#chondropythons

My scholarly work is in 18th- and 19th-century it-narratives, which are stories narrated by non-humans (objects and animals) and so I’ve spent quite a lot of time in my university’s historical children’s collection, pawing through the children’s periodicals, looking for these sorts of things.  

Maria Edgeworth’s wildly-popular Rosamond stories, especially the first one, “The Purple Jar” features the same idea, but without dead animals.  Little girl needs new shoes, but she doesn’t have any self control.  Her mother says she has enough money for shoes, but the girl says that what she wants most is a beautiful purple jar that she sees.  The mom basically throws her hands up and goes, “Sure, do what you want, but you’ve got to live with the consequences of buying this jar instead of buying the shoes you need.  I don’t have money for both.  You’ll have to wait for next month to get your shoes.”  Rosamond goes, “Yes, I’ll be fine as long as I have the purple jar, it’s everything I’ve ever wanted in life.”

I’m the weirdo who is going to pick up gardening...

Good choice :)