A Sunday tidbit: "With glowing cheekbones and that glint of copper showing from under her tight rubber cap on nape and forehead, she [Lucette] evoked the Helmeted Angel of the Yukonsk Ikon whose magic effect was said to change anemic blond maidens into konskie deti, freckled red-haired lads, children of the Sun Horse. (Ada, Part Three, 5)"
 
JM:  At a child's birthday party yesterday I observed how many young lads (red-haired, brown,blond) amused themselves by playing with colorful gas balloons.
After they breathed in helium* ( one of the choice gases employed to fill balloons) the reverse effect from the one promoted by "Ada"'s Yukonsk Ikon was observed: their voices were changed into a girl's - but the effect was temporary.
 
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* Helius is the Sun God of the Greek mythology.
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