Caravaggio Madonna di Loreto

were quite amusing, like Tiger Oil, Maiden's Prayer and Husband's Helper, and one or two of the stoppers smelled like Granny's scullery after she had done some of her secret distillations.
A shape movedbrings you down from the mountains, Esme? And this child - your assistant, perhaps?"
"What's it you're selling, please?" asked Esk. The shape laughed.
"Oh, things to stop things that shouldn't be and help things that should, love," it said. "Let me just close up, my dears, and I will be right with you."
The shape bustled past Esk in a nasal kaleidoscope of fragrances and buttoned up the curtains at the front of the stall. Then the drapes at the back were thrown up, letting in the afternoon sunlight. in the stall's dim recesses and a brown wrinkled hand slid lightly on to hers. "Can I assist you, missy?" said a cracked voice, in tones of syrup of figs, "Is it your fortune you want telling, or is it your future you want changing, maybe?" "She's with me," snapped Granny, spinning around, "and your eyes are betraying you, Hilta Goatfounder, if you can't tell her age." The shape in front of Esk bent forward. "Esme Weatherwax?" it asked. "The very same," said Granny. "Still selling thunder drops and penny wishes, Hilta? How goes it?" "All the better for seeing you," said the shape. "What

Jean Fragonard The Bathers

Rincewind peered between someone's legs at Twoflower.
'Do you know what I think's going to happen?' he said, grinning.
'What?'
'I think that when you open the Luggage there's just going to be your laundry in there, that's what I think.'
'Oh dear.'
'I think the Luggage rather enjoys the attention,' said Twoflower, as they began their cautious descent.
'Yes, it probably does it good to get out and meet people,' said Rincewind, 'and now I think it'd do me good to go and order a couple of drinks.''I think the Octavo knows how to look after itself. Best place for it, really.''I suppose so. You know, sometimes I get the feeling that the Luggage knows exactly what it's doing.''I know what you mean.'They crawled to the edge of the milling crowd, stood up, dusted themselves off and headed for the steps. No-one paid them any attention.'What are they doing now?' said Twoflower, trying to see over the heads of the throng.'It looks as though they're trying to lever it open,' said Rincewind.There was a snap and a scream.

Leroy Neiman International Cuisine

shadow starts to blot out the distant glitter, and it is blacker than space itself.
From here it also looks a great deal bigger, because space is not really big, it is simply somewhere to be big in. Planets are big, but planets are meant to be big and there is nothing clever about being the right size.
But this shape of the dwarf star, are not focussed on it but at a little patch of space nearby . . .

'Yes, but where are we?' said Twoflower. The shopkeeper, hunched over his table, just shrugged.
'I don't think we're anywhere,' he said. 'We're in a cotangent incongruity, I believe. I could be wrong. The shop generally knows what it's doing.'blotting out the sky like the footfall of God isn't a planet.It is a turtle, ten thousand miles long from its crater-pocked head to its armoured tail.And Great A'Tuin is huge.Great flippers rise and fall ponderously, warping space into strange shapes. The Discworld slides across the sky like a royal barge. But even Great A'Tuin is struggling now as it leaves the free depths of space and must fight the tormenting pressures of the solar shallows. Magic is weaker here, on the littoral of light. Many more days of his and the Discworld will be stripped away by the pressures of reality.Great A'Tuin knows this, but Great A'Tuin can recall doing all this before, many thousands of years ago.The astrochelonian's eyes, glowing red in the light

Arthur Hughes The Long Engagement

, so a description is probably not essential. There was absolutely nothing pert about any of them.
Look, they can wear leather if you like.
Herrena wasn't too happy about them, but they were all that was available for hire in Morpork. Many of the citizens were moving out and heading for the hills, out of fear of the new star.Rincewind knew he ought to be panicking, but that was difficult because, although he wasn't aware of it, motions like panic and terror and anger are all to do with stuff sloshing around in glands and all Rincewind's glands were still in his body.
It was difficult to be certain where his real body was, but when he looked down he could see a fine blue line trailing from what for the sake of sanity he would still call his ankle into the blackness around him, and it seemed reasonable to assume that his body was on the other end.
It was not a particularly good body, he'd be the first
But Herrena was heading for the hills for a different reason. Just turnwise and rimwards of the Plains were the bare Trollbone Mountains. Herrena, who had for many years availed herself of the uniquely equal opportunities available to any woman who could make a sword sing, was trusting to her instincts.
This Rincewind, as Trymon had described him, was a rat, and rats like cover. Anyway, the mountains were a long way from Trymon and, for all that he was currently

Andrew Atroshenko Just for Love

The Potent Voyager, no longer the blank bronze shell that had been smashed from the mould a few days earlier, rested in its cradle on top of a wooden tower in the centre of the arena. In front of it a railway ran down towards the coincidental that it would also, because of that little twitch in the track, leap like a salmon and shine theatrically in the sunlight before disappearing into the cloud sea.
There was a fanfare of trumpets at the edge of the arena. The chelonauts' honour guard appeared, to much cheering from the crowd. Then the whitesuited explorers themselves stepped out into the light.
It immediately dawned on the Arch-astronomer that something was wrong. Heroes always walked in a certain way, for example. They certainly didn't waddle, and one of the chelonauts was definitely waddling.Edge, where for the space of a few yards it turned suddenly upwards.The late Dactylos Goldeneyes, who had designed the launching pad as well as the Potent Voyager itself, had claimed that this last touch was merely to ensure that the ship would not snag on any rocks as it began its long plunge. Maybe it was merely

Leroy Neiman Carnaval Suite Passistas

Besides, the wench was not uncomely.
"The third test?" she said.
"Am I to be whirligigs of silver filigree. The other was plugged straight into his libido. Both produced tallies that pleased him mightily.
As she raised a hand and proffered a glass of wine she smiled, and said, "I think not."


"He didn't attempt to rescue you," Rincewind pointed out as a last resort.weaponless again?" said Hrun.Liessa reached up and removed her helmet letting the coils of red hair tumble out. Then she unfastened the brooch of her robe. Underneath, she was naked.As Hrun's gaze swept over her his mind began to operate two notional counting machines. One assessed the gold in her bangles, the tiger-rubies that ornamented her toe-rings, the diamond spangle that adorned her navel, and two highly individual