Yes, I've been thinking for a year or so of doing a re-read-for-LJ of the Chronicles of Prydain, along the lines of what hrj has been doing here.
On first reading, I enjoyed all five of the books, least of all the last one (The High King, the Newberry winner), but the one that really spoke to me was book 4, Taran Wanderer. In which the protagonist sets out to find his birth parents. Along the way, he helps a local lord mediate a dispute between two of his villeins, apprentices to a potter for long enough to make a not-great-but-adequate pot, apprentices to a weaver for long enough to make a not-great-but-adequate blanket, apprentices to a smith for long enough to make a not-great-but-adequate sword, works as a shepherd for a while, etc. At the end, he still doesn't really know much about his birth parents, but he has a much better idea who he is -- and he has a pot, a blanket, and a sword that aren't great but they're his because he made them with his own hands.
When I grew up, I took a pottery class and made some pots. They're not great, but they're mine because I made them with my own hands. I've done some tablet-weaving; the results aren't great, but they're mine because I made them with my own hands. I've never made a sword, but I took a blacksmithing class and made some chest hinges (much more useful); they're ugly, but they're mine because I made them with my own hands.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2016-11-03 12:03 pm (UTC)On first reading, I enjoyed all five of the books, least of all the last one (The High King, the Newberry winner), but the one that really spoke to me was book 4, Taran Wanderer. In which the protagonist sets out to find his birth parents. Along the way, he helps a local lord mediate a dispute between two of his villeins, apprentices to a potter for long enough to make a not-great-but-adequate pot, apprentices to a weaver for long enough to make a not-great-but-adequate blanket, apprentices to a smith for long enough to make a not-great-but-adequate sword, works as a shepherd for a while, etc. At the end, he still doesn't really know much about his birth parents, but he has a much better idea who he is -- and he has a pot, a blanket, and a sword that aren't great but they're his because he made them with his own hands.
When I grew up, I took a pottery class and made some pots. They're not great, but they're mine because I made them with my own hands. I've done some tablet-weaving; the results aren't great, but they're mine because I made them with my own hands. I've never made a sword, but I took a blacksmithing class and made some chest hinges (much more useful); they're ugly, but they're mine because I made them with my own hands.