Alexx's Journal

I was talking more with kestrell about possible sources for the "witches all have stuffed alligators hanging from the ceiling" trope. She opined that many such odd notions have their origin in Shakespeare, which seemed worth following up on.

A quick google of "alligator shakespeare" produced the information that Shakespeare is credited with first *use* of the word alligator, at least in more-or-less its modern form! And then I looked up that first use, and found...

Romeo & Juliet, V.i

I do remember an Appothacarie,
And here abouts a dwells which late I noted,
In tattred weeds with ouerwhelming browes,
Culling of simples, meager were his lookes,
Sharpe miserie had worne him to the bones:
And in his needie shop a tortoyes hung,
An allegater stuft, and other skins
Of ill shapte fishes, and about his shelues,
A beggerly account of emptie boxes,
Greene earthen pots, bladders and mustie seedes,
Remnants of packthred, and old cakes of Roses
Were thinly scattered, to make vp a shew.
Noting this penury, to my selfe I said,
An if a man did need a poyson now,
Whose sale is present death in Mantua,
Here liues a Catiffe wretch would sell it him.

Now, in its original context, Romeo is clearly saying, "This guy's shop was so run-down, pathetic, and shabby, that I figured he was desperately poor, and thus would be willing to sell me poison." But one can easily see how the folk process could twist that into, "This is guy is evil, and will thus sell me poison," and from there to, "Romeo can tell this guy is evil *because* of the kinds of things hanging in his shop; they must be the sort of things evil poisoners (i.e. witches) always have."

I'd still be interested in tracking down, if possible, the intermediate steps that first made (or popularized) those memetic mutations. But I am confident that that's the primal source, and basic evolution of the notion.

The other day, kestrell and I were on the way home on the T. Across from us was a small girl, around 10, accompanied by an older woman, possibly mom or elder sister. The girl was playing with a small stuffed alligator.

I mentioned this to Kes, and speculated (quietly) about the possibility that the young girl was a witch. Since, after all, everyone knows that stuffed alligators are one of the de rigeur props of the proper witch. We then chatted for a while about where this custom might have originated.

[Digression: I have since searched online. Surprisingly, Wikipedia failed me. Google Books did turn up a reference in _The Fatal Gift_, by F. Frankfort Moore, 1898, but it seems to be a well-established trope already by then.]

At any rate, Kes started talking about how, despite her large collection of gothy and/or fearsome stuffed animals, she as yet had no stuffed alligator, and should probably remedy this.

The little girl, meanwhile, was wandering up and down the aisle with her toy. We were no longer speaking particularly quietly, and I guess the girl's mom/sister(?) overheard us. When the little girl next came by, the older woman whispered in her ear for a bit. Then the girl stepped across to us, holding out the alligator to Kestrell.

I said, in some wonderment, "Kes, you are being offered a stuffed alligator!" There followed some confusion and miscommunication, as Kes wanted to pay for it, and the girl wanted to give it away as a gift. Eventually Kes was convinced to accept the alligator.

Kes spent the rest of the ride playing with it, opening and closing its (spring-loaded) jaws. She said she felt a little guilty, but I said, "You're smiling, I'm smiling, and the little girl across the aisle is smiling to see us smile. I think we're good here."

So now my sweetie has a stuffed alligator. Anyone have any ideas what it ought to be named?