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highlyeccentricI blame ![[twitter.com profile]](https://p2.dreamwidth.org/e0caa790ec10/-/twitter.com/favicon.ico)
cambiechoo for this one.
Dear Lady Reason,
I have recently found out something about my husband that disgusts me. I can’t bear to sleep with him anymore and I want him to go away forever.
Our marriage used to be good, except he would sometimes go away for three days at a time. That wouldn’t be a problem except he never told me where he went? Also, he never took all of his clothes off in bed, but I thought he was just shy, or pious.
Last week he told me he’s a werewolf. He spends three days at the full moon in the forest with other wolves, doing… wolf things. He also told me he doesn’t feel like a real man the rest of time time, like being ‘a man’ and ‘my husband’ is like putting on a costume. He says he doesn’t hate it but he has two selves. He locks his clothes in a safe place while he’s in the forest, and I can’t stop thinking about that. I know where they are. If I destroy the clothes then he won’t have the costume and I won’t have a husband, right?
Also, there’s a local knight who’s in love with me. I always found him kind of annoying but suddenly he seems really attractive. Like. At least he’s not a werewolf?
What should I do?
Married to a Wolf in Man’s Clothing
Dear Married to a Wolf,
I need to point something out to you: you don’t know this annoying knight isn’t also a werewolf. That’s the whole thing about werewolves, they look just like everyone else. Any man could be a werewolf! Unless you’re willing to work with that, you should probably not date men. And don’t think women are different, either: snake-shifters are increasingly out these days. In fact, if you’re going to be close-minded about this sort of thing, you should really tell everyone up front before you get into any relationship with you. They might not want to date such a narrow person.
Well he ought to have told me, you say! He did. He did just tell you. Have some manners. Say ‘thank you for telling me this, I can see it’s very important to you’. Ask him how he thinks this will affect your relationship: you might find that it doesn’t change very much at all.
If you really find you cannot continue a relationship with this man, that’s your prerogative, but don’t try to make out like he’s done you some great wrong here. Consider retiring gracefully to a nunnery.
And don’t you touch that poor man’s clothes. Geez. He could do so much better.
Yours with much skepticism,
Lady Reason
Citation: Bisclavret (Marie de France, 12th c French). Judith Shoaf's translation is here.
Dear Lady Reason,
I have recently found out something about my husband that disgusts me. I can’t bear to sleep with him anymore and I want him to go away forever.
Our marriage used to be good, except he would sometimes go away for three days at a time. That wouldn’t be a problem except he never told me where he went? Also, he never took all of his clothes off in bed, but I thought he was just shy, or pious.
Last week he told me he’s a werewolf. He spends three days at the full moon in the forest with other wolves, doing… wolf things. He also told me he doesn’t feel like a real man the rest of time time, like being ‘a man’ and ‘my husband’ is like putting on a costume. He says he doesn’t hate it but he has two selves. He locks his clothes in a safe place while he’s in the forest, and I can’t stop thinking about that. I know where they are. If I destroy the clothes then he won’t have the costume and I won’t have a husband, right?
Also, there’s a local knight who’s in love with me. I always found him kind of annoying but suddenly he seems really attractive. Like. At least he’s not a werewolf?
What should I do?
Married to a Wolf in Man’s Clothing
Dear Married to a Wolf,
I need to point something out to you: you don’t know this annoying knight isn’t also a werewolf. That’s the whole thing about werewolves, they look just like everyone else. Any man could be a werewolf! Unless you’re willing to work with that, you should probably not date men. And don’t think women are different, either: snake-shifters are increasingly out these days. In fact, if you’re going to be close-minded about this sort of thing, you should really tell everyone up front before you get into any relationship with you. They might not want to date such a narrow person.
Well he ought to have told me, you say! He did. He did just tell you. Have some manners. Say ‘thank you for telling me this, I can see it’s very important to you’. Ask him how he thinks this will affect your relationship: you might find that it doesn’t change very much at all.
If you really find you cannot continue a relationship with this man, that’s your prerogative, but don’t try to make out like he’s done you some great wrong here. Consider retiring gracefully to a nunnery.
And don’t you touch that poor man’s clothes. Geez. He could do so much better.
Yours with much skepticism,
Lady Reason
Citation: Bisclavret (Marie de France, 12th c French). Judith Shoaf's translation is here.