The Fate Game

"Hey, Jenny,

You're a poet

But don't know it

But your feet show it

Because they're Longfellows."

That was the first that Jenny came in contact with the writer and she thought the ditty was clever. Longfellow. I wonder who he is?

The second encounter was at a friend's house. Frieda pulled out a game of Authors. As she played, Jenny then learned the titles of four of Longfellow's works: "The Song of Hiawatha," "The Village Blacksmith," "Evangeline," and "The Courtship of Miles Standish." And for the first time she saw his hoary countenance. For some strange reason it almost mesmerized her.

In junior high Jenny was obliged to read one of Longfellow's poems. She thought it a bit outdated and wordy, but as she read it the titles in the Authors game and the poet's face came back vividly. Again she sensed that something strange was going on.

The third time Jenny Littlefield came across the great poet's name was

on a high school assignment. Each student was to research a famous writer, then write a biographical sketch. Jenny was given Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

As she read the great man's life, she was amazed to learn that the hoary one had been clean-shaven until his beautiful wife's dress caught fire from some candles. the woman went up in flames, and though the poet tried desperately to save her, he couldn't and she died. Henry's face was scarred badly, and from that moment on he was never seen without the puffy white beard that decked his chin Jenny saw on the card game.

Miss Littlefield didn't know it but the Fates had gone fishing and were using Longfellow as the bait. They had deliberately set Jenny up with recurring encounters with the poet for an experiment on transfiguration.

"Here's the way it works," said Fate One. "We slowly condition a mortal to identify with a human from an earlier time. When her mind is ready, we jolt her into becoming that person. By the time it happens she is convinced she and he are one and the same, so there's no big surprise."

"Sounds good," said Fate Two, "but what about the reactions of others? They're bound to think she's crazy or supernatural. How'll she handle it?"

"Don't you get it?" asked Fate Three. "That's what the experiment is all about. Yo see, we're going to transfigure a MAN into a GIRL's body. And a great man at that. Won't it be fascinating to see how the mortals react?"

This wasn't what the Fates usually did, but they were bored with the usual tasks they created to keep the mortals busy. And who knows, maybe the outcome would be so entertaining they'd do it again. Or even make a habit of it and do it every millennium.

So the Fates set to work on Jenny Littlefield from the time she was in grade school. By junior high people wondered what the girl's growing fascination with Longfellow was, and by high school her friends were

beginning to wonder if the relationship wasn't becoming an unhealthy fixation. But this was nothing compared to Christmas vacation her freshman year at State University. Her parents and home-town friends swore they saw whitish fuzz growing under Jenny's nose and fringing her chin. But at Spring Break they were alarmed; Jenny now sported an obvious white beard.

How good is your imagination? Can you see the reaction of the startled parents? Especially when no team of doctors of every specialty from OB to Endocrinology and Internal Medicine could come up with an explanation?

But the transformation didn't stop there any more than the reactions did. You see, Jenny's very anatomy began to change. The male figure, then the deepened voice, plus all the secondary characteristics. And if that wasn't enough to astound everyone, the "Longfellow Incarnate," as they now dubbed Jenny, was beginning to speak and write in the great poet's very style.

The Fates reveled as they did when they tricked mortals. Just as the earth-bound thought they had the phenomena of life and creation figured out, the Fates threw them a curve, a freak that no one could explain no matter how much they knew. "Ho," snickered Fate One. "Look at the scientists. They're floored!"

"And the theologians," added Fate Two. "Look how they're going back to the drawing board!"

"It's only the mystics," smiled Fate Three, "who can accept the transformation. They're not a bit adverse to reincarnation. This is fun."

Jenny Littlefield's case was only one of many through the millennia, eras, and epochs, though the Fates kept them to a minimum. They didn't want to affect the mortals so much that they felt insecure.

"After all," said Fate One, "if they really know we exist, then they'll give

up thinking they can create their own destinies."

"And," added Fate Two, "if they do that, then they'll stop inventing things."

"And," concluded Fate Three, "if that happens they'll cease believing they are gods. And what is man without the feeling his free will reigns, that he's autonomous and runs the show in spite of all the evidence to the contrary?"

The Fates had great fun with their transfiguration that began with Jenny Littlefield and the unlikely seed, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. And other than creating an unexplainable spectacle, at least they planted the notion in the minds of mortals that they are not the ones in command.

"Hey, Jenny,

You're a poet

But don't know it

But your feet show it

Because they're Longfellows."