I've met him in person btw and he's a fucking sweetheart

[ID: Text-intensive Twitter thread from the Shapeshifters chest binders Twitter account in reply to a post by artist and author Ursula Vernon. Vernon says, A non-zero number of you apparently did not know that The Last Unicorn was a book before it was a movie. It is by Peter S. Beagle. It is made of spun glass and fairytales and iron knives and there are individual lines that I would give my lungs to have written. Shapechangers replies, I saw him every year at NYCC for several years straight, bought something at his table, asked him to sign it, and we spoke. He remembered me from year to year, no small feat at that con. He remembered which stories he'd told me. One year I came back with a different gender on. He squinted at me a bit and said thoughtfully, "I've seen you before in this place." All I had to say was, "last year you told me the story about the inoshishi." And his face cleared, and he leaned in with a grin and told me about a German guitarist who he traveled with, twice. Who transitioned between the first and second time, so he'd gotten to meet this person all over again on the second round. It was a wonderfully kind way to let me know that everything was fine. I was fresh out of the closet and I needed that, and maybe he could see it. The Last Unicorn is the best book in the world and I will defend it and its author til I die. the end. /end ID]

I don't usually talk about celebrities; artists, when I do, and I'm keenly aware that one needn't be a good person to be a hell of a heartwrenching artist. But Peter S. Beagle has written a few of my favorite things in the world, he's an excellent singer and filker, and this Twitter thread was dreadfully important to me. I don't want it going away as Twitter becomes Shitter, because it's so often bad news, isn't it? It's important to me to share trans joy.

Me: hm, I want something to put on the TV as background noise... Huh. Looks like YouTube is recommending something called The Last Unicorn. That's perfect, it's probably some old shitty animation that has aged poorly! I can watch it ironically!

Me, 2 hours later as the credits roll: *crying, cheering, buying the book, composing the songs*

Me, 2 weeks later: So I have compiled all of the quotes from the book that I think could make good tattoos, and also, HOW HAVE I NEVER LEARNED ABOUT HOW THE LAST UNICORN FUCKING SLAPS??? This gay-ass little fairytale fed my soul! Watered my crops! Transed my gender! Can't believe I heard of this story from youtube recommendations, of all places!!

The Unicorn and The Red Bull by Hidemi Kubo - The Last Unicorn (1982)

the memory is gone but its echo still remains

Precious lady

This skeleton has lived rent free in my head since the first time I watched this film on vhs at, like, 6 years old

set me free. we are sisters, you and i.

i will kill you if you set me free. set me free.

the last unicorn and the harpy celaeno. first quote from the movie, second from the book. heavily inspired by an ask @swinging-stars-from-satellites sent me which had me Thinking and Feeling

The Last Unicorn 🤍🫧

The Last Unicorn - Peter S. Beagle

"Don't listen to me, listen. You can find the others if you are brave. They passed down all the roads long ago, and the Red Bull ran close behind them and covered their footprints. Listen! Listen, listen QUICKLY!"

The Butterfly from "The Last Unicorn" by Peter S. Beagle

Was just thinking about this quote today. I think Peter S. Beagle may be one of the most incredible poetic prose writers of all time. His prose was one of the first that made me think that prose was its own form of dark magic.

The above quote is from the film version, but the book version isn't all that different and Beagle also wrote the script for the film, so this stands to reason.

"No, no, listen, don't listen to me, listen. You can find your people if you are brave. They passed down all the roads long ago, and the Red Bull ran close behind them and covered their footprints. Let nothing you dismay, but don't be half-safe."

The core is still there as is the the most important lines:

If you are brave.

What a simple, effective line. It is so powerful I still get choked up. If, the conditional, you, the subject, are, the verb. Brave. I'd argue the reason for its effectiveness is because of how rarely we are called upon to be brave, how huge of a concept it is to be brave. Brave is an adjective but arguably, here, it is an action. It is a course of action. It is a choice. It is not calling bravery inherent, it is not calling the lack of bravery a failure. It is saying that to succeed, the unicorn must make a conscious choice to become something greater than they are. What an incredible call to adventure, how simple and heartfelt it is, because heroism and adventure as mirrored by Prince Lir later, contrasting the empty pageantry of slaying dragons for a princess's favor with the bravery of the unicorn to leave her home behind in order to find her people, and the one who has wronged them.

The other line of deep importance.

They passed down all the roads long ago, and the Red Bull ran close behind them and covered their footprints.

Again, this line is utterly haunting. What is the Red Bull? Where did they go? Down all the roads. The inherent and yet abstract distance implied, the mysticism of the road invoked. Why can they not be found? Because the Red Bull covered their footprints. They were stolen without a trace.

So much information is conveyed in so haunting a manner. It invokes the challenges the unicorn will face, because there is no easy trail to follow and there is no destination given. She will be forced to wander in search without a clear endpoint. It may never end because there are no footprints to follow and there is a huge, unknown, unknowable threat at the end. What is the Red Bull? That will be your antagonist but is it the only one? Or is it just the tool of a greater threat?

If you ever want to see how words can be magic, do yourself a favor and read "The Last Unicorn" by Peter S. Beagle. I could pick out a dozen more lines to gush over but I'll leave it there for now. The book is even more magnificent the film, and the film is indeed magnificent. It's not a very long read. But if I could ever invoke even a fraction of the beauty Peter S. Beagle brings to the page, I will consider myself an immensely accomplished writer, walking in the footsteps of giants.

Your name is a golden bell hung in my heart. I would break my body to pieces to call you once by your name.

Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn

a spy in the house of thieves

First rendered piece in a while ! 🦄 🐮