My initial reaction to these lyrics was that they were quite dark for the youthful demographic of Cartoon Network, and I can only assume the unintelligibility of the lyrics may have been intentional. O, hie thee forth o’er golden mead, yon is the maypole setĪ ribbon to wind thy soul, and to bind love to thy breast
Where timeless spirits meet round the heart of Pottsfield town. I must admit that much of the lyrics to the hymn are slightly unintelligible, but the intelligible lyrics are as follows:įrom flesh removed, our chalk footfall tempers this holy ground The boys and Beatrice discover the town upon overhearing an eerie song. On Wirt and Greg’s first leg of the journey, they come across a town called Pottsfield inhabited by, yet again, vegetable people, or so it seems.
This is when I fell in love with the show.īefore I address the full significance of the Beast, I think it imperative to discuss the little death positive plugs in the show that happen along the way to Wirt and Greg’s confrontation with him, their encounter with death himself. But the most paramount creature the boys encounter is what many of the show’s fans and critics alike have interpreted as none other than death, a being they call the Beast. This abutment plays a major role in Wirt and Greg’s journey, during which they encounter a plethora of diverse characters: anthropomorphic animals and vegetables, a young and beautiful maiden haunted by an evil cannibalistic spirit and a ferry full of frogs in dapper attire who happen to be extremely talented musicians. Wirt’s uncertainty and blatant pessimism are a stark juxtaposition to Greg’s overtly positive “ain’t that just the way” outlook. To be released from the clutches of the Unknown, they must first find Adelaide of the Pasture she is the key to their survival, or so Beatrice says. Desperate to return home, they put their faith in Beatrice the talking bluebird, who promises to get the two boys to safety. Wirt and Greg’s attire, Wirt in a red conical hat and Greg with a teapot on his head, create a sense of ambiguity, making it very difficult for the viewer to discern the time period in which Wirt and Greg exist. They are quite obviously lost in the woods, a place that is christened the Unknown. The show opens with Wirt, a brooding and poetic teenager, his little brother Greg, the portrait of silliness and whimsy, and Greg’s croaking frog, temporarily named Kitty (his name changes quite often throughout the series, among these names is a one “Dr. “Over the Garden Wall, the Cartoon Network miniseries whose death positive themes made my heart swell with exultation. This never came to fruition, but after some push and pull, Tome of the Unknown was turned into a ten episode miniseries renamed Over the Garden Wall. In 2014, Cartoon Network asked McHale to turn the short into a full length feature. The short slipped under the mainstream radar, but it was a cult hit nonetheless that received several accolades. Along the way they meet a lonely vegetable man (yes, a man made from various vegetables) and this meeting is the catalyst for their subsequent shenanigans. In the very short film, Wirt, and his little brother Greg and Beatrice the talking bluebird set out for the big city in search of a cabalistic book of all known things. In 2013, Patrick McHale wrote and released an animated short called Tome of the Unknown: Harvest Melody. Whether I was so swept up in the panic or if my mind has forcibly forgotten it I cannot tell, but this memory was brought back to me the first time I watched Over the Garden Wall, the Cartoon Network miniseries whose death positive themes made my heart swell with exultation. Everything in between seeing my lifeless cousin sprawled on the concrete to her eventual gasps for air, her life-bringing watery gurgles and sputters, is incomprehensible. In a flurry, an adult I cannot recall, pulled her from the water. I saw my cousin, so slight in size, floating face down in the water, her hair swimming like snakes around her limp body. I suddenly remembered where I was, or rather, where I was supposed to be, and bolted through the house and back out into the yard.
As I traversed the haunted kitchen to rescue the wounded creature, I heard frantic shouts that broke the barrier between reality and my apparitional adventure.
When I was just about six, the summer heat found me lost on a fanciful journey in my backyard, one that took me from the swimming pool where my three year old cousin played into the house to rescue a helpless woodland animal, or something of the like. The real world falls into the background, a flurry of colors and muffled sounds in our whimsical periphery.
As children we often find ourselves roaming the hills of some distant land, searching for dragons, treasure or an admirable hero. When humans are young, they are not of the most responsible nature.