website says my flight tomorrow is right on schedule. I get to leave Kalamazoo at 3am to drive to Chicago and catch an 8am flight. Fortunately, there's no reason to do anything this evening other than go to bed at whatever point I think I can get to sleep. I seem to be successfully back on solid food (bananas, plain bread, cup of noodles) although I suspect I won't be up for doing anything special mealwise for my birthday tomorrow. In fact, actual day-of-birthday plans are pretty much all off; the Toyota salesman left a phone message yesterday that he hasn't managed to get ahold of a car meeting my specs yet. So no birthday present pickup tomorrow. I'm beginning to think he's just not trying hard enough.