The second section is devoted to lullabies, songs of portent and solace used to ward off danger and to ease a child into sleep. A lullaby is weak domestic magic, alert to its own inadequacy. Warner discusses how these repetitive words are among the first a baby hears and recognizes, making them integral to language acquisition. In addition, she traces the mythic figures who have long lured adults, those sirens whose enticing voices mask danger. In this respect the gryllus is a close relation of the beast in all animal fables, that long-enduring vehicle of satirical thought.
Laughter becomes a defense against fear.
So, too, does cruelty. She discusses anti-Semitism and prejudice against blacks as it is reflected and exacerbated through descriptions of monsters, revealing one of the more disturbing aspects of the storytelling legacy, how it contains not only the best but also the worst of a culture's collective imagination. Lisa Jennifer Selzman is a native Houstonian and writer who lives in the Boston area.