Gracious Gray & River Gypsies

"We shake hands with the devils and we walk past them."

River Gypsy woman cooks fish Quilt

ಀO•川'𝚫『重溫』

Peripatetic minorities are mobile populations moving among settled populations offering a craft or trade.

Stephanie "Juan" Gray, née Suez

Pol put her face into the noose, about to be hanged.

And, at that precise instant, she remembered and saw the world and beyond.

And free she was, even if she did not die, saved at that ultimate moment.

Elizabeth "Polly" Gray, née Shelby

The aunt of Thomas "Tommy" Shelby — the leader of the Peaky Blinders — and his siblings, and treasurer of the Peaky Blinders, Polly originates from a criminal Gypsy family, the Shelbys, daughter of Mr Shelby and Birdie Boswell. She tells her son — Michael Gray, born from her union with a river Gypsy Gray, as his sister, Anna Gray, said husband who died drunk, squeezed between a boat and a lock—that his Grandmother was a Gypsy Princess. 

Polly always wears the Black Madonna. Arthur Shelby Sr. calls her Pollyanna, a given name, from Hebrew, derived from Polly — nickname for Mary, alternative for Molly, associated with Tom Sawyer's aunt, 'Polly, put the kettle on,' parrots, Polly Peachum — and Anna — חַנָּה‎ (ḥannâ) of Old Testament, meaning "grace, gracious" — and rare in the real world.

Since she put her head inside the noose, had an almost near-death experience, she believes she is free to do whatever she wants after she realized "when you are dead already you are free." She has regained her second sight faculty and experiences a lack of fear of death.

"Came back when I put my head in the noose. It's like putting your head through a window and seeing the whole world. ... When you've put your head out of that window you can do anything you want, cos there are no rules, cos there are no risks."

Because of this, she can advise Tommy Polly to shake hands with the devils and walk past them.

"We live somewhere between life and death. Waiting to move on. And in the end, we accept it. We shake hands with the devils and we walk past them."

Giulio Rosati, Un camp dans le désert