Female horse urination

Hi everyone! First time here. To keep it short, my grandparents raised me for the majority of my life. They were my dad’s parents. My grandma died in 2016 and my grandpa and I were devastated. The next year while I was living with him and going to nursing school, I met an older lady at work. We happened to be remodeling the basement at this time and there was plaster dust from putting up walls EVERYWHERE.
Now this lady I worked with was in a really rough spot money wise. So I offered her a job coming once a week to our house to clean for cash. This went on for some time and she and my grandpa struck up a very slow friendship. I encouraged him to be friends with her and after a couple more years, they were engaged!! My family was mostly horrible about this and belittled this woman constantly.
There IS an age gap of 13 years, but to give it some context my grandpa is 81 and she is 68. I feel like as you get older it matters less. She is an amazing woman. She was a widow and has some kids near my age and one much older. We have become a family in word and deed. I moved across the country to pursue my career and I knew that I wouldn’t need to worry about my grandpa because he has her.
On their honeymoon she bought me a personalized plaque stating “gameofthroneschic is the best matchmaker ever” with their anniversary date.
I want to get her something to remind her how much she is loved. My grandpa does well for himself and so she will never have to worry about money for the rest of her life. But she even had the idea to do a prenup so her intentions of marrying him were for love and love alone.
In 2022 my mom died at 51. I’ve had multiple suicide attempts, late night calls, and guidance from her as she is now the only female relative I have who loves me.
I want to get her a gift. Not for any particular reason but to remind her that she is so SO loved by me. So here I am. As a step parent/grandparent, what is something special and meaningful I can get for her that can remind her every day of how much she is loved and the worth she holds in my heart?
Trying to keep the budget at $250 or bellow. She LOVES jewelry, horses, things that are like glam in style, Marylyn Monroe, turquoise, and dogs.
There is no time like her s so if it’s something that needs to be custom made that is fine. I’ve tried googling but everything is just so cliche. So I want to hear from you guys about what kind of gift from your step granddaughter would mean the most to you. Ty!

This is in no way a suggestion or insistence that you must consume Wicked, the 1939 film, or any Oz any related media as part of any kind of "canon" or connected continuity. How you consume media is entirely up to you. Just some interesting tidbits I originally posted in the Wicked sub and I thought I'd share with you guys...
\**Preamble: A prequel is “a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative”. It is just a word to describe the type of narrative Wicked and Oz the Great and Powerful are. Just like Journey Back to Oz and Return to Oz are “sequels” made by different production companies. It in no way connotes an “official” connection between legally distinct IPs. It is just a way to describe the function of the narrative.*
...Also, I am not a copyright lawyer, I'm not any kind of lawyer, nor am I making an accusation that anyone or any entity is infringing on the copyright or trademark of any other entities. That being said…
So, I have a theory that Wicked -- both Maguire's novel (Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West), 1995) and more so the musical (Wicked, 2003 Universal Stage Productions) -- solely functions as a prequel to the 1939 MGM film the Wizard of Oz(now owned by WB), and not that film's public domain source novel the Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Let me explain...
Maguire started writing Wicked in response to the Gulf War, presumably starting around 1990 through its publishing date in 1995. The 1939 film had a big boom in 1989 for its 50th Anniversary resulting in deluge of promotional material -- including an animated TV show adaptation by DIC, where Glinda was redesigned to look like Barbie -- complete with long blonde hair!
Maguire's clever use of Oz characters passed scrutiny during publication in 1995 because the Baum novel had long been in the public domain… as well as Ted Turner arranging to sell the MGM catalog to WB, circa 1997, making the timing ideal for Maguire's novel to skirt any copyright/trademark scrutiny for using elements from the non-public domain film.
We know what happened next, the book was a raging success and soon it was popular enough to be optioned by Universal and turned into a stage musical (produced after film & TV productions with Demi Moore and Salma Hayek separately attached failed to materialize). The musical opened first in San Francisco for try-outs and then Broadway in 2003. And writers Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman liberally peppered even more direct homages and winks to the 1939 film into leitmotifs and other elements of the book, score, and staging.
But, Wicked has TOO many elements from the 1939 film, and NOT ENOUGH from Baum's original book, to merit it being called a prequel to the book (this is also true of Disney’s 2013 admitted attempt to cash-in on Wicked’s success, Oz: the Great and Powerful – which is even more egregious than Wicked, and ironic, as its own title is directly lifted from the 1939 film misquote of the book’s moniker of “Oz the Great and Terrible”).
So now, let's look at some of key differences between the book the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (WWoOZ) and its film adaption from 1939, and how Wicked (and that Disney rip-off - though I don’t want to have to keep mentioning that movie so just assume most of what I say applies there too) reinterprets these events and characters:

• In the book WWoOz it is established that there are four cardinal witches in the land of Oz. Dorothy vanquishes two unrelated Wicked Witches in the East (WWotE) and West (WWotW) as well as encountering the benevolent unnamed good witch of the North at the start of her adventure and a separate good witch, Glinda of the South, who helps her home in the end. MGM condensed the good witches into one character “Glinda the Good Witch of the North” as well as adding a subplot turning the Wicked Witches into sisters (providing Margaret Hamilton’s Witch more direct motivation to pursue Judy Garland’s Dorothy via the Witch’s presumed right to collateral inheritance of her sister’s shoes). Both Maguire and Disney follow the 1939 film’s continuity regarding these relationships making the wicked witches siblings, and Glinda the sole “good witch” in opposition to them.
• WWotW as depicted in Baum’s novel bears little to no resemblance to the green-skinned Margaret Hamilton in the 1939 film, and subsequently Maguire’s Elphaba. Oz illustrator W. W. Denslow, whom Baum worked closely with when designing the characters, depicts the witch as a hunched old hag with three pigtails and an eyepatch, tall brimmed hat, ruffed collar, coat and skirt. While MGM’s design team, led by legendary costumer Adrian, initially tested several looks for WWotW (including a glamorous sequined look inspired by Disney’s Evil Queen in Snow White). MGM screenwriter, Herman Mankiewicz (who expanded the role of the wicked witch from book to screenplay, and wrote several key lines for her including, “I’ll get you my pretty!”) insisted "witches should be ugly!" leading to Gale Sondergard's replacement of Magaret Hamilton in the role. But the severe all-black silhouette cast by Hamilton's witch is nothing like the silly witch of Baum's text and Desnlow's art. And Susan Hilferty’s stage designs for Elphaba retain the 1939 film’s silhouette and dark color palette.
• Speaking of ugly witches... while green skinned characters, like folkloric swamp-hag Jenny Green-teeth, were not unheard of (even some promotional material for Disney's Snow White has their flesh-colored Hag looking a jaundiced yellow) it is widely acknowledged Margaret Hamilton’s Witch is the first in popular culture, and certainly on film, to be depicted with green skin. Likely, inspired by Universal's 1931 Frankenstein), promotional material for which depicted the Creature with sickly green skin, and chosen to accentuate the technicolor process, broadcasting the Witch's “wickedness” as well as helping Hamilton's frightening face and spider-like performance stand-out against her black costume, MGM producers chose green copper-based makeup for Hamilton's witch. The 1939 film's success in popular culture lead green-skinned witches to be accepted as "canon" in the public zeitgeist and now from Halloween make-up brands and Looney Tunes' Witch Hazel), the green skinned witch is mainstream. But as Professor Marion Gibson, associate professor of Renaissance and magical literatures at the University of Exeter and an expert in popular depictions of witches, explains, before 1939 "there are a few images of witches – for instance, on Halloween postcards – with odd coloured faces (usually red/orange, surprisingly) but MGM's green-faced witch is the first to make a key feature of a completely non-human skin colour." Needless to say this film element of green-skin became a major plot point of Maguire's Wicked.
• Another difference in Baum’s WWotW is that she only had one eye, but that it "was as powerful as a telescope", and this is how she spies on her enemies. MGM was again inspired by Snow White's Queen, and popular imagery of fortune tellers, giving Hamilton’s Witch the ability to scry in a large crystal ball, which made for some of the most memorable visuals of the film, of her looming eerily over the heroes. Unlike Baum’s WWotW, Maguire’s Elphaba retains vision in both eyes, and inherits her film counterpart's scrying abilities (primarily using a blown-glass orb).
• Baum’s WWotW importantly carries an umbrella, not a broomstick, as a source of protection for her aquaphobia. She has no need for transportation, her location is limited to her castle in the West of Oz. MGM’s script, howvever, gave Hamilton’s Witch a means of transportation that had long been popular in witch mythology, a broomstick, involving her more directly in the narrative (as well as giving the Wizard a macguffin to send Dorothy after). Maguire also chose to make a broomstick a means of travel for Elphaba, and Stephen Schwartz's “Defying Gravity”, the centerpiece of the musical, which sees a scene not included in the novel, where Elphaba defiantly flies over the Emerald City in protest of the Wizard, cemented the broom’s icon status within the framework of the Wicked franchise.
• The Flying Monkeys in Baum’s novel have a rich backstory involving their enslavement at the hands of a sorceress named Gaylette. The monkeys’ terms of imprisonment require they obey three commands given by whomever possess a Golden Cap, which the WWotW owns and uses to capture Dorothy and her friends. Dorothy comes into possession of the Golden Cap after WWotW’s demise (similar to her inheriting the slippers) and is able to command the monkeys to her own benefit later in the book. The Golden Cap subplot was scrapped from the MGM film in favor of giving the witch a more ambiguous command over her uniformed simian air force (though it still appears in the final cut as a prop tossed by Hamilton's Witch to Nikko, the flying monkey). Maguire’s Wicked makes no mention of Baum’s golden cap, giving Elphaba a monkey factotum -- who cannot speak similar to MGM’s Nikko (In Baum's Oz all animals can speak perfectly, including the leader of the Winged Monkeys... more on that below) -- now called Chistrey. The monkeys are given a vivisection backstory in Maguire's novel and are a result of the Grimmerie’s levitation spell in the musical, but Elphaba’s willful command of the their legions, without the limitations of the Golden Cap, is much more reminiscent of MGM’s Witch than Baum’s.
• Famously the slippers Dorothy inherits from the WWotE in Baum’s novel are made of silver metal (sterling silver shoes were popular as decorations and sugar bowls in Baum's day). The Slippers in the 1939 film were famously changed to ruby, so as to be more eye-catching against the technicolor yellow road. After some initial designs, MGM designer Adrian landed on the iconic red sequined pump seen in the film. in Maguire's work he is very careful not to make the famous slippers silver or ruby, and instead they are made of beaded glass, which has sentimental value to Elphaba's family, and utilizes the film’s sibling backstory to motivate Elphaba. The beaded glass slippers, in the musical referred to as "jeweled", refract multiple colors, notably a fiery red glow, again skirting copyright while paying homage to both the ruby slippers and silver of the Baum book. Susan Hilferty’s choice of silver sequined pumps for the musical, given a red special lighting cue at a crucial moment, distinctly resemble Adrian’s 1939 design.
• Dorothy is a young child of roughly seven or eight years old in Baum’s novel and its illustrations. In Maguire’s take on the character she is depicted as a husky teenager prone to cloying musical outbursts. Teenage Judy Garland was famously derided at MGM for her weight, especially filming Oz, with Louis Mayor allegedly calling her his “little hunchback”.
• Animals in Oz in Baum’s text are all Imbued with the power of speech. Toto himself is able to speak in the land of Oz (revealed in the fifth Baum book), as well as a myriad animals from our world who travel to the Land of Oz, who all gain sentience upon entering the fairy land. In the 1939 film, the Lion is the only animal that appears capable of speech, while other animals that appear, like Toto, birds, horses, cats and monkeys, are all incapable of human vocal communication. Maguire’s text relies heavily on the implication only some Animals (signified by capitalization of the word) in Oz can talk, their subjugation by the Wizard playing huge role in the plot of both Maguire’s book and the musical adaption.
• While sharing some similarities with Baum's Oz geography, 1939 film has a distinct layout for their Oz which is covered in great detail in very few lines of dialogue. In Munchkinland Glinda says "That was her sister--the Wicked Witch of the East. This is the Wicked Witch of the West. And she's worse than the other one." That establishes Munchkinland in the East of Oz, later we can place the Wicked Witch's castle in the West, with the Emerald City presumably in the center of Oz, while Glinda is from an unspecified "North". Funnily enough, those areas of Oz featured in the 1939 film are the same areas of Oz Maguire’s Wicked novel primarily deals with, namely Munchkinland (Nest Hardings), Emerald City, and the West (Kiamo Ko) and North of Oz (Shiz). Maguire also eschews Baum’s Glinda’s native Quadling Country in the south of Oz in favor of time spent in the North (the one land of Oz we never visit in Baum's first book). Maguire's Quadling Country (a backwater quagmire) shares none the colorful geography of Baum's Quadling Country -- which in WWoOZ is full of porcelain towns, jungles, mountains, and Glinda's majestic palace.
• Boq, a character indeed invented by Baum, plays a much less significant part of the novel Wicked than he does in the musical (in the musical he is composite of several novel characters), and his function in the novel the WWoOZ is very similar to that of the Munchkins featured in the 1939 film (he hosts a party celebrating the East Witch's death that Dorothy attends while staying at his home overnight on her journey down the Yellow Brick Road). He and the subplot featuring the Tin Woodman's backstory appear as trivial vignettes with little actual influence over Elphaba’s overall character arch in both the novel and musical.
• And while the inclusion of Elphaba using wolves, crows and bees to attack Dorothy and her friends is a point in Maguire's favor (but only applies to the novel, not the musical) it also has little significance over the elements from Baum’s book he leaves out in favor of the 1939 film’s continuity of a broom-riding, green-skinned witch after her sister’s collateral inheritance. And let us not forget that 1939's Witch also uses bees as a threat..
• But what I find most telling is that none of the witches in Baum’s novel directly interact with one another (later novels in the Oz series withstanding). The famous confrontation between the two witches in Munchkinland was entirely a fabrication of the 1939 film’s screenwriters. The musical’s entire premise, and a large portion of the novel’s, relies on the idea that these two opposing witches shared some past which informs their conflict in that scene, but that moment is solely a product of the 1939 film.

I think it is very important to view Wicked (especially the musical) as intended... as a revisionist adaption of, and prequel, to the 1939 film (and not Baum's book). In Wicked, Dorothy's journey of self discovery -- finding wisdom, love, and courage through community and questioning authority -- is subverted through Elphaba's journey -- where wisdom, love, and courage come at great personal cost, and questioning authority means also becoming a target of that authority's wrath. Whereas Dorothy returns home in the end, Elphaba must go into exile in the musical (and she is ding dong dead in the book).
By the end of the 1939 film Dorothy is literally transformed -- excellently visually expressed through her full glamour makeover - curtesy of the Wizard's employees - and adornment in her fallen enemy's fabulous footwear. The 1939 narrative in psychoanalytic terms is one of adolescent Dorothy being chided and ignored in Kansas -- she is without the protection of the adults around her, and therefore subjected to trauma at the hands of threatening Older Female and left vulnerable to the advances of a dubiously intentioned Conman. She learns the importance of embracing the power of appearances ("Are you a good witch or bad witch?.... only Bad witches are ugly.") therefore earning the protection of the adults who once ignored her. In turn she is able to utilize traits inherited from those adults to finally assume assume her full power, vanquishing the Older Female threat and rendering the Conman impotent.
Elphaba and Glinda similarly grow from children ignored -- Elphaba subject to rejection and bullying without the protection of her family or peers, and therefore vulnerable to machinations of a threatening Older Female and the advances of a dubiously intentioned Conman. She then learns the power of embracing appearances ("pink goes good with green") but, this being a subversion of the Oz narrative we see that in embracing her unconventional appearance (the skin she was born in and an outfit literally designed by Glinda) she further alienates herself from protection. While Glinda's journey of superficial beauty equating to goodness, also subjects her to persecution from the Older Female and Conman.
Through traits inherited from one another, and their enemies -- Elphaba uses the Wizard's methodology of deception and flim-flam to fake her death and win her freedom, while Glinda quite literally uses Morrible's own words against her in her defeat -- they are both able to assume full power vanquishing the Older Female threat and rendering the Conman impotent.
In the musical's Finale, a reprise of both "For Good" and "No One Mourns the Wicked", we have been made the whole show to ask ourselves the question "was she a good witch or a bad witch?" Then the audience watches a well intentioned, but woefully incompetent leader, ascend to power under the monicker "Glinda the Good" while the arguably more qualified person has their "death" celebrated, only to be mourned in secret.
The line, "who can say if I have been changed for the better, but because I knew you I have been changed for good" ties together the the concept of metaphorically wearing the traits of those we've known and encountered, loved ones and enemies alike. Like a well worn hat or pair of ruby slippers, we cloth ourselves in the intelligence, love, courage, and even the wickedness and deception of those we encounter.
Wicked tends to suggest truth is subjective. Goodness or wickedness, beauty and ugliness, whether someone is a "traitor or liberator, thief or philanthropist" is all subjective. The Wizard's malleable grip on truth ("Elphaba, where I'm from we believe all sorts of things that aren't true we call it history!") is ultimately inherited by Elphaba and Fiyero in the end ("It's not lying! It's looking at things another way") as well as Glinda ("Good news!"). Much like Dorothy's journey leaves her with the knowledge that her heart's desires lie in her own self fulfillment, Elphaba and Glinda are left knowing that their potential, good or bad, has always been theirs to posses.
Maguire used something called "fair use doctrine", technically publishing Wicked as a parody (which does not always mean a comical work). It was well within his legal right to do so. The musical tiptoes the lines he walked a little more, but ultimately Wicked being "legally distinct" from the 1939 -- but still using more elements from that movie than the public domain book -- is still a legal use of the characters. However, I think the way Maguire skirted copyright is incredibly clever, and I find it wild that such a popular franchise as Wicked has basically used legal gray areas to bring a rainbow of color to Oz, all while claiming use of public domain versions of characters, and clearly mining the trademarked versions of those characters for most of their inspiration.
Various Oz media has used elements of the 1939 film without voiding copyright. For example the 1982 anime film has red slippers, and 1972's Journey Back to Oz features a green skinned witch Mombi. And the 1939 film itself borrowed elements from numerous previous adaptations of the Oz story from silent and animated films to stage plays). The history of Oz is always evolving with each new iteration and how the story was told one hundred years ago isn't always going to be how we tell it in the future.
Just know, how anyone chooses to interpret the "canon" of Oz, or relate to any specific piece of media -- for example finding continuity between various adaptations, etc. -- is entirely up to them. Oz is a place that supports diversity, creativity, and inclusion! But if you're gonna be a witch, a green one is a good one to be!
TLDR: Wicked does not function as a prequel to the book by L. Frank Baum, but only serves as a prequel to the 1939 film, starring Judy Garland. This is evident because the Witch in Baum's book isn't green, doesn't ride a broom, only has one eye, no sister, and never interacts with Glinda (who is an amalgamation of two separate characters).

and seeing in its hole the deadly, trailing brute, implored it with fawning speech to aid him in his sore plight. Whereat the snake asked of the foolish creature as a gift the load which he had taken on his back; and the ass refused not its request. Ever since then do trailing reptiles slough their skin in old age, but grievous eld attends mortals. The affliction of thirst did the deadly brute receive from the braying ass, and imparts it with its feeble blows.
Come now and learn that the forms of the chersydrus and of the asp are alike in appearance. 360 Signs of a malignant nature follow on his bite: all the skin upon the flesh, dry, loathsome, and bloated with putrid sores, breaks out from below, disclosing a clammy wound, while innumerable and fiery are the pangs which overcome the man, and sudden swellings are raised upon his limbs, plaguing him by turns now in this quarter now in that. This is the snake that first beneath some shallow mere wreaks his truceless malice upon the frogs; but when the Dog-Star dries up the water and drought is upon the floor of the lake, then upon dry land he becomes dust-like and shabby, 370 as he warms his grim body in the sunshine, and with hissing tongue he haunts the thirsting ruts along the highways.
After him you shall learn of the amphisbaena, less in bulk and slow of gait, two-headed, ever dull of eye. From either end a blunt chin protrudes, the one far from the other. Its body is earth-coloured and wears a skin ragged, speckled, and sheeny. This snake, when it comes to full growth, do wood-cutters, as though they had cut for a walking-stick a stem of twisted wild-olive, strip of its skin as soon as it appears, 380 before the note of the cuckoo in spring. The amphisbaena benefits those with afflicted skin when crippling chilblains break out upon the hands of men overcome with cold, also when the bonds of their sinews slacken and weary.
You shall learn too of the scytale, like in appearance to the amphisbaena, though thick, and bulkier down to its useless tail, for the skytale is of the thickness that men make the haft of a mattock, while the amphisbaena's bulk is that of a maw-worm or of such earth-worms as the earth breeds after a shower. Nor at spring's oncoming, after it has quitted gully and hollow cleft 390 in the season when earth brings reptiles to light, does it browse upon the waving shoots on the fennel's branch, when it clothes its limbs with their new skin beneath the sun; rather does it retire to hedges and glades and lurk deep in slumber and feed upon what the earth may chance to yield, nor does it stave off its thirst for all its desire.
Consider too the king of snakes {basilisk}, small indeed yet far excelling all others: his head is pointed; he is golden-hued and three palms' width in outstretched length. Truly none of the heavy-coiled monsters of earth 400 abide his hissing when to feeding-ground or forest or in craving for a watering-place they dart forth at noontide, but they turn and flee. His bite swells a man's body, and from the limbs the flesh falls away livid and blackening. Nor even will a bird pursuing its track above the corpse, be it eagle or vulture or raven that croaks of rain, nor yet any species of wild beast that pastures upon the hills, feed upon it; such the terrible stench that it sends forth. Yet if so be that fatal greed draws one of them near in ignorance, 410 death and a swift ending are wrought for it on the spot.
Learn now the doom inflicted by the dryinas, which others call chelydrus. It makes its home in oaks or maybe Valonia oaks and dwells in mountain glens. For after it has deserted the water-weeds, the marsh, and the congenial lake, and is hunting molurides and small frogs in the meadows, it is sent speeding in expectation of the gadfly's distasteful onslaught; whereat slipping swiftly into the stem of some hollow oak it coils itself and builds its lair in the depths of the wood. 420 Its back is of a smoky hue, but in the flatness of its head it resembles the hydrus, and from its skin exhales a hateful air, as when about the damp horse-skins and hides the scraps of leather ooze beneath the paring of the tanner's knives. And truly, when it strikes the hollows of the knee or on the sole of the foot, a stifling smell is diffused from the flesh; also there rises up a dark swelling about the victim's wound; moreover he is distraught, hateful distress shackles his mind, and his body is parched with suffering. His skin hangs loose about him, so consuming is the fierce poison 430 which feeds ever upon him. and an encircling mist, veiling his eyes, overcomes him in his sore affliction. Some men scream and choke, and their urine is stopped; or again they fall asleep and snore, oppressed with frequent retchings, or from their throat discharging a bilious or sometimes a bloody vomit; and last of all a dreadful plague of thirst sheds a trembling upon their limbs.
Learn and consider the green and dark-blue dragon, which once on a time the god of healing fostered in a leafy oak upon snow-capped Pelion 440 in the vale of Pelethronius. Radiant indeed does he appear, but in his jaw above and below are arrayed three rows of teeth; gleaming eye are beneath his brows, and lower down beneath his chin there is ever a beard of yellow stain. Yet when he fastens on a man he does not hurt as other snakes, even though his rage be violent, for the wound upon the skin of one whose blood is drawn by his slender fang seems slight as that of a meal-nibbling mouse. From his earliest days the king of birds, the eagle, grows up cherishing fierce wrath against him, and against him with his beak 450 he wages a war of hate whenever he espies him moving through the forest, for every nest he lays desolate, devouring alike the young and the cherished eggs of birds. Nevertheless when the eagle has just snatched in his talons a lamb or a swift hare, the dragon will easily rob him, springing up from a thicket. The eagle avoids him: and then there is a battle for the feast. But as the eagle hovers round, the writhing snake is after him without cease, watching him with sidelong glance and grim eyes.
Should you chance to walk in some valley of limping Hephaestus's isle { Lemnos } or go to storm-beaten Samothrace - these lie far off in the Thracian Gulf, 460 where are Hebrus, the river of Hera of Rhescynthium, and the snow-crested mountains of Zone and the oaks of Oeagrus's son, where too is the cave of Zerynthus - you will find the long monster cenchrines, which men call the spangled lion, dappled with scales. His bulk and his length vary, but in a twinkling he sends upon the flesh a shower of putrid sores which will not heal, and these with their consuming poison feed upon the limbs; and ever deep in the belly the dropsy with its load of pain settles about the mid-navel. At the hour when the sun's rays are at their hottest 470 this snake eagerly resorts to rugged mountains, athirst for blood and on the watch for the gentle sheep, while beneath the tall pines of Saüs or Mosychlus the shepherds cool themselves, forsaking the tasks of herdsmen. Do you not dare, bold though you be, to face him in his fury, for fear he wind about and strangle you as he lashes your body all around with his tail, and gorge your blood after he has broken both your collar-bones. But in fleeing weave ever a crooked, manifold track, and baulk the beast's course by starting aside. 480 For by the many turnings and twistings of the spine he injures its ligaments; whereas he moves rapidly and at his swiftest when his path is straight. Such is the serpent which haunts the isles of Thrace.
There too are the bites of the gecko, hateful, though he is of no account. Of him the tale is current how the Sorrowing Demeter did him injury when she marred the limbs of him as a boy by the well Callichorum, after wise Metaneira of old had received the goddess in the dwelling of Celeus.
Harmless reptiles also there are however which feed in the forest, the brakes and thickets and gullies in the country; 490 and men call these Elopes, Libyans, and curling Mouse-hunters; and with them all the Darters and Moluri and Blind-eyes too which are reported innocuous.
Now all the simples and remedies for these ills, the herbs and the time to cut their roots, I will expound to mankind thoroughly and in straightforward fashion,- herbs by whose aid a man may heal the urgent pain of sickness. While the wound is still bleeding and painful, pluck your herbs freshly (this excels all other remedies) from some place where snakes feed in the thick wood. 500 Choose first the medicinal root of Chiron {centaury}; it bears the name of the Centaur son of Cronus, and Chiron once on a snow-covered col of Pelion found and took notice of it. Its waving leaves, like sweet marjoram, encompass it about, and its blossoms are golden to view; its root, at the surface and not deep-set, is native in the dell of Pelethronius. This when dry or while still green, after crushing in a mortar, mingle in a cotyle of pleasant wine, and drink. It is of service in every case; therefore men call it Panacea {"all-healing"}.
Assuredly let birth-wort which grows in the shade be commended; 510 the leaves it bears are like those of the woodbine with its ivy-shaped leaves, but its flowers are red with scarlet, while the odour diffused from it is heavy, and the fruit in the midst you will see to be like the wild pear upon the cordate pear-tree or the common pear. The root of the female shrub is rounded into a lump, but that of the male is lengthy and extends down as much as a cubit, and in colour it resembles the boxwood of Oricus. This you will search after as a surpassing aid against the dread blow of male and female viper. From it let a portion of a drachma's weight be mixed in a draught of tawny wine.
520 Furthermore take to yourself the treacle-clover as a protection against snakes, be it on some stony hill or in some steep glen (some call it Brief-flower, others would call it Trefoil) ; its leaves are like the melilot, but its scent is like rue. When however it sheds all its blossoms and its mottled leaves, it exhales a smell of bitumen. Then cut off enough seeds to fill the sauce-boat on your table, pound them in a mortar, and take to drink as a remedy against snakes.
Attend now and I will rehearse some compound remedies against disease. Grind down and take the strength-giving Sicilian root of fustic; 530 add a heap of the seed of the brightflowered agnus castus, savin, and the luxuriant rue, and pluck a shoot of the earth-pillowed savory, which in the forest spreads abroad fronds like those of the tufted thyme. Again take the root of the double-flowered asphodel, or else the upper portion of its stem; often with them too the seed which the enclosing pod ripens; or else helxine, which men call Clybatis and which delights in streams and flourishes ever in water-meadows. Drink them after crumbling them into a cotyle of vinegar or of wine which you have drawn. 540 Even with water you might easily escape death.
Consider now the excellent root of Alcibius's bugloss: its prickly leaves grow ever thick upon it, and it puts out a coronal of flowers like violets, but beneath them in the soil the root grows deep and slender. Alcibius a male viper wounded above the lowest part of his groin as he lay asleep upon a mound of uncleansed grain by the margin of a piled threshing-floor, straightway rousing him by the violence of the pain. Whereat he pulled the root from the ground and first broke it small with his close-set teeth as he sucked it, and then spread the skin upon his wound.
550 Again, if you pluck off the shoots of the sprouting horehound and drink them with bright wine you may ward of snakes : this is the plant which draws down the udder of a young cow which mothers not her first-born calf, and anon, swollen with milk, she cares for it. Herdsmen call it Meliphyllon {"honey-leaf"}, others Melictaena, for all about its leaves the bees lured by the fragrance of honey buzz busily.
Or else you should peel off the thin membranes of the brain of a domestic fowl, or pare fine some field basil and marjoram, or cut from a boar's liver 560 the tip of the lobe which grows from the 'table' and inclines towards the gall-bladder and the portal fissure. These then you should drink, mixed together or separate, with a draught of vinegar or wine, though a fuller cure will attend wine. And snip the foliage from the evergreen cypress for a potion, or all-heal, or the testicle which is fatal to the beaver, or that of the river-horse which the Nile beyond Sais with its black soil nurtures, and launches, a ruinous sickle indeed, upon the plough-lands. (For the beast, emerging from the muddy ooze of the river when the pastures grow green and the fallow has put forth grass, 570 tramples and leaves behind a deep track as long as that which it devours with its jaws as it cuts its returning swathe.) From it cut off a drachma's weight to match, and soak in water, shredding all together in a vessel.
And do not forget the wormwood or the berries of the slenderer bay; very serviceable too would sweet marjoram be, which flourishes in garden-plots and borders. And include curd from a nimble leveret or from a fawn of roe or red deer after separating the impurities, or the seminal purse which you have cut from a stag, or his paunch, which some indeed call the 'urchin' but others the 'intestinal snood'. 580 Take of them portions of two drachmas' weight and throw them into four cyathi of old wine and mix well. And do not overlook the succour afforded by the hulwort and the cedar-tree, the juniper berry and the catkins of the plane that invites to sleep in summer, and the seeds of the bishop's weed and the cypress of Ida ; for all these will heal you and will banish untold suffering.
Next consider another means of escape and protection from death, and take helxine and grind it in a round mortar 590 and pour in a cotyle of barley gruel, adding two cyathi of wine of ancient vintage, adding also an equal portion of gleaming olive oil; mix them by pounding and you will keep at bay the poison that bites like gall.
Take also to the sixth of a cotyle fragrant pitch and cut out the central pith from the green giant fennel; or grate the full-grown root of horse-fennel into juniper berries, also the seeds of the marsh-bred celery. The full depth of an alexanders 600 and two drachmas' weight of pungent myrrh: cut too the fruit of cummin that grows in summer and weigh them, or pour in at random and shake up unweighed. Then draw thrice a cyathus of wine and mix with them before drinking. Take to yourself a drachma's weight of fruitful spikenard and with it crumble into fresh-drawn milk an eight-footed crab ravished from the river ; some iris too which Drilon has fostered and the banks of Naron, the abode of Sidonian Cadmus and Harmonia, where as two fearsome snakes they move about the pastures. 610 Take next the thick-growing heath when in flower, round which the thronging bees crawl and feed; take too a young frond of the tamarisk that bears no fruit, an honoured prophet among mortals, which Apollo of Corope endued with prophetic properties and authority over men; with these green marjoram leaves and blossom in plenty, and tree-medick and the milky spurge. Bray all these in a mortar, and in the containing vessels medicate wine with them and take in one-tenth of a chous. 620 But of a truth the tadpoles' all too noisy parents, frogs, are excellent when boiled with vinegar in a pot; often the liver of the biting snake itself if drunk in common wine, or the poisonous head administered sometimes in water, at other times in a small quantity of wine, will help you.
You must not neglect the blossom of the sweet blue pimpernel with its closed eye, nor the all-healing marjoram, which men honour as Heracles's Organy; and with the Marjoram you should rub small a leaf of pot marjoram, and dry pellets of the savory that muzzle evil disease.
630 Be sure and take the well-watered rhamnus, like to the little Wild Lettuce; it ever clothes itself in blossom of white. The name whereby men call it is Good Companion, the men who dwell about the tomb of Tmolus and of Gyges on the steep of Parthenius, where horses that toil not pasture upon Cilbis, and where the Caÿster rises.
Attend now and I will tell you of roots that are a help against Serpents. First, learn the two kinds of viper's bugloss : of one the prickly leaf is somewhat like alkanet, since it is small, and the root which it extends is short and on the ground. 640 The other kind has robust leaves and stalks, is tall, grows purple with small blossoms all over, and puts out a head like that of a viper but rough on top. Of these two kinds cut off an equal portion and use as a remedy after shredding them on a block of wood or in a mortar or a hollow stone. Also you should make a paste of the roots of the eryngo and the flowering bearsfoot, and to these two add an equal weight of the campanula that flourishes about the hedgerows. Take too the heavy foliage of the field-basil upon the mountain and seed of the evergreen celery from Nemea ; 650 with them let the double burden of anise raise the scale that sinks with the weight of roots. These should you knead, and having mixed them in a single vessel you may cure one time the deadly bane of Male Vipers, at another the scorpion's wound, at another the bite of the poisonous spider, if you will crumble three obols' weight in wine.
Consider too the white pine-thistle and the dark kind also. The two are distinct: the dusky is like golden thistle in appearance; it puts forth a circle of leaves, its root is strong and dark, and it grows beneath shady mountain spurs 660 or in glades, shunning the sun. But the other you will find ever in the pride of its leaves, while the head lies low and bloated in the middle of them, and its root is whitish and honey-sweet to the taste. Reject the dark root of these plants, but of other stir a piece of a drachma's weight in river water and drink.
Take herbage of another kind that also bears the name of Alcibius, fill your hand full, and drink in a little wine. it was that when hunting beneath Phalacra's cliff, on Crymna's plain and about Grasus, and where lie the meadows of the horse, 670 as he hallooed to his Amyclaean whelps, he discovered through the anguished whimpering of his lion-hearted hound; for as it followed up a goat's trail along some woodland path it had received the female viper's stab in the watering corner of its eye. And with a howl it flung her off and readily ate the leaves of this herb and escaped deadly destruction.
Administer plenty of the sappy, oily bark of the castor oil tree, together with the leaves of the thick balm, or else the plant whose name is that of the sun's turnings, and which, like the glaucous leaves of the olive, 680 marks the path of the retreating scion of Hyperion. Take likewise the root of the navelwort, which in frosty weather draws out the painful chilblains on the feet of those with broken skin. Sometimes you may take the green leaves of the tall bindweed, or of hart's tongue, shearing off the stalk. Take too the Phlegyan all-heal, even that which the God of Healing was the first to pluck by the brim of the river Melas, when ministering to the wound of Iphicles Amphitryon's son, what time with Heracles he was burning the evil Hydra.
Now lay sudden hold on the marten's young or their mischievous mother, 690 and strip their fur over the flame of a fiercely blazing fire, and after rejecting all the inwards and the stomach's excrements, dress with holy salt, and then dry away from the light of the sun, so that its swift shafts do not shrivel the fresh carcase. But, when necessity comes upon you in anguish, rub the desiccated beast thoroughly with a rasp as though it were frail silphium or a round cake of dried milk, grating...

Readily, dear Hermesianax, most honoured of my many kinsmen, and in due order will I expound the forms of savage creatures and their deadly injuries which smite one unforeseen, and the countering remedy for the harm. And the toiling ploughman, the herdsman, and the woodcutter, whenever in forest or at the plough one of them fastens its deadly fang upon him, shall respect you for your learning in such means for averting sickness.
Now I would have you know, men say that noxious spiders, together with the grievous reptiles and vipers and the earth's countless burdens, are of the Titans' blood - 10 if indeed he spoke the truth, Ascraean Hesiod on the steeps of secluded Melissēeis by the waters of Permessus. And it was the Titan's daughter who sent forth the blighting scorpion with sharpened sting, when she compassed an evil end for Boeotian Orion, and attacked him after he had laid violent hands upon the immaculate raiment of the goddess. Thereupon the scorpion, which had lurked unobserved beneath a small stone, struck him in the ankle of his strong foot. But Orion's wondrous sign is set conspicuous, fixed there amid the constellations, 20 as of one hunting, dazzling to behold.
You for your part will easily chase and dispel all creeping things from farmstead and cottage, or from steep bank, or from couch of natural herbage, in the hour when, to shun parching summer's fiery breath, beneath the sky you make your bed on straw at nightfall in the fields and sleep, or else beside some unwooded hill or on the edge of a glen, where poisonous creatures feed in multitudes upon the forest, or beside the levelled perimeter of the threshing-floor, and where the grass 30 at its first burgeoning brings bloom to the shady water-meadows, at the time when the snake sloughs the withered scales of age, moving feebly forward, when in spring he leaves his den, and his sight is dim; but a meal of the fennel's sappy shoots makes him swift and bright of eye.
You may expel the hot and harmful doom that snakes bring, if you char the tined horn of a stag, or else set fire to dry lignite, which not even the violence of a fierce flame consumes. Cast also upon the fire the foliage of the male fern with its cloven fronds, 40 or take the heated root of the frankincense-tree mixed with an equal measure of garden-cress; and mingle the fresh, pungent horn of a roe, putting an equal weight of it in the balance. Burn also a portion no less heavy of the strong-smelling black cumin, or else of sulphur, or again of bitumen. Or you may ignite in the fire the Thracian stone, which when soaked in water glows, yet quenches its brightness at the least smell of a drop of oil. Herdsmen gather it for themselves from the river of Thrace which they call Pontus, where the Thracian shepherds 50 who eat ram's flesh so follow after their leisurely flocks. Again, the heavy-scented juice of all-heal stimulated over a fire, and the stinging nettle, and cedar cut with saws and ground to dust by their many-toothed jaws, produce in burning a smoky and repellent stench. With these means you may clear hollow clefts and couches in the woods, and may sink upon the ground and take your fill of sleep.
But if these things involve trouble, and night brings bed-time near, and you are longing for rest when your work is done, then gather to yourself among the eddies of some rushing river 60 the water-loving, leafy mint, for it grows in plenty by streams and is fed with the moisture about their edges, as it delights in gleaming rivers. Or you should cut and strew beneath you the flowering willow, or the strong-smelling hulwort, which has a most offensive odour; so too have viper's bugloss and the leaves of marjoram, aye, or of wormwood, which grows wild upon the hills in some chalky glen, or of tufted thyme from pasture-lands : tenacious of life it draws sustenance from a damp soil, deep-rooted, ever furnished with hairy leaves. 70 And you should mark the pale spikes of the low-growing fleabane and of the agnus castus, and the pungent stinking bean-trefoil. Likewise cut the rough twigs of the pomegranate, or else young and flourishing shoots of the asphodel, and deadly nightshade, and the horrid hypericum which injures the herdsman in the springtime when his cows are poisoned by eating the stalks; and further stems of the heavy-scented sulphurwort whose very odour scares snakes and chases them away should they approach you. so place some of these by you wherever you make a casual couch in the fields; others where snakes lurk, and a double quantity at their holes.
80 Now make in an earthen vessel or an oil-flask a paste of juniper berries and anoint your supple limbs - or of the heavy-scented sulphurwort; or else pound thoroughly in oil the dried leaves of fleabane from the hills, and likewise the healing salvia, adding the root of silphium, which the grater's teeth should grind small - many a time too have noxious creatures fled in terror from the scent of a man's spittle. But if you rub a caterpillar from the garden in a little vinegar, the dewy caterpillar with a green back, or if you anoint your limbs all about with the teeming fruit of the marsh mallow, 90 then you will pass the night unscathed. Also cast in and rub down in the stony heart of a mortar two leafy sprays of wormwood mixed with garden cress - an obol's weight is suitable - and with a pestle pound therein to smoothness a handful of fresh berries from the bay; then mould into rounds and put to dry in a shady, wind-swept spot; when dry break them in pieces in an oil-flask, and you can anoint your limbs with it at once.
If however you can cast snakes coupled at a crossroads, alive and just mating, into a pot, and the following medicaments besides, 100 you have a preventive against deadly disasters. Throw in thirty drachmas' weight of the marrow of a freshly killed stag and one-third of a chous of rose-oil, - essence which perfumers style 'prime' and 'medium' and 'well-ground' - and pour on an equal measure of raw, gleaming oil and one-quarter of wax. These you must quickly heat in a round, bellying pot until the fleshy portions are softened and come in pieces about the spine. Next take a shaped, well-made pestle and pound up these many ingredients in a mixture with the snakes; 110 but cast aside the vertebrae, for in them a venom no less deadly is engendered. Then anoint all your limbs, be it for a journey or for a sleep or when you gird yourself after work at the threshing-floor in summer's drought and with pronged forks winnow the high pile of grain.
But if you should chance to come upon biting creatures when your skin is un-medicined and you are fasting - that is the time when disaster strikes a man - you may readily save yourself by our precepts. It is the female snake that attacks with its bite those who encounter it; besides, it is thicker right down to the trailing tail, 120 and for that reason the doom of death will come more swiftly. But chiefly in summer must you be on your guard against harmful snakes, observing the rising of the Pleiads, those smaller stars which graze the tail of the bull in their course, when the dipsas either sleeps unfed with the young it broods, lurking in the recesses of its hole, or when it makes eagerly for its feeding-ground, or when therefrom, sated with the forest, it goes sleepily to its lair. Beware of meeting at the crossroads the dusky male viper when he has escaped from her bite and is maddened by the blow of the smoke-hued female, 130 in the season when, as the male covers her, the lustful female fastens upon him, tearing him with her foul fang, and cuts off the head of her mate; but forthwith in the act of birth the young vipers avenge their sire's destruction, since they gnaw through their mother's thin flank and thereby are born motherless. For alone of snakes the female viper is burdened with pregnancy, whereas oviparous snakes of the forest warm a membrane-enclosed brood. Beware too when the viper, having doffed the wrinkled scales of age, comes abroad again exulting in his new-found youth; beware when, after escaping in his hole from the trampling feet of deer, 140 he darts in fury his limb-corroding venom at men; for red deer and roe cherish a special anger towards long reptiles and track them down, exploring on every side stone-heaps, walls, and lurking-places, following hard after them with the dreadful breath of their nostrils.
Furthermore the snow-capped crags of Othrys too bear deadly serpents, and hollow gully and rough crags and woodland scaur, where haunts the thirst-provoking seps. It has a varying hue and not one alone, ever taking the colour of the place wherein it has made its hole. 150 Those that live in stony ground and cairns are smaller but fierce and irascible: no bite of theirs can fail of effect on man, but is malignant. Another's body is like a land-snail; yet another has scales of greenish hue which variegate its huge coil; and many there are that frequent dusty places and make their coils rough by wriggling in the sand.
Consider now the murderous asp, bristling with dry scales, the most sluggish of all snakes. 160 Its form is terrifying, but when in movement, it uncoils its weight slowly and ever seems to wear a fixed look in its drowsy eyes. Yet when it hears some strange noise or sees a bright light, it throws off from its body dull sleep and wreathes its coil in a circular ring upon the ground, and in the midst it rears its head, bristling in deadly fashion. Its length, horrible beyond that of any other of earth's creatures, measures a fathom, and its thickness is seen to be that 170 which a spear-maker fashions for a hunting-spear for fighting bulls and deep-voiced lions. Sometimes the colour spread over its back is dust-like, sometimes it is the yellow of a quince and sheeny, at other times an ashen hue, but often, when it grows dark with Aethiop soil, a smoky brown like the sludge which the many-mouthed Nile in flood pours into the sea, as it dashes against the waves. Above the brow over the eyes there appear, as it were, two calluses, while its eye beneath them glows bright red aloft over its coil and its dust-coloured neck swells up as it hisses continuously, 180 when in the violence of its wrath it fastens death upon wayfarers who meet it. It has four fangs, their underside hollow, hooked, and long, rooted in its jaws, containing poison, and at their base a covering of membranes hides them. Thence it belches forth poison unassuageable on a body. Be they no friends of mine whose heads these monsters assail. For no bite appears on the flesh, no deadly swelling with inflammation, but the man dies without pain, and a slumberous lethargy brings life's end.
190 Now the ichneumon alone escapes unharmed the asp's onset, both when it comes to fight and when it breaks on the ground all the baneful eggs which the deadly serpent is brooding, as it shakes them out from their membranes by biting them and crushes them in its destroying teeth. The form of this snake-tracking creature is that of the puny marten which seeks the destruction of domestic fowls, snatching them from their perches as they sleep, where they roost upon a beam or foster their feeble chicks, keeping them warm beneath their breast. 200 But when amid Egypt's rush-grown water-meadows they join with the wriggling asps in a fearsome struggle, forthwith the Ichneumon leaps into the river, strikes the slimy bottom with its paws, and rolling its small body smears its limbs at once with the mud, against the time when the Dog-Star's heat has dried its fur and made it so that no fang may rend it. And then it either springs upon the frightful head of the reptile with the flickering tongue and bites it, or seizing it by the tail, sends it rolling into the weedy river.
You would do well to mark the various forms of the viper. It may be long, it may be short; 210 for so Europe and Asia breed them, but you will not find them alike. Thus, in Europe they are smaller, and above the tip of their nostrils they are horned and white, those, that is, beneath the mountains of Sciron and the Pambonian steeps, Rhype, and the hill of Corax and hoary Aselenus; whereas Asia breeds snakes a fathom long and even more, such as are about rugged Bucarterus or are contained within the strong headland of Aesagea and in Cercaphus. The front of their heads is flat, and at the trailing end of its coil 220 the creature wriggles a stunted tail which is abundantly rough with dry scales. And this way and that through the brakes it strays with sluggish coil. But every male viper is seen to have a pointed head. In length he is sometimes larger, sometimes short, and in breadth of belly he is slimmer, while his tail stretches tapering away, and may be flattened towards the end of its trailing length or rubbed smooth of scales. But the eyes in his face turn blood- red when he is angered, and as his forked tongue flickers rapidly, he lashes the end of his tail. 230 Wayfarers call him the snaky Cocytus. Two fangs in his upper jaw, as they spit poison, leave their mark upon the skin, but of the female always more than two, for she lays hold with her whole mouth, and you can easily observe that the jaws have opened wide about the flesh. And from the wound she makes there oozes a discharge like oil or, it may be, bloody or colourless, while the skin around starts up into a painful lump, often greenish, now crimson, or again of livid aspect. At other times it engenders a mass of fluid, and about the wound small pimples 240 like slight blisters rise flabbily from the skin, which looks scorched. And all around spread ulcers, some at a distance, others by the wound, emitting a dark blue poison; and over the whole body the piercing bane eats its way with its acute inflammation; and in the throat and about the uvula retchings following fast upon one another convulse the victim. The body is oppressed also with failures of sense in every part, and forthwith in the limbs and loins is seated a burdening, dangerous weakness, and heavy darkness settles in the head. Meantime the sufferer 250 at one moment has his throat parched with dry thirst, often too he is seized with cold from the finger-tips, while all over his frame an eruption with wintry rage lies heavy upon him. And again a man often turns yellow all over his body and vomits up the bile that lies upon his stomach, while a moist sweat, colder than the falling snow, envelops his limbs. In some cases his colour is that of sombre lead, in others his hue is murky, or again it is like flowers of copper.
You would do well also to learn of the crafty cerastes, who attacks like the male viper, which he resembles in equality of size. 260 True, the viper is hornless, whereas the cerastes boasts sometimes four horns sometimes two, and his dust-coloured skin is rough, and it is his habit to sleep in the sand or in the ruts down a road. The viper writhing himself darts swiftly forward on a straight course with the long winding of his belly, whereas the cerastes rolls on with clumsy movements of his middle, meandering on a crooked path with his scaly back, like to the dinghy of a merchantman dipping its whole side in the brine when the wind is contrary, 270 as it forces its way to windward when driven back by the south-westerly gale. When the cerastes bites, the disfiguring wound turns callous all around like a wart, and livid blisters like drops of rain move round about the bite, dimly discernible to the eye. True, the man in whom the deadly cerastes strikes his mischief-working fang goes through less acute pain, but nine suns of suffering does he behold. And in either groin and the hams the trouble festers persistent ever, while his skin has a livid appearance. 280 And from their suffering little strength is left in the joints of those afflicted, and with difficulty do they escape death.
Next I will tell you what marks the blood-letting snake, which always sleeps in rocky ascents, making a small, rough lair under a hedge. There it has its lurking-place when it has gorged its fill. It equals a footprint in length, but as to breadth it dwindles tapering from the fiery head down. At times it is of a sooty hue, or again a reddish brown. It narrows moderately at the neck, and its tail is sharply compressed 290 and stretches flattened from the middle onward. In its forehead beneath its snow-white horns are planted two eyes, of which the irises are somewhat like those of locusts, and on high rises terrible its devouring head. And with an oblique and halting movement it ever steers its little body on its brief journeys from the middle of the back like the cerastes, scraping its belly over the earth, and with its scaly body it makes a slight rustling as though crawling through a heap of straw. But when first it bites, a swelling of dark, unhealthy hue rises, and a sore pain freezes the heart, 300 and the stomach's content turned to water gushes out, while on the first night after, blood wells from the nostrils and throat and ears, freshly infected with the bile-like venom; urine escapes all bloody; wounds on the limbs break open, hastened by the destruction of the skin. May no female blood-letter ever inject its venom into you! For when it has bitten, all together the gums swell from the very bottom, and from the finger nails the blood drips unstaunchable, while the teeth, clammy with gore, become loose.
If the tale be true, Bane-Helen coming from Troy was angered with this species 310 when her company beached their vessel by the tumultuous Nile as they fled before the dread onset of the north wind, what time she beheld Canobus, the helmsman, swooning on the sands of Thonis; for as he slept a female blood-letter, on which he had pressed, struck him in the neck and belched forth its deadly poison into him, turning his rest to ruin. Therefore Helen crushed the middle of its trailing shape, breaking the ligatures of the back about the spine, so that the backbone started from its body. From that day forward the blood-letter and the crooked-roving cerastes alone of snakes move haltingly, oppressed by their injury.
320 You would do well to recognise the form of the sepedon, which in other respects resembles the blood-letter in appearance, but it steers a straightforward path; moreover it is almost without horns, and its colour, like that of a carpet, is spread over a rough surface. Its head is heavy, but its tail appears short as it moves, for it curls the end like the rest of its body. Truly the wound of the sepedon is deadly and agonising, and its black, destroying poison pervades the entire body: upon the parched skin everywhere the hair withers and is dispersed like the down of a thistle when it is rubbed. 330 For from the head and the brows of the man who has been bitten the hairs break off and from the eyelids the dark lashes perish, while round spots bespeckle his limbs and leprous eruptions swiftly spread a chalk-like rash.
Again, the form of the dipsas will always resemble that of a small viper; yet death will come quicker to those whom this grim snake assails. Its thin tail, darkish throughout, grows blacker from the end forward. From its bite the heart is inflamed utterly, and in the fever the dry lips shrivel with parching thirst. 340 Meanwhile the victim, bowed like a bull over a stream, absorbs with gaping mouth drink past measuring, until his belly bursts his navel, spilling the too heavy load. Now there is a tale of ancient days current among men how, when the first-born seed of Cronus became lord of heaven, he apportioned to his brothers severally their illustrious realms, and in his wisdom bestowed upon mortals youth, honouring them because they had denounced the fire-stealer. The fools, they got no good of their imprudence: for, being sluggards and growing weary, they entrusted the gift to an ass for carriage, 350 and the beast, his throat burning with thirst, ran off skittishly....

Mix for the patient a draught of well-dried navel-figs from a flourishing tree in wine three years old; or you might also crush them together with a mallet, 350 dissolve them over a fire, and give as an antidote to his sickness. And when he recovers his appetite give him again his fill of this honey-sweet drink, sometimes adding milk to the mixture; or else cast in and mix with wine the dry fruit of the date-palm or wild pears that have long been dried, or the fruit of the common pear, or of the cordate pear, or sometimes myrtle-berries; or let him even, like a new-born child, put his lips to the nipple, and calf-like draw a draught from the breast, even as a new-born calf fresh from the womb, butting the udder, forces out the quickening flow from the teat. 360 Or else you may give him his fill of some warm and greasy drink and compel him to vomit unwilling though he be, forcing him with your fingers or with a feather; or cut and twist from papyrus a curved throat-tickler.
But if fresh milk turn cheesy in the hollow of a man's stomach, then, as it collects, suffocation overcomes him. Give him three draughts, one of vinegar between two of grape-syrup, and purge his costive bowels. Or further, grate into a draught the root of silphium from Libya, or else some of its gum, and administer it dissolved in vinegar. 370 Or again, you may add to the mixture dispersive lye or a fresh-blooming sprig of Cretan thyme. Sometimes the clustered fruit of the eucnemus well-steeped in wine is a help. Also a drink of curd, they say, disperses the clots; so too the green leaves of mint mixed either with a draught of honey or with an astringent one of vinegar.
Consider now the thorn-apple, whose aspect and whose taste upon the lips are like milk. At once unwonted retchings agitate the throat of the drinker, and by reason of the pain at the mouth of his stomach 380 he either vomits up his food stained with blood, or else he voids it, foul and fill of mucus, from his bowels, like one suffering from the spasms of dysentery. Sometimes worn out with the parching struggle his limbs give way and he falls to the ground, yet has no wish to moisten his dry mouth.
You must either administer draughts of milk, or else perhaps grape-syrup, slightly warmed and mixed with it in his cup. Moreover the flesh from the plump breast of a sleek fowl, softened on the fire and eaten, can be a help; so too is gruel if swallowed by the bowlful; 390 also the creatures which beneath the roaring of the rocky sea ever feed about the weed-clad crags: some of these he should devour raw, others boiled, many of them after broiling over a fire; but dishes of sea-snails or of the purple limpet, of crayfish and pinna and of the brown sea-urchin will be far more helpful, and scallops; neither . . . the trumpet-shell or sea-squirts that revel in the seaweed.
Let not the hateful draught of pharicum escape your memory - for you are not ignorant of it: it causes grievous suffering in the jaws. Know that to the taste it is like spikenard; but it sends men reeling 400 or sometimes out of their senses, and in a single day it can easily kill a strong man.
Now you may either weigh out and administer some of the purse-like root of the fair-flowering mountain nard which the headlands of Cilicia nourish by the brimming Cestrus, or else well-ground Cretan alexanders. Take also the iris itself and the head of the lily, abhorred of Aphrodite, seeing that it was her rival for colour; wherefore in the midst of its petals she attached a thing of shame to vex it, making to grow there the shocking yard of an ass. 410 Or else you may shave his head, and having cut the hair from the roots with a keen-edged razor, take it, and after heating along with it fresh barley-meal and the dry leaves of rue, which in its feeding the caterpillar is quickest to spoil, soak in vinegar and plaster thickly about his temples.
Let no man in ignorance fill his belly with henbane, as men often do in error, or as children who, having lately put aside their swaddling-clothes and head-bindings, and their perilous crawling on all fours, and walking now upright with no anxious nurse at hand, 420 chew its sprays of baleful flowers through witlessness, since they are just bringing to light the incisor teeth in their jaws, at which time itching assails their swollen gums.
Give the patient either pure milk to drink as a remedy or else fenugreek, which is grown for fodder and puts forth curving horns amid its windswept leaves - a great boon when it floats in common oil. Or else you should give him dried nettle seed, or even the raw leaves of the nettle itself in plenty to suck, or chicory and garden-cress and what they call perseum, 430 and besides these, mustard and radishes in plenty, and mingled with them slender spring onions. A head of garlic with well-grown cloves just taken in a drink also averts disaster.
Learn further that when men drink the tears of the poppy, whose seeds are in a head, they fall fast asleep ; for their extremities are chilled; their eyes do not open but are bound quite motionless by their eyelids. With the exhaustion an odorous sweat bathes all the body, turns the cheeks pale, and causes the lips to swell; the bonds of the jaw are relaxed, 440 and through the throat the laboured breath passes faint and chill. And often either the livid nail or wrinkled nostril is a harbinger of death; sometimes too the sunken eyes.
Of all these symptoms you must not be afraid, but devote yourself entirely to succour, filling the failing man with boiling-hot wine and grape-syrup. Or else make haste to break in pieces the labour of the bee of Hymettus. (Bees were born from the carcase of a calf that had fallen dead in the glades, and there in some hollow oak they first, maybe, united to build their nest, and then, bethinking themselves of work, 450 wrought round it in Demeter's honour their many-celled combs, as with their feet they gathered thyme and flowering heath.) There are times when, prizing open his dog-teeth, or into his drooping jaws, you should squeeze with a tuft of fleecy wool some fresh, fragrant rose-oil or iris-oil or again oil of the sleek olive; and let him drain a thick flock saturated with it. And forthwith rouse him with slaps on either cheek, or else by shouting, or again by shaking him as he sleeps, in order that the swooning man may dispel the fatal drowsiness and may then vomit, ridding himself of the grievous affliction. 460 And dip cloths first in wine and then in warm oil, and rub and chafe his chilled limbs with the liquid; or again, mix them in a bath-tub and dip his body in it, and at once immerse him in the hot bath and so thaw his blood and soften his taut, dry skin.
Also you should learn to know the dire and fateful drink of the deadly sea-hare, offspring of the waves of the pebbly sea. Its odour is that of fishes' scales and of the water in which they have been scoured; its taste is fishy like that of rotten fish, or of unwashed when scales taint the dish. 470 A sordid creature with its slim tentacles, it resembles the new-born young of the calamary or of the octopus or the fugitive cuttlefish, which stains the sea black with its gall directly it perceives the fisherman's crafty assault. Over the limbs of the poisoned spreads the dusky pallor of jaundice, and piecemeal their flesh melts away and dwindles, and food is utterly loathsome. At times the surface of the flesh swells and grows puffy about the ankles; the eyes are swollen, and as it were luxuriant blossoms settle upon the cheeks. For there follows a scantier flow of urine, which is sometimes red, 480 at others still more bloody in colour. Then the sight of every fish is hateful to his eyes and in his disgust he loathes food from the sea.
Give the patient a sufficient draught of Phocian hellebore or the gum of new-grown scammony in order that he may void both the draught and the filth of the evil fish; or else he should milk a she-ass and drink the milk, or he should dissolve smooth-skinned sprigs of the mallow in a pot. Then again he is given an obol's weight of cedar pitch ; or else let him eat his fill of the scarlet fruit of the pomegranate, the Cretan kind, 490 the wine-red, and the sort they call Promenean, also that from Aegina, and all those which partition hard, red grains into sections by a covering like a spider's web. Or else you should squeeze the flesh of grapes through a strainer, like olives oozing beneath the presses.
But if a man whose throat is constrained by parching thirst fall on his knees and draw water from a stream like a bull, parting with his hand the delicate, moss-like plants, then, approaching eagerly along with the water there rushes upon him in its desire for food the blood-loving leech, 500 long flaccid and yearning for gore. Or when a man's eyes are shrouded beneath dark night, and without thinking he drinks from a pitcher, tipping it up and pressing his lips to its, the creature floating on the surface of the water passes down his throat. At the point to which first the stream drives and collects them, the leeches fasten on in numbers and suck the body's blood, settling now at the entrance where the breath always gathers to pour through the narrow pharynx, and sometimes one clings about the mouths of the stomach inflicting pain, 510 and swallows a fresh repast.
You should administer to the patient a draught of vinegar mixed in his cup, and sometimes with it snow to eat, or ice fresh frozen by the north winds. Or you should dig up some moist, brackish soil and brew therewith a turbid potion to give him strength; or draw actual salt water, and either warm it at once beneath the late summer sun or heat it steadily over a fire. Or else you should give him rock salt in plenty or the salt flakes which a salter ever gathers 520 as they settle at the bottom when he mingles water with water.
Let not the evil ferment of the soil injure a man; it will often swell up in his chest, at other times it will choke him, when it is fostered over the viper's coil deep in its lair, sucking up the monster's venom and the noxious breath from its mouth. This is the evil ferment which they call Fungi in general, for to different kinds different names have been assigned.
Now do you cut of either the head of a cabbage with its coats of leaves or the green fronds of rue, and administer them. Or else crumble the bloom of copper that has had long use, 530 or ashes of the vine in vinegar. Sometimes grate the root of bindweed or some soda into an infusion of vinegar, or a leaf of the cress which grows in garden-plots; and citron too, and the biting mustard. You should also reduce to ashes in the fire the lees of wine or the droppings of the domestic fowl, and then let the man thrust his hand hard down his throat and vomit up the deadly poison.
But if hurt come from a draught, hard to cure, of the sorcerer's lizard, slippery-skinned and utterly reckless, which they call the salamander, and which not even a fierce flame can harm, 540 then on a sudden the base of the tongue is inflamed and then the victims are overcome with chill, and a fearful trembling burdens and loosens their joints. They stagger and crawl upon all fours like an infant, for the faculties of the mind are utterly blunted, and livid weals spreading thick over the skin blotch the extremities as the poison is diffused.
Give the sufferer frequent doses of the tears stripped from the pine-tree mingled with the bee's rich produce; or boil down the leaves of the budding ground-pine together with the cones which the pine puts forth. 550 And sometimes mix the nettle's seed with the finely ground meal of bitter vetch, and dry them. Sometimes too you should sprinkle cooked nettles with crumbling barley-groats, dress well in oil, and force the patient to eat in plenty even against his will. Again, pine-resin and the sacred produce of the bee and the root of all-heal and the delicate eggs of the tortoise are curative when you mix them on a hot fire; curative too the flesh of a hog abounding in fat when boiled down together with the limbs of the sea-turtle which swims at large with weak flippers; or else with those of the mountain tortoise that feeds on tree-medick, the creature 560 that Hermes the Gracious endowed with a voice though voiceless, for he separated the chequered shell from the flesh and extended two arms from its edges. Further, either you should bend to your service the tadpoles' impudent parents and eryngo roots with them, or you should throw into a pot a sufficient quantity of scammony and cook it. With these fee the sick man to satiety, and though he be near to death, you will save him.
If a man imbibe a draught from the sun-loving toad or from the dumb and green-hued toad which in the springtime cling to the bushes, sleek, and licking up the dew, 570 one of them, the sun-lover, induces a pallor like fustic and causes swellings in the limbs while the breath issues continually in long gasps and forced, and smells foul at the mouth. Whereas the voiceless one that frequents the reeds sometimes diffuses the yellowness of boxwood over the limbs, 580 and sometimes bedews the mouth with a flow of bile. Sometimes too a man suffers from heart-burn, and persistent hiccups convulse him. And it causes the seed, now of man now of woman, to drip on, and often scattering it over their limbs it renders it infertile. But you should give the patient the flesh of a frog boiled or roasted; sometimes pitch which you have mixed with sweet wine. And the spleen of the deadly toad averts the grievous oppression - the vocal toad of the fen, which cries on the sedge , the first harbinger of delightful spring. Further, for such patients you should sometimes pour out wine in abundance, cup after cup, and induce the man to vomit, reluctant though he be; or else heat over a fire a big-bellied vessel and keep the sick man always warm, and let him sweat profusely. Also you should clip and mix with wine the roots of tall-growing reeds which are nourished by the toads' native marsh, 590 where as tiny creatures they swim about with their feet, or roots of the life loving galingale, female and male; and dry the man's body by ceaseless exercise, keeping him from all food and drink, and exhaust his limbs.
Also do not neglect litharge, which brings suffering when its hateful burden sinks into the stomach and wind circulates and rumbles about the mid navel, as in a violent colic which overpowers men, smiting them with sudden pains. The victim's flow of urine fails; then the limbs swell 600 and the skin has the appearance of lead.
Give the patient either a double obol's weight of myrrh or a fresh infusion of sage, or else cut him hypericum from the hills, or sprigs of hyssop, or again a spray of the wild fig and seed of celery from the Isthmus, beneath which the sons of Sisyphus buried the youthful Melicertes, slain by the sea, and established games. Or else you should roast pepper along with rue and grate them into wine, and so rescue him from deadly sickness. You should also give him fresh buds of henna, or the firstling fruit of the pomegranate 610 with the flower still upon it.
[See that you do not pluck the dangerous, pine-like yew of Oeta: it is the giver of lamentable death, and only a copious draught of unmixed wine can bring instant help when it chokes the pharynx and the narrow passage of a man's throat.]
[Some remedies medicinal for a man against noxious fungi Nicander in fact set down in his book, but in addition to these the myrtle whose twigs Dictynna abhors, and which Hera of the Imbrasus alone receives not for her garland, 620 seeing that it adorned the Cyprian queen on mount Ida, when the goddesses were roused to compete in beauty with one another - from this in some watered glade take as a healing boon the scarlet fruit that waxes and is warmed with the wintry rays of the sun, and pounding them with a pestle strain the juice over fine linen or with a rush sieve and administer a cup containing a cyathus - or more, for a larger dose is serviceable since this draught is not harmful to men - for that is in fact sufficient cure if you drink it.]
And now hereafter you will treasure the memory of Nicander the singer, 630 and observe the command of Zeus, Protector of Friendships.

Hi. 26, female
This is the third week that I am suffering from: abdominal pain (mid to lower left and middle abdomen - sometimes hurts to touch it also achy and cramping sometimes), bloating that happens (even if I haven’t eaten or barely eaten). Some back pain here and there. Bloating is something that happens all day but the pain is mostly around 7pm through the night. Sometimes during day but not as much.
After two weeks, I threw up one night and had the worst pain. I ended up going to the ER. They did a CAT scan and said I was clear, only that I had a 2mm kidney stone but it was unobstructed. My labs said my WBC was high and some of the urine stuff said abnormal. ER didn’t say anything about this. I feel bad for going and they send me home with a paper that said “ER for emergencies”. The reason I went was because last time I had bad symptoms, I had to have my gallbladder removed. Diverticulosis runs in my family so I was thinking maybe it was that. ER said no.
I scheduled an appt with my gyno which was this week. Ahead of that, I drank a bunch of lemon water and still had horrible bloating but the abdomen pain wasn’t as bad. Went to gyno and had a vaginal ultrasound and ultrasound on kidney and bladder. All of my repro stuff looked fine, they couldn’t see the kidney stone and asked if I maybe passed it. But I don’t think so. Not sure. They said they were going to refer me to a urologist because there was (echospace?) debris in my bladder and they didn’t know what that was/meant.
That was Monday. Tonight my abdomen is hurting a lot again.
I don’t have pain when urinating or a stench. I’ve never had a UTI but my mom gets them a lot. But I’m guessing they would have caught that. I’m waiting for my urologist referral but wondering if any medical professionals have any ideas 😭 I feel like I’m overreacting but it’s making it hard to sleep or eat for me. I don’t know what to do.

Female, 20, white, non drinker or smoker, moderately active, eat pretty well, healthy until now.
Hello. I’ve been having sharp chest pains for about 2 weeks now. It began as random (no correlation to movement) sharp pains in my chest followed by fatigue. I’ve been in college so couldn’t monitor my vitals, but since I got home from college a week ago my mom gave me her pulse ox to track my heart rate.
During my chest pain episodes, my BPM spikes in the range of 145-180. It started as having a high heartbeat only during the “episodes”, but now my resting heart rate can be as low as 55 and as high as 180 (laying down!!). This was all monitored at a cardiac doctor today, but they said I was young and healthy so they aren’t sure what to do. It’s gotten progressively worse (higher BPM for longer durations, even during rest). I’ve also tracked my BPM going down to 55 while briefly jogging, then spiking back up to 140 when stopping (inverse??).
I have a 48 hour heart monitor on (that will be shipped to the doctor), but am not confident that I’m being taken seriously, as I was told several times that I’m young and healthy. I went to the ER right after the cardiac doctor because I could not get my heart rate down and they sent me home soon after because my labs were all normal (blood, urine, X-ray). The EKG did catch me at 145 laying down, but they still won’t tell me what they think is wrong because labs don’t indicate anything.
As an additional note, I have 24/7 heart, left arm, and chest soreness/aches. I get sharp spikes at least once every 10 minutes (more and more often as time goes on).
Any thoughts? Greatly appreciated, thanks. I would be happy to answer any questions.

Hello all! I’ve been embarking on a spiritual journey and delving into “Women Who Run with the Wolves” by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. She references Jung fairly heavily in this book which is how I ended up on this subreddit.
Background: mid 30s female exploring my spiritual alignment and becoming more accepting of a more cosmic(?)/ nature based spirituality.
I’ve had two dreams of deserts in the last week and I dream VERY vividly. The dreams are below and I added breaks to denote them from the interpretation I’m finding: ————————— - I dreamt I was in my climbing gym, falling asleep on the mats. Then when I woke up I wasn’t in the gym anymore. I was in a white desert with white rock formations all around me. But the people from the gym were there. They slowly started disappearing and I was making assessments. “Ok it’s white, it’s not snow though, it’s sand. Scorpions. I can see my hands. But where is [name redacted]?” (the person I was looking for was a man who’s been a consistent presence in my life for the last 3 years)
Then I was “pulled” over formations by an unseen force, I could feel the rock as it passed below me. I touched it. And I was pulled for miles before landing in front of a flat wall with symbols on it. I wanted to wake up, I tried forcing myself to wake up but it wasn’t working. I can’t remember the symbols, but I remember finding someone akin to a guru who was trying to guide me and then he faded away. Then I woke up.

• I was “stuck” in the desert. Red, red sand. I could feel the sand in my fingers. I was right next to a road so I wasn’t really stuck. I just didn’t want to leave. I could see a rest stop not far away, over a ridge. I could see the top of the building but I didn’t want to go towards it. I just laid there and waited and watched people come by. No one really interacted or asked if I was ok. They just kept going. I didn’t need food/ wate shelter. I was content laying there and observing.

One group came by, two men and a woman on motorcycles. Didn’t notice me. They kept driving up the sandy road. A rock broke off from the ridge above me and tumbled down, hit one of the men and woman on the motorcycles. I saw the blood and their bodies splayed out. I sat there and watched as they suddenly became horses. Mangled limbs corrected themselves and the horses got to their feet, limped a bit and then found footing and started to run off.
I stood up, started walking toward them and made that sound you make when you’re calling a horse, kind of like a click in the back of your throat. They came back to me and laid down and I comforted them. “It’s ok, you’re going to be ok. You’re not alive anymore but you’re going to be ok and run free.” I could feel their fur under my fingers, and they were red like the sand too. ————————— One thing that sticks out to me is the comfort I’m finding in this desolate place, I’m no longer searching for the guru, it feels like I’m becoming the guru or leaning into a space as a guide for others. I am no longer seeking comfort but providing it to others who are lost. Perhaps this is a sign of flexing into acceptance of my own spiritual path and place? Unsure. I still need to sit and feel my way through this entirely.
Apologies for the wall of text, I tried breaking it up and giving the background requested as well as giving enough “juicy bits” of the dreams themselves. Curious to hear others thoughts!

26 yr old female. Family history of high blood pressure, father has type 2 diabetes, but no other major family history.
I have had extremely high blood pressure, it is now being “somewhat” controlled with meds! My normal reading at home off of a wrist cuff is in the 120s/80s. But going to the doctor it sky rockets because I get sooo nervous. My primary doctor said I likely have white coat syndrome. Well fast forward I have had 1+ and 2+ protein in my urine and an extremely high Microalbumin/Creatinine Ratio Urine (196 then 172) so now have been referred to kidney specialist. Ultrasound and CT with dye came back clear. I have no obvious symptoms of anything, I have felt fine. My cholesterol and A1c all came back normal. I did get put on an iron supplement as I am now anemic. I typically walk 3-5 miles a day and have been eating relatively healthy since the beginning of the year.
I have had major anxiety over it all. Stressed on what it could be and we were hoping to conceive this year, but have decided to wait till we figure out what is going on.
Thoughts on possible issues?

Can express care tell the difference in male and female urine for a basic drug test

Hi, 25 female, 5”7, 132lbs, I had my HCG levels tested 05/18 they were at 11 Had them tested again 5/22 and they were at 18 Had them tested again 5/25 and they were at 7 Is this a chemical pregnancy? Haven’t had my period yet. Only have had negative urine pregnancy tests, not sure why.

Hi, 25 female, 5”7, 132lbs, Non smoking
I had my HCG levels tested 05/18 they were at 11 Had them tested again 5/22 and they were at 18 Had them tested again 5/25 and they were at 7 Is this a chemical pregnancy? Haven’t had my period yet. Only have had negative urine pregnancy tests, not sure why.

Hey Jude, you won the poll. Despite a competitive showing from Otis Redding, The Beatles won the 1968 poll, making them the first artist to win twice.
*****
1) “Sugar Sugar” (The Archies) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paAjKEzbdvc
The defining song of the bubblegum pop genre, the song was written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim, with the latter scoring a No. 1 song of his own in the mid-70s with the excellent “Rock Me Gently”. It was credited to The Archies, a fictional band from the animated TV show The Archie Show, based on the Archie Comics (if you know the show Riverdale, you know). The lead vocals were sung by Ron Dante, with Toni Wine on backing vocals and keyboard. This song is marked by a cheerful, upbeat melody and simple, sweet, straightforward, and catchy lyrics. It includes a memorable bass line, light percussion, and pop orchestration. The song was an enormous smash hit all across the world and was the best-selling single worldwide in 1969.
Man, bubblegum freaking rules. I love this song. I don’t care what anyone says.
2) "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" (The 5th Dimension) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlrQ-bOzpkQ
The first of 2 US No. 1s for the pop group The 5th Dimension, this song is a medley of two songs from the musical Hair, a musical which dominated popular culture in 1968-1970 and was like the Hamilton of the Woodstock generation it seems (several of the songs from the musical were covered by different artists and became huge hits, and the soundtrack was a No. 1 album). The song blends psychedelic soul, pop, and rock. It starts with a slow, mellow introduction in "Aquarius" and gradually builds up to the more upbeat and gospel-infused "Let the Sunshine In." The arrangement features rich sunshine pop-influenced harmonies typical of The 5th Dimension, with a prominent use of brass and rhythm section that gives it a powerful and uplifting feel.
Wonderful song. I first heard this song from a 40 Year-Old Virgin when I was a little kid. A few years from now, saying that might start to show my age.
3) “I Can’t Get Next to You” (The Temptations) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxH1BYed6xc
The 2nd of 4 US No. 1s for The Temptations, the song was written by Temptations-producer Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong. The song is notable for featuring each of the then-current members of The Temptations taking turns on lead vocals. This was a part of the group's move towards a more democratic approach to lead vocals, which Whitfield encouraged. The song is a blend of psychedelic soul, a style that producer Whitfield was pioneering at the time. It features a heavy, funky instrumental backing, highlighted by brass, strong bass, and distinctive guitar effects, which became a signature sound of Motown in the late 1960s. The lyrics express frustration and longing, with each member describing supernatural powers they possess, yet none of these abilities help them win the affection of the person they love.
Man, all 4 of the Temptations No. 1s are absolute stone-cold classics. The fact that this song is my least favourite of the 4 speaks wonders to how good those four songs are. This song has so much strut and attitude.
4) “Honky Tonk Women” (The Rolling Stones) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urqALF0-dX4
The 5th of 8 US No. 1 songs by The Rolling Stones, and their last No. 1 of the 1960s (as well as their 8th and final UK No. 1), the non-album single was released in the UK the day after the death of founding member Brian Jones. Thematically, a "honky tonk woman" refers to a dancing girl in a western bar; the setting for the narrative in the first verse is Memphis, Tennessee. There is a honky-tonk version of this song with slightly different lyrics on the Let It Bleed album called “Country Honk”.
While this isn’t my favourite Stones No. 1, it’s a damn good song.
5) “Everyday People” (Sly and the Family Stone) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JvkaUvB-ec
The first of 3 US No. 1s for Sly and the Family Stone, this song was written by Sly Stone and was written as a plea for peace and equality between differing races and social groups, a major theme and focus for the band. The Family Stone featured white members Greg Errico and Jerry Martini in its lineup, as well as females Rose Stone and Cynthia Robinson, making it an early major integrated band in rock history. Unlike the band's more typically funky and psychedelic records, "Everyday People" is a mid-tempo number with a more mainstream pop feel. Bassist Larry Graham contends that the track featured the first instance of the "slap bass technique", which would become a staple of funk and other genres.
Amazing song. Honestly, one of my favourites of the decade. And all time. The message is still pertinent today.
6) “Dizzy” (Tommy Roe) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RX8M3hkYhs
Tommy Roe had previously scored a No. 1 song in 1962 with the proto-bubblegum “Sheila” (great song). He is now considered one of the archetypal bubblegum pop artists of the late 60s, alongside Tommy James and the Shondells. He co-wrote "Dizzy" with Freddy Weller. “Dizzy” features a prominent swirling organ riff, upbeat rhythm, and simple, memorable lyrics that embody the pop sensibility of the late-1960s. The chorus, with its repetitive and catchy hook "I'm so dizzy, my head is spinning," conveys the song's theme of bewildering romantic feelings. It was a US No. 1 and was a big worldwide hit.
I feel like I’m beating a dead horse, but this is also a great song. Love it. So catchy.
***
Rounding out the Top 10 is “Hot Fun in the Summertime”’ (Sly and the Family Stone) (No. 7), "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" (Tom Jones) (No. 8), “Build Me Up Buttercup” (The Foundations (No. 9) and “Crimson and Clover” (Tommy James and the Shondells) (No. 10).
Holy crap, what a Top 10. Might be the best Top 10 of the 60s.
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Hey yall, female diagnosed with GHSV1 in early 2023. I’ve been on 1g of Valtrex ever since my diagnosis, some docs have told me it’s overkill but it’s for my own peace of mind more than anything else. As far as I know I haven’t had another OB since my initial one.
Last week I went to the Dr because I was having a lot of urges to pee and also noticed a tiny bit of blood in my urine. It really didn’t even burn to pee yet but it felt like the early stages of a bladder infection so I immediately went to the doc the next day and was put on 3 days of Bactrim (antibiotic). They took a urine sample and it was cloudy/dark and had some red and white blood cells in it, they didn’t do a culture bc it was a pretty classic looking UTI just from looking under the microscope. I felt better pretty much immediately after taking the antibiotics, I think I caught it super early.
After I felt better I had unprotected sex (partner knows my status). Immediately after sex I went to go to the bathroom and my clitoris was a little irritated (he was pretty rough with his hands) and when I pulled back my clitoral hood I saw a VERY small flat red spot sort of under the hood. I’m talking the size of a pencil tip. I would not have noticed it had I not pulled back the hood.
I’m a hypochondriac and check myself down there pretty much daily just to be familiar with what’s going on down there and I did not notice this spot earlier that day, but again it was SO small. The spot itself did not look like a typical sore, was not swollen, no blistering, not super red more just like a darker pink. It did not hurt to the touch or itch, but it kinda freaked me out. I figured it could just be irritation from sex and told myself to wait til the next day and keep an eye on it.
The next day the spot was still there, but hadn’t changed or gotten worse at all. However my clitoris was very sensitive that day and a little swollen. I noticed that I had clumpy white discharge, classic yeast infection style. I know that antibiotic use can cause YI and it has happened to me before. So I had a doc call in an Rx of diflucan (the pill), I couldn’t pick it up til the next day so in the meantime I used topical miconazole cream and applied it directly to my clitoris which was the only spot that felt swollen/sensitive.
The next day after applying the cream the spot was completely gone and my clitoris felt normal. I have been thoroughly checking myself for any sores/blistering and haven’t noticed any. I have read that fungal infections can cause flat red spots like that and I’m pretty reassured that it went away quickly and the remaining internal YI has been responding to the diflucan and topical miconazole.
Also note that like I stated before, I take 1g Valtrex daily.
But still I’ve been freaking myself out over that little red spot that I noticed after sex. I got so scared when I saw it and I wouldn’t have had sex with my partner if I saw it beforehand.
Has anyone had little red spots like that from a YI or even just rough sex/masturbation? It didn’t even feel “raw” or sting or itch or anything!
Also, do y’all always get OBs following a YI or mild UTI? I think I had a YI earlier this year and I don’t think I got an OB along with it, but I keep freaking myself out and checking for sores. I should be reassured that I’m on such a high dose of Valtrex but who knows :( please help ease my anxiety if possible

Okay I will include a TLDR at the bottom because this is long and complicated.
But basically, I’m an equestrian of 3 years, still fairly new to it. I study animal science in school and wanted a cool internship before my senior year that had to do with horses, so I signed a contract for an internship in a different state (about 25 hours from home) where I give trail rides.
Now, mind you, anyone here that’s an equestrian would know, in order to stay fit, you need to trot/lope the horse, not just walk. I was concerned about this but the job description said “improve horsemanship skills” along with the trails. So nice. You have to live near the stable (meaning essentially I had to move) into “comfortable dorm-style housing”, and I figured I could live with that. The job description also said “Work in a fast paced environment, but will learn everything”. I’m used to working in a chaotic job, no biggie. I want to learn.
I showed up about 4 days ago, didn’t meet the manager because it was a Sunday and I moved into the dorm (cabin). Okay, now I’m not a clean freak or anything like that, but this dorm was filthy. Mold in the shower, dust and dirt all in the carpet, stains on the wall, carpet, mattress, and fridge. I tried to shower, the pressure is next to nothing. I asked the lead intern to get matinence to clean or fix the pressure and she said the only thing she can do is ask them to fix the pressure. It’s been 4 days and nothing has happened. Rather than clean, the crew gave me cleaning supplies, which is fine because then at least I know I can clean well. I cleaned it best I could, but everything is falling apart and there’s still stains everywhere.
First few days of work were fine, mostly training in the stables and the managers didn’t show up. Few days into work, I meet the female manager. Already she’s singling me out to “hurry up” and “I should’ve been done already” and then yelling at all of us that we’re slow and anyone who takes their phone out in the 8 hour shift will be fired. We also can never ever sit down during this 8 hour shift, except during the 15 min lunch.
Then, come to find out, we’re only doing the trails and chores, nothing else. We can’t trot or lope, even when working the horses because then we’ll be fired. We have to have the hours long trails memorized after only seeing them once even though there are no markers indicating where to go. The job description said we’d work 5 days, but now I’m finding out that if it’s a slow week we might only be working 3 or 4.
These are mostly the bigger things but there’s a lot of little issues too that I won’t mention. I haven’t met the male manager yet, but I’ve heard he’s worse.
I was told this would be a fun and rewarding job, but it’s only day 4 and I’m extremely stressed. Some of the things the job description said we’d be doing, we’re not. I don’t mind working hard, or fast, but I do get stressed when I feel like the managers don’t respect or care about us. I get along with the other interns, I love the horses and the trails, the area is gorgeous, but I feel scammed, and I signed a contract to be here until the end of August. Any ideas?
TLDR; I’m doing an internship where I live on site in a nasty dorm and the managers have made empty promises before I even started and are not understanding of the new hires and always threaten to fire you. I signed a contract to be here for three months.

Hello, my boyfriend and I recently moved together and he desperately misses his dog, which had to stay with his mother. Chances are we will be getting a puppy down the line, so I'm thinking ahead.
1) Will this be your first dog? If not, what experience do you have owning/training dogs?
I've had 3 tervuerens with my family, my mom did most of the walking but I did most of the obedience training. He's had a Labrador retriever but the dog is pretty much untrained. He has had another dog too but I don't know much about it.
2) Do you have a preference for rescuing a dog vs. going through a reputable breeder?
Rescuing isn't really a big thing in Norway, so breeder, alternatively adopting an adult dog privately (but prefer a puppy).
3) Describe your ideal dog.
My second dog was an incredibly intelligent female tervueren who was up for absolutely anything (skijoring, agility, hikes with the horses, boat trips, biking, rally obedience, party tricks, service tricks, she was even my emotional support dog in middle school), was incredibly friendly, didn't bark too-too much and had a very manageable coat for the breed. She was perfect other than the fact that she went neurotic and ate her own tail and the wallpaper off the wall if she went one day without proper mental and physical stimulation.
For our future dog, most importantly it needs to be friendly with people and animals (horses, dogs, cats, chickens), and trainable (namely recall being very important). Needs to be able to come on hacks with horses, so athletic and large enough to keep up, but bonus points for one that is also okay with chilling for a few days without losing its mind. Doesn't need to be the most intelligent dog on the planet but being able to teach some fun tricks would be nice. Extremely unlikely to do anything competitively. Huge bonus if it's not a particularly loud or guarding dog. Coat length isn't a huge deal but needs to be able to cope with cold down to -15°C and snow.
4) What breeds or types of dogs are you interested in and why?
I've been mostly thinking of labs and tervuerens as that is what we are experienced with, but am open to suggestions.
5) What sorts of things would you like to train your dog to do?
Learning to go around off leash on the farm around horses, chickens, possibly cats and other dogs is very important. I want to be able to bring it on hikes with and without horses. No competitions but party tricks are fun. As well as useful things like closing doors and turning lights on and off, picking stuff up off the ground to hand it off etc.
6) Do you want to compete with your dog in a sport (e.g. agility, obedience, rally) or use your dog for a form of work (e.g. hunting, herding, livestock guarding)? If so, how much experience do you have with this work/sport?
No
Care Commitments
7) How long do you want to devote to training, playing with, or otherwise interacting with your dog each day?
I have a chronic illness and can't reliably say. Some weeks can be a 2 hr hike in the mountains every day, some can be lying in bed feeling half dead and only being able to let the dog out on its own.
My boyfriend can pick up the slack with physical exercise on those weeks and will happily go for a decent length walk but is not particularly experienced with mental stimulation or obedience training (at least not yet).
I am home all day and can basically hang around with the dog from I wake up until I go to bed, but not always actively.
8) How long can you exercise your dog each day, on average? What sorts of exercise are you planning to give your dog regularly and does that include using a dog park?
See above. When I'm able to ride, frequent 1+ hr hikes in rough terrain, often with long stretches of running. When I'm not, dog can run free around the farm, go on walks with my boyfriend and play with the other dogs here.
No dog park but will be meeting dogs out hiking and will live on a property with other dogs.
9) How much regular brushing are you willing to do? Are you open to trimming hair, cleaning ears, or doing other grooming at home? If not, would you be willing to pay a professional to do it regularly?
Ideally little coat and skin care but this is extremely low priority. I can learn whatever is required to do at home.
Personal Preferences
10) What size dog are you looking for?
Medium-large
11) How much shedding, barking, and slobber can you handle?
Shedding no issue, barking ideally as little as possible, but if dog has a deepenot super sharp and painful voice, some is ok. Some slobber ok, not huge amounts though.
12) How important is being able to let your dog off-leash in an unfenced area?
Basically the top priority I have is being able to go off leash
Dog Personality and Behavior
13) Do you want a snuggly dog or one that prefers some personal space?
Ideally one that is fine with either. Doesn't need to be a lapdog but absolutely needs to be okay with being up close and personal without getting anxious.
14) Would you prefer a dog that wants to do its own thing or one that’s more eager-to-please?
One that is eager to please but ideally without being hyper-dependent on people
15) How would you prefer your dog to respond to someone knocking on the door or entering your yard? How would you prefer your dog to greet strangers or visitors?
With friendly excitement or not caring much, but barking at visitors at first is okay as long as it's not endless. No barking at every little twig breaking.
16) Are you willing to manage a dog that is aggressive to other dogs?
No
17) Are there any other behaviors you can’t deal with or want to avoid?
None I can think of that are not already mentioned
Lifestyle
18) How often and how long will the dog be left alone?
A few times a week for a few hours (groceries etc)
19) What are the dog-related preferences of other people in the house and what will be their involvement in caring for the dog?
Boyfriend prefers a big friendly dog and is happy to do daily care for an hour or two a day, but not experienced with any real training, his dog mostly just runs freely around inside their fenced property.
20) Do you have other pets or are you planning on having other pets? What breed or type of animal are they?
There are horses, chickens and two small/medium dogs on the property. We might be getting a cat or two in the future.
21) Will the dog be interacting with children regularly?
Highly unlikely
22) Do you rent or plan to rent in the future? If applicable, what breed or weight restrictions are on your current lease?
We rent, but no restrictions.
23) What city or country do you live in and are you aware of any laws banning certain breeds?
Norway, pitbulls and some other fight bred dogs are banned as well as wolf crosses.
24) What is the average temperature of a typical summer and winter day where you live?
20C in summer, -10C in winter
Additional Information and Questions
25) Please provide any additional information you feel may be relevant.
Health is very important, we don't need a dog with a 15 year lifespan but we need one that is as likely to be pain free, allergy cancer free etc as possible. Of course none of these are guarantees but some breeds are riskier than others.
I understand I am asking for a unicorn here and no dog breed is likely to fit all these criteria 100%. But I might as well give it a try and see what people think.

05-22-2024 REVISION: Hey Everyone, I posted a truncated version of this the other day, but I kept ruminating and wanted to expand a little further, clear up some ideas, as well as address some of the feedback I initially got. I ended up basically rewriting the original post with enough new information I figured it would be worth it to delete the original, and share the idea again, but more succinctly. So if you already read some of this, I think I provide enough new information it is worth the re-read, but if not I apologize for wasting your time. And if you have not yet read it, please enjoy. Also, this is in no way a suggestion or insistence that you must consume Wicked, the 1939 film, or any Oz any related media as part of any kind of "canon" or connected continuity. How you consume media is entirely up to you.
\**Preamble:* A prequel is “a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative”. It is just a word to describe the type of narrative Wicked and Oz the Great and Powerful are. Just like Journey Back to Oz and Return to Oz are “sequels” made by different production companies. It in no way connotes an “official” connection between legally distinct IPs. It is just a way to describe the function of the narrative.
...Also, I am not a copyright lawyer, I'm not any kind of lawyer, nor am I making an accusation that anyone or any entity is infringing on the copyright or trademark of any other entities. That being said…
So, I have a theory that Wicked -- both Maguire's novel (Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West), 1995) and more so the musical (Wicked, 2003 Universal Stage Productions) -- solely functions as a prequel to the 1939 MGM film the Wizard of Oz (now owned by WB), and not that film's public domain source novel the Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Let me explain...
Maguire started writing Wicked in response to the Gulf War, presumably starting around 1990 through its publishing date in 1995. The 1939 film had a big boom in 1989 for its 50th Anniversary resulting in deluge of promotional material -- including an animated TV show adaptation by DIC, where Glinda was redesigned to look like Barbie -- complete with long blonde hair!
Maguire's clever use of Oz characters passed scrutiny during publication in 1995 because the Baum novel had long been in the public domain… as well as Ted Turner arranging to sell the MGM catalog to WB, circa 1997, making the timing ideal for Maguire's novel to skirt any copyright/trademark scrutiny for using elements from the non-public domain film.
We know what happened next, the book was a raging success and soon it was popular enough to be optioned by Universal and turned into a stage musical (produced after film & TV productions with Demi Moore and Salma Hayek separately attached failed to materialize). The musical opened first in San Francisco for try-outs and then Broadway in 2003. And writers Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman liberally peppered even more direct homages and winks to the 1939 film into leitmotifs and other elements of the book, score, and staging.
But, Wicked has TOO many elements from the 1939 film, and NOT ENOUGH from Baum's original book, to merit it being called a prequel to the book (this is also true of Disney’s 2013 admitted attempt to cash-in on Wicked’s success, Oz: the Great and Powerful – which is even more egregious than Wicked, and ironic, as its own title is directly lifted from the 1939 film misquote of the book’s moniker of “Oz the Great and Terrible”).
So now, let's look at some of key differences between the book the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (WWoOZ) and its film adaption from 1939, and how Wicked (and that Disney rip-off - though I don’t want to have to keep mentioning that movie so just assume most of what I say applies there too) reinterprets these events and characters:

• In the book WWoOz it is established that there are four cardinal witches in the land of Oz. Dorothy vanquishes two unrelated Wicked Witches in the East (WWotE) and West (WWotW) as well as encountering the benevolent unnamed good witch of the North at the start of her adventure and a separate good witch, Glinda of the South, who helps her home in the end. MGM condensed the good witches into one character “Glinda the Good Witch of the North” as well as adding a subplot turning the Wicked Witches into sisters (providing Margaret Hamilton’s Witch more direct motivation to pursue Judy Garland’s Dorothy via the Witch’s presumed right to collateral inheritance of her sister’s shoes). Both Maguire and Disney follow the 1939 film’s continuity regarding these relationships making the wicked witches siblings, and Glinda the sole “good witch” in opposition to them.
• WWotW as depicted in Baum’s novel bears little to no resemblance to the green-skinned Margaret Hamilton in the 1939 film, and subsequently Maguire’s Elphaba. Oz illustrator W. W. Denslow, whom Baum worked closely with when designing the characters, depicts the witch as a hunched old hag with three pigtails and an eyepatch, tall brimmed hat, ruffed collar, coat and skirt. While MGM’s design team, led by legendary costumer Adrian, initially tested several looks for WWotW (including a glamorous sequined look inspired by Disney’s Evil Queen in Snow White). MGM screenwriter, Herman Mankiewicz (who expanded the role of the wicked witch from book to screenplay, and wrote several key lines for her including, “I’ll get you my pretty!”) insisted "witches should be ugly!" leading to Gale Sondergard's replacement of Magaret Hamilton in the role. But the severe all-black silhouette cast by Hamilton's witch is nothing like the silly witch of Baum's text and Desnlow's art. And Susan Hilferty’s stage designs for Elphaba retain the 1939 film’s silhouette and dark color palette.
• Speaking of ugly witches... while green skinned characters, like folkloric swamp-hag Jenny Green-teeth, were not unheard of (even some promotional material for Disney's Snow White has their flesh-colored Hag looking a jaundiced yellow) it is widely acknowledged Margaret Hamilton’s Witch is the first in popular culture, and certainly on film, to be depicted with green skin. Likely, inspired by Universal's 1931 Frankenstein), promotional material for which depicted the Creature with sickly green skin, and chosen to accentuate the technicolor process, broadcasting the Witch's “wickedness” as well as helping Hamilton's frightening face and spider-like performance stand-out against her black costume, MGM producers chose green copper-based makeup for Hamilton's witch. The 1939 film's success in popular culture lead green-skinned witches to be accepted as "canon" in the public zeitgeist and now from Halloween make-up brands and Looney Tunes' Witch Hazel), the green skinned witch is mainstream. But as Professor Marion Gibson, associate professor of Renaissance and magical literatures at the University of Exeter and an expert in popular depictions of witches, explains, before 1939 "there are a few images of witches – for instance, on Halloween postcards – with odd coloured faces (usually red/orange, surprisingly) but MGM's green-faced witch is the first to make a key feature of a completely non-human skin colour." Needless to say this film element of green-skin became a major plot point of Maguire's Wicked.
• Another difference in Baum’s WWotW is that she only had one eye, but that it "was as powerful as a telescope", and this is how she spies on her enemies. MGM was again inspired by Snow White's Queen, and popular imagery of fortune tellers, giving Hamilton’s Witch the ability to scry in a large crystal ball, which made for some of the most memorable visuals of the film, of her looming eerily over the heroes. Unlike Baum’s WWotW, Maguire’s Elphaba retains vision in both eyes, and inherits her film counterpart's scrying abilities (primarily using a blown-glass orb).
• Baum’s WWotW importantly carries an umbrella, not a broomstick, as a source of protection for her aquaphobia. She has no need for transportation, her location is limited to her castle in the West of Oz. MGM’s script, howvever, gave Hamilton’s Witch a means of transportation that had long been popular in witch mythology, a broomstick, involving her more directly in the narrative (as well as giving the Wizard a macguffin to send Dorothy after). Maguire also chose to make a broomstick a means of travel for Elphaba, and Stephen Schwartz's “Defying Gravity”, the centerpiece of the musical, which sees a scene not included in the novel, where Elphaba defiantly flies over the Emerald City in protest of the Wizard, cemented the broom’s icon status within the framework of the Wicked franchise.
• The Flying Monkeys in Baum’s novel have a rich backstory involving their enslavement at the hands of a sorceress named Gaylette. The monkeys’ terms of imprisonment require they obey three commands given by whomever possess a Golden Cap, which the WWotW owns and uses to capture Dorothy and her friends. Dorothy comes into possession of the Golden Cap after WWotW’s demise (similar to her inheriting the slippers) and is able to command the monkeys to her own benefit later in the book. The Golden Cap subplot was scrapped from the MGM film in favor of giving the witch a more ambiguous command over her uniformed simian air force (though it still appears in the final cut as a prop tossed by Hamilton's Witch to Nikko, the flying monkey). Maguire’s Wicked makes no mention of Baum’s golden cap, giving Elphaba a monkey factotum -- who cannot speak similar to MGM’s Nikko (In Baum's Oz all animals can speak perfectly, including the leader of the Winged Monkeys... more on that below) -- now called Chistrey. The monkeys are given a vivisection backstory in Maguire's novel and are a result of the Grimmerie’s levitation spell in the musical, but Elphaba’s willful command of the their legions, without the limitations of the Golden Cap, is much more reminiscent of MGM’s Witch than Baum’s.
• Famously the slippers Dorothy inherits from the WWotE in Baum’s novel are made of silver metal (sterling silver shoes were popular as decorations and sugar bowls in Baum's day). The Slippers in the 1939 film were famously changed to ruby, so as to be more eye-catching against the technicolor yellow road. After some initial designs, MGM designer Adrian landed on the iconic red sequined pump seen in the film. in Maguire's work he is very careful not to make the famous slippers silver or ruby, and instead they are made of beaded glass, which has sentimental value to Elphaba's family, and utilizes the film’s sibling backstory to motivate Elphaba. The beaded glass slippers, in the musical referred to as "jeweled", refract multiple colors, notably a fiery red glow, again skirting copyright while paying homage to both the ruby slippers and silver of the Baum book. Susan Hilferty’s choice of silver sequined pumps for the musical, given a red special lighting cue at a crucial moment, distinctly resemble Adrian’s 1939 design.
• Dorothy is a young child of roughly seven or eight years old in Baum’s novel and its illustrations. In Maguire’s take on the character she is depicted as a husky teenager prone to cloying musical outbursts. Teenage Judy Garland was famously derided at MGM for her weight, especially filming Oz, with Louis Mayor allegedly calling her his “little hunchback”.
• Animals in Oz in Baum’s text are all Imbued with the power of speech. Toto himself is able to speak in the land of Oz (revealed in the fifth Baum book), as well as a myriad animals from our world who travel to the Land of Oz, who all gain sentience upon entering the fairy land. In the 1939 film, the Lion is the only animal that appears capable of speech, while other animals that appear, like Toto, birds, horses, cats and monkeys, are all incapable of human vocal communication. Maguire’s text relies heavily on the implication only some Animals (signified by capitalization of the word) in Oz can talk, their subjugation by the Wizard playing huge role in the plot of both Maguire’s book and the musical adaption.
• While sharing some similarities with Baum's Oz geography, 1939 film has a distinct layout for their Oz which is covered in great detail in very few lines of dialogue. In Munchkinland Glinda says "That was her sister--the Wicked Witch of the East. This is the Wicked Witch of the West. And she's worse than the other one." That establishes Munchkinland in the East of Oz, later we can place the Wicked Witch's castle in the West, with the Emerald City presumably in the center of Oz, while Glinda is from an unspecified "North". Funnily enough, those areas of Oz featured in the 1939 film are the same areas of Oz Maguire’s Wicked novel primarily deals with, namely Munchkinland (Nest Hardings), Emerald City, and the West (Kiamo Ko) and North of Oz (Shiz). Maguire also eschews Baum’s Glinda’s native Quadling Country in the south of Oz in favor of time spent in the North (the one land of Oz we never visit in Baum's first book). Maguire's Quadling Country (a backwater quagmire) shares none the colorful geography of Baum's Quadling Country -- which in WWoOZ is full of porcelain towns, jungles, mountains, and Glinda's majestic palace.
• Boq, a character indeed invented by Baum, plays a much less significant part of the novel Wicked than he does in the musical (in the musical he is composite of several novel characters), and his function in the novel the WWoOZ is very similar to that of the Munchkins featured in the 1939 film (he hosts a party celebrating the East Witch's death that Dorothy attends while staying at his home overnight on her journey down the Yellow Brick Road). He and the subplot featuring the Tin Woodman's backstory appear as trivial vignettes with little actual influence over Elphaba’s overall character arch in both the novel and musical.
• And while the inclusion of Elphaba using wolves, crows and bees to attack Dorothy and her friends is a point in Maguire's favor (but only applies to the novel, not the musical) it also has little significance over the elements from Baum’s book he leaves out in favor of the 1939 film’s continuity of a broom-riding, green-skinned witch after her sister’s collateral inheritance. And let us not forget that 1939's Witch also uses bees as a threat..
• But what I find most telling is that none of the witches in Baum’s novel directly interact with one another (later novels in the Oz series withstanding). The famous confrontation between the two witches in Munchkinland was entirely a fabrication of the 1939 film’s screenwriters. The musical’s entire premise, and a large portion of the novel’s, relies on the idea that these two opposing witches shared some past which informs their conflict in that scene, but that moment is solely a product of the 1939 film.

I think it is very important to view Wicked (especially the musical) as intended... as a revisionist adaption of, and prequel, to the 1939 film (and not Baum's book). In Wicked, Dorothy's journey of self discovery -- finding wisdom, love, and courage through community and questioning authority -- is subverted through Elphaba's journey -- where wisdom, love, and courage come at great personal cost, and questioning authority means also becoming a target of that authority's wrath. Whereas Dorothy returns home in the end, Elphaba must go into exile in the musical (and she is ding dong dead in the book).
By the end of the 1939 film Dorothy is literally transformed -- excellently visually expressed through her full glamour makeover - curtesy of the Wizard's employees - and adornment in her fallen enemy's fabulous footwear. The 1939 narrative in psychoanalytic terms is one of adolescent Dorothy being chided and ignored in Kansas -- she is without the protection of the adults around her, and therefore subjected to trauma at the hands of threatening Older Female and left vulnerable to the advances of a dubiously intentioned Conman. She learns the importance of embracing the power of appearances ("Are you a good witch or bad witch?.... only Bad witches are ugly.") therefore earning the protection of the adults who once ignored her. In turn she is able to utilize traits inherited from those adults to finally assume assume her full power, vanquishing the Older Female threat and rendering the Conman impotent.
Elphaba and Glinda similarly grow from children ignored -- Elphaba subject to rejection and bullying without the protection of her family or peers, and therefore vulnerable to machinations of a threatening Older Female and the advances of a dubiously intentioned Conman. She then learns the power of embracing appearances ("pink goes good with green") but, this being a subversion of the Oz narrative we see that in embracing her unconventional appearance (the skin she was born in and an outfit literally designed by Glinda) she further alienates herself from protection. While Glinda's journey of superficial beauty equating to goodness, also subjects her to persecution from the Older Female and Conman.
Through traits inherited from one another, and their enemies -- Elphaba uses the Wizard's methodology of deception and flim-flam to fake her death and win her freedom, while Glinda quite literally uses Morrible's own words against her in her defeat -- they are both able to assume full power vanquishing the Older Female threat and rendering the Conman impotent.
In the musical's Finale, a reprise of both "For Good" and "No One Mourns the Wicked", we have been made the whole show to ask ourselves the question "was she a good witch or a bad witch?" Then the audience watches a well intentioned, but woefully incompetent leader, ascend to power under the monicker "Glinda the Good" while the arguably more qualified person has their "death" celebrated, only to be mourned in secret.
The line, "who can say if I have been changed for the better, but because I knew you I have been changed for good" ties together the the concept of metaphorically wearing the traits of those we've known and encountered, loved ones and enemies alike. Like a well worn hat or pair of ruby slippers, we cloth ourselves in the intelligence, love, courage, and even the wickedness and deception of those we encounter.
Wicked tends to suggest truth is subjective. Goodness or wickedness, beauty and ugliness, whether someone is a "traitor or liberator, thief or philanthropist" is all subjective. The Wizard's malleable grip on truth ("Elphaba, where I'm from we believe all sorts of things that aren't true we call it history!") is ultimately inherited by Elphaba and Fiyero in the end ("It's not lying! It's looking at things another way") as well as Glinda ("Good news!"). Much like Dorothy's journey leaves her with the knowledge that her heart's desires lie in her own self fulfillment, Elphaba and Glinda are left knowing that their potential, good or bad, has always been theirs to posses.
Maguire used something called "fair use doctrine", technically publishing Wicked as a parody (which does not always mean a comical work). It was well within his legal right to do so. The musical tiptoes the lines he walked a little more, but ultimately Wicked being "legally distinct" from the 1939 -- but still using more elements from that movie than the public domain book -- is still a legal use of the characters. However, I think the way Maguire skirted copyright is incredibly clever, and I find it wild that such a popular franchise as Wicked has basically used legal gray areas to bring a rainbow of color to Oz, all while claiming use of public domain versions of characters, and clearly mining the trademarked versions of those characters for most of their inspiration.
Various Oz media has used elements of the 1939 film without voiding copyright. For example the 1982 anime film has red slippers, and 1972's Journey Back to Oz features a green skinned witch Mombi. And the 1939 film itself borrowed elements from numerous previous adaptations of the Oz story from silent and animated films to stage plays). The history of Oz is always evolving with each new iteration and how the story was told one hundred years ago isn't always going to be how we tell it in the future.
Just know, how anyone chooses to interpret the "canon" of Oz, or relate to any specific piece of media -- for example finding continuity between various adaptations, etc. -- is entirely up to them. Oz is a place that supports diversity, creativity, and inclusion! But if you're gonna be a witch, a green one is a good one to be!
TLDR: Wicked does not function as a prequel to the book by L. Frank Baum, but only serves as a prequel to the 1939 film, starring Judy Garland. This is evident because the Witch in Baum's book isn't green, doesn't ride a broom, only has one eye, no sister, and never interacts with Glinda (who is an amalgamation of two separate characters).

This is about my Mom. She's a 78 year old female. Nonsmoker. Hypertension, which she is medicated for and a hx of anxiety and depression which occurred following the sudden death of my father in 2010. She was prescribed Effexor at that time and was titrated off it it in 2021. Had no issues discontinuing the med. She came down with a upper respiratory infection in late March. She was given two antibiotics that caused significant GI distress which ended up with an ER visit due to concerns about dehydration. Her potassium was a touch low (she was given an oral supplement in the ER) and she was given fluids. Urinalysis done at the ER discovered a UTI (>100,000 CFU/mL Enterococcus faecalis). She had no UTI symptoms. She was prescribed macrobid and took as prescribed. There was a delay in the initiation of the antibiotics due to her not receiving a call about these results for over a week. She also had rapid onset of anxiety and depression following this ER visit, both of which were so severe, she was unable to function. We scheduled an appt with a psychiatrist and she was started back on effexor. Her psychiatrist expressed concern about the UTI possibly still being present due to the rapid onset of symptoms and how they appeared following her upper respiratory infection/treatment. My mom had a repeat urinalysis. Her results were abnormal but the cultures are normal. While the acute anxiety has decreased and she is able to function better, she is still not acting like herself. I'm concerned about the abnormalities on the urinalysis...should I be? I cannot shake the feeling that there is something physical underlying this decompensation in her behavioral health.
URINE CULTURE Value 35,000 CFU/mL Mixed Commensal Flora
Macroscopic results were all WNL except: -LEUKOCYTES Normal value: Negative WBCs/uL Value Moderate Abnormal
Microscopic results that were abnormal: -WBCS Normal range: below <11.0 /hpf Value 12.0 High
-SQUAMOUS EPITHELIAL CELLS Normal value: Occasional or less /lpf Value Few Abnormal
Thoughts? Thank you in advance!!