#because of this totally useless crackpot conspiracy theory

[thestuffedalligator]

Here is a totally unprompted, baseless, and useless crackpot theory.

In the poems The Jumblies and The Dong with the Luminous Nose by Edward Lear, Lear describes the Jumblies as having “sky-blue hands and sea-green hair,” and most artists — including Lear himself — would draw them as little humanoid gremlin creatures.

I think he was describing blue and gold macaws.

Blue and gold macaws have blue wings and a prominent green crest on their heads. “Their heads are green, their hands are blue, and they went to sea in a sieve.”

And here’s another fact: Edward Lear was famous for painting parrots. He published an entire book of parrots painted by studying live examples at the London Zoo and from private collections, including the blue and gold macaw.

Which means he definitely studied them in person before he wrote the poem.

Does any of this mean anything? Absolutely not, but you should read some of Edward Lear’s nonsense poetry because he was writing his own private poetic universe and characters and concepts he would describe in one poem would be expanded in others. The Dong is connected to the Jumblies and the Quangle Wangle Quee, which in turn connects him to the Pobble Who Has No Toes, and his name is the Dong.