John Merrick kidnapped by faeries

Apparently I am an expert on John Merrick.

An expert? How so? you ask.

Well, my blog gets dozens of hits per day to this page right here:
http://flyintheholyoil.blogspot.com/2003_06_08_archive.html

John Merrick was known as "The Elephant Man" because he had a rare skin disease.

Well, now I am here to tell you the WHOLE STORY.

Here's a little poem by Isaac Watts that was a favorite of John Merrick:

'Tis true my form is something odd,
But blaming me is blaming God;
Could I create myself anew
I would not fail in pleasing you.

If I could reach from pole to pole
Or grasp the ocean with a span,
I would be measured by the soul;
The mind's the standard of the man.

It is interesting when you think about the fact that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and there is a beauty of spirit that transcends any grotesqueness of body.

Fairies, conceptually, are all about beautiful little creatures that wreak havoc, causing misery and misfortune wherever they go. If you think about it, there are some parallels.

The important thing is that Merrick was actually kidnapped by fairies (that bad sort) as an infant and brought back with all these physical deformities. How he lived his life thereafter is a testament to courage.

As for me, I'm trying to kidnap my own blog and bring it back on topic.

Cheers!
Basil
www.campfae.org

Taming the Epitaph

In my little search tonight, to discover the authorship of this little poem:

Were I so Tall to Reach the Pole
Or grasp the Ocean with my Span
I must be mesuer'd by my Soul
The Mind's the Standard of the Man.

I have run across numerous interesting things.

Apparently the author of the poem is Isaac Watts. I shall try to eventually find the whole poem somewhere and post it. The poem is most often quoted because it was apparently a favorite poem of John Merrick (photo below) the "Elephant Man".

The most amusing thing I discovered was that I ran across at least two different historical societies where some important figure had the above poem engraved on his gravestone. And, LOL, one of those two historical societies thinks that their tomb stone is the original poem that is so often quoted. But alas, it is only the four most memorable lines in a poem by Isaac Watts.

Regards, and good night!
Basil