What breaks the enchantment?

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Evisse the Blue

Bringing my own personal ‘baggage’ into the conversation ... it's useless to even imagine you're trying to understand what the author is really meaning to say. ... it's both funny and appropriate that Tolkien's books, which deal with nostalgia for things lost, awaken the same feeling in the reader. Our nostalgia is two fold: for the Elves that leave Middle Earth, never to return, and that of yet again reaching the end of the book; and the pang of sadness that comes with realizing you'll never experience that first-time enchantment again. ... My first reaction, when I saw this thread and read LMP's 'warning' was 'back away as quick as possible' but then I kept seeing this thread reaching page 2, 3, 4, and I thought 'well. some people apparently are brave enough to take that chance and dissect things. ... So when I was in an atom prying open mood, I took up reading this thread and I must say it was worth the 3 hours I spent on it. .... A little off topic question: is 'over the hills and (to) faraway a standard storyline phrase like 'once upon a time' and is it usually used to emphasize distance in terms of space? as in: 'very, very |very| far away?' ( in my language there's a phrase with a similar meaning that goes 'over (seven) seas and (seven) horizons'.)

How did I not see this post yesterday? Thanks for putting in your 2¢. I did wonder how many people I scared away with that, and still think I'm glad I did. I get a kick out of you agreeing with people who see themselves (or at least their opinions) as diametrically opposed.

AS to your off topic question, I haven't the foggiest idea of the answer. I don't recall reading or hearing it in fairy tales. Sorry I can't help.