'One Rose Worth a Flutter'

"'Bethany had a sheep. A sheep has Bethany...'" 'One Rose Worth a Flutter' is a "collection of esoteric poetry for children", written and compiled by Harold Woodmarrow, a Crowcrownian professor of esoterics. This book is probably the most infamous thing that ever left the offices of Great Academy's Department of Esoterics - scandalous, preposterous and outright outlandish rumours about it even required the book to be re-editted at first, and even put off sale later on.

But what is it about? 'One Rose Worth a Flutter' is considered it's author's opus magnum. The fruit of Woodmarrows' years-long journeys, research, involvemnt in all kinds of occult, documenting and catalouging the many esoteric organisations out there.

The first version of the book was a comprehensive study of said societies' "cultural works". Later re-editions regatrded only their literary works. Especially poetry. The "for children" part is supposedly meeant to be a joke. Please don't read this to any kids as a bedtime story.

Too Dangerous to See?
Currently accessible versions of the book differ greatly from the original. The reason remain unknown, but reports of mare-spider infestations, ghost sightings, scars from merely holding the book in one's hands and going mad from glacing at the first page - only a few inconvenient consequences regarded in letters angrily penned to the Department of Esoterics - might speak for themsleves. Although the reasons of those things happening are completely out of reach. However, those letters made the Department re-edit the book. Changes were drastic, but now it's hard to compare, as all the known books (at least those that weren't burned in an act of panic) were confiscated by the Department.

However, the Department has submitted editorial notes about the changes to 'One Rose Worth a Flutter'. They're vague and short, so it's hard to say if they cover all the changes, but it's the only source of information we have. According to the notes, from the book were removed:


 * Replicas of occult illustrations;
 * 49 "most-disturbing" poems;
 * "mind-brewing" symbols appending the pages as a form of decoration;
 * some of poems' authors' names;
 * map depicting where the poems/illustrations were copied or documented.

The book's author stayed silent, when the media bombarded him with questions regarding the complaints, letters and re-editions. Apparently, he managed to avoid the biggest wave of scandal this way.

What Maddened the Eyes
It's unknown what poems were removed from the book, but it's said that the original contained 119 poems. This would mean that almost a half of the book's content (not counting the illustrations) was ripped out of the book in the process. Exact titles of the removed poems are unknown, but there are some speculations:


 * "Blinded Mantra" (commonly attributed to Woodmarrow himself, in reality written by Alexander C. Katz);
 * "Ark's Lament" wrriten by the anonymous founder of Ark's Society;
 * "Ballad of the Seven Sailors";
 * "A Confession of Guile";
 * "Queen Maria" attributed to Fernando Gile, a character thought to be fictional;
 * "The Worms" attributed to a persona known only by it's pseudonym "Iris".