Sunday, October 31, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree
Celtic Fairy Tales
edited by Joseph Jacobs
illustrated by John D. Batten
------------------------------------------------------
ONCE upon a time there was a king who had a wife, whose name was Silver-tree, and a daughter, whose name was Gold-tree. On a certain day of the days, Gold-tree and Silver-tree went to a glen, where there was a well, and in it there was a trout.
Said Silver-tree, " Troutie, bonny little fellow, am not I the most beautiful queen in the world ?"
"Oh indeed you are not."
"Who then?"
"Why, Gold-tree, your daughter."
Silver-tree went home, blind with rage. She lay down on the bed, and vowed she would never be well until she could get the heart and the liver of Gold-tree, her daughter, to eat.
At nightfall the king came home, and it was told him that Silver-tree, his wife, was very ill. He went where she was, and asked her what was wrong with her.
"Oh! only a thing which you may heal if you like."
"Oh! indeed there is nothing at all which I could do for you that I would not do."
"If I get the heart and the liver of Gold-tree, my daughter, to eat, I shall be well.''
Now it happened about this time that the son of a great king had come from abroad to ask Gold-tree for marrying. The King now agreed to this, and they went abroad.
The king then went and sent his lads to the hunting-hill for a he-goat, and he gave its heart and its liver to his wife to eat ; and she rose well and healthy.
A year after this Silver-tree went to the glen, where there was the well in which there was the trout.
"Troutie, bonny little fellow," said she, " am not I the most beautiful queen in the world?"
"Oh ! indeed you are not."
"Who then?"
"Why, Gold-tree, your daughter."
"Oh! well, it is long since she was living. It is a year since I ate her heart and liver."
"Oh! indeed she is not dead. She is married to a great prince abroad."
Silver-tree went home, and begged the king to put the long-ship in order, and said, "I am going to see my dear Gold-tree, for it is so long since I saw her." The long-ship was put in order, and they went away.
It was Silver-tree herself that was at the helm, and she steered the ship so well that they were not long at all hefore they arrived.
The prince was out hunting on the hills. Gold-tree knew the long-ship of her father coming.
"Oh!" said she to the servants, "my mother is coming, and she will kill me."
" She shall not kill you at all ; we will lock you in a room where she cannot get near you."
This is how it was done; and when Silver-tree came ashore, she began to cry out: "Come to meet your own mother, when she comes to see you," Gold-tree said that she could not, that she was locked in the room, and that she could not get out of it.
"Will you not put out," said Silver-tree, "your little finger through the keyhole, so that your own mother may give a kiss to it?"
She put out her little finger, and Silver-tree went and put a poisoned stab in it, and Gold-tree fell dead.
When the prince came home, and found Gold-tree dead, he was in great sorrow, and when he saw how beautiful she was, he did not bury her at all, but he locked her in a room where nobody would get near her.
In the course of time he married again, and the whole house was under the hand of this wife but one room, and he himself always kept the key of that room. On a certain day of the days he forgot to take the key with him, and the second wife got into the room. What did she see there but the most beautiful woman that she ever saw.
She began to turn and try to wake her, and she noticed the poisoned stab in her finger. She took the stab out, and Gold-tree rose alive, as beautiful as she was ever.
At the fall of night the prince came home from the hunting-hill, looking very downcast.
"What gift," said his wife, "would you give me that I could make you laugh?"
"Oh! indeed, nothing could make me laugh, except Gold-tree were to come alive again."
"Well, you'll find her alive down there in the room."
When the prince saw Gold-tree alive he made great rejoicings, and he began to kiss her, and kiss her, and kiss her. Said the second wife, "Since she is the first one you had it is better for you to stick to her, and I will go away."
"Oh! indeed you shall not go away, but I shall have both of you."
At the end of the year, Silver-tree went to the glen, where there was the well, in which there was the trout.
"Troutie, bonny little fellow," said she, "am not I the most beautiful queen in the world?"
"Oh ! indeed you are not."
"Who then?"
"Why, Gold-tree, your daughter."
"Oh! well, she is not alive. It is a year since I put the poisoned stab into her finger."
"Oh! indeed she is not dead at all, at all."
Silver-tree went home, and begged the king to put the long-ship in order, for that she was going to see her dear Gold-tree, as it was so long since she saw her. The long-ship was put in order, and they went away. It was Silver-tree herself that was at the helm, and she steered the ship so well that they were not long at all before they arrived.
The prince was out hunting on the hills. Gold-tree knew her father's ship coming.
"Oh!" said she, "my mother is coming, and she will kill me."
"Not at all," said the second wife; "we will go down to meet her."
Silver-tree came ashore. "Come down, Gold-tree, love," said she, "for your own mother has come to you with a precious drink."
"It is a custom in this country," said the second wife, "that the person who offers a drink takes a draught out of it first."
Silver-tree put her mouth to it, and the second wife went and struck it so that some of it went down her throat, and she fell dead. They had only to carry her home a dead corpse and bury her.
The prince and his two wives were long alive after this, pleased and peaceful.
I left them there.
edited by Joseph Jacobs
illustrated by John D. Batten
------------------------------------------------------
ONCE upon a time there was a king who had a wife, whose name was Silver-tree, and a daughter, whose name was Gold-tree. On a certain day of the days, Gold-tree and Silver-tree went to a glen, where there was a well, and in it there was a trout.
Said Silver-tree, " Troutie, bonny little fellow, am not I the most beautiful queen in the world ?"
"Oh indeed you are not."
"Who then?"
"Why, Gold-tree, your daughter."
Silver-tree went home, blind with rage. She lay down on the bed, and vowed she would never be well until she could get the heart and the liver of Gold-tree, her daughter, to eat.
At nightfall the king came home, and it was told him that Silver-tree, his wife, was very ill. He went where she was, and asked her what was wrong with her.
"Oh! only a thing which you may heal if you like."
"Oh! indeed there is nothing at all which I could do for you that I would not do."
"If I get the heart and the liver of Gold-tree, my daughter, to eat, I shall be well.''
Now it happened about this time that the son of a great king had come from abroad to ask Gold-tree for marrying. The King now agreed to this, and they went abroad.
The king then went and sent his lads to the hunting-hill for a he-goat, and he gave its heart and its liver to his wife to eat ; and she rose well and healthy.
A year after this Silver-tree went to the glen, where there was the well in which there was the trout.
"Troutie, bonny little fellow," said she, " am not I the most beautiful queen in the world?"
"Oh ! indeed you are not."
"Who then?"
"Why, Gold-tree, your daughter."
"Oh! well, it is long since she was living. It is a year since I ate her heart and liver."
"Oh! indeed she is not dead. She is married to a great prince abroad."
Silver-tree went home, and begged the king to put the long-ship in order, and said, "I am going to see my dear Gold-tree, for it is so long since I saw her." The long-ship was put in order, and they went away.
It was Silver-tree herself that was at the helm, and she steered the ship so well that they were not long at all hefore they arrived.
The prince was out hunting on the hills. Gold-tree knew the long-ship of her father coming.
"Oh!" said she to the servants, "my mother is coming, and she will kill me."
" She shall not kill you at all ; we will lock you in a room where she cannot get near you."
This is how it was done; and when Silver-tree came ashore, she began to cry out: "Come to meet your own mother, when she comes to see you," Gold-tree said that she could not, that she was locked in the room, and that she could not get out of it.
"Will you not put out," said Silver-tree, "your little finger through the keyhole, so that your own mother may give a kiss to it?"
She put out her little finger, and Silver-tree went and put a poisoned stab in it, and Gold-tree fell dead.
When the prince came home, and found Gold-tree dead, he was in great sorrow, and when he saw how beautiful she was, he did not bury her at all, but he locked her in a room where nobody would get near her.
In the course of time he married again, and the whole house was under the hand of this wife but one room, and he himself always kept the key of that room. On a certain day of the days he forgot to take the key with him, and the second wife got into the room. What did she see there but the most beautiful woman that she ever saw.
She began to turn and try to wake her, and she noticed the poisoned stab in her finger. She took the stab out, and Gold-tree rose alive, as beautiful as she was ever.
At the fall of night the prince came home from the hunting-hill, looking very downcast.
"What gift," said his wife, "would you give me that I could make you laugh?"
"Oh! indeed, nothing could make me laugh, except Gold-tree were to come alive again."
"Well, you'll find her alive down there in the room."
When the prince saw Gold-tree alive he made great rejoicings, and he began to kiss her, and kiss her, and kiss her. Said the second wife, "Since she is the first one you had it is better for you to stick to her, and I will go away."
"Oh! indeed you shall not go away, but I shall have both of you."
At the end of the year, Silver-tree went to the glen, where there was the well, in which there was the trout.
"Troutie, bonny little fellow," said she, "am not I the most beautiful queen in the world?"
"Oh ! indeed you are not."
"Who then?"
"Why, Gold-tree, your daughter."
"Oh! well, she is not alive. It is a year since I put the poisoned stab into her finger."
"Oh! indeed she is not dead at all, at all."
Silver-tree went home, and begged the king to put the long-ship in order, for that she was going to see her dear Gold-tree, as it was so long since she saw her. The long-ship was put in order, and they went away. It was Silver-tree herself that was at the helm, and she steered the ship so well that they were not long at all before they arrived.
The prince was out hunting on the hills. Gold-tree knew her father's ship coming.
"Oh!" said she, "my mother is coming, and she will kill me."
"Not at all," said the second wife; "we will go down to meet her."
Silver-tree came ashore. "Come down, Gold-tree, love," said she, "for your own mother has come to you with a precious drink."
"It is a custom in this country," said the second wife, "that the person who offers a drink takes a draught out of it first."
Silver-tree put her mouth to it, and the second wife went and struck it so that some of it went down her throat, and she fell dead. They had only to carry her home a dead corpse and bury her.
The prince and his two wives were long alive after this, pleased and peaceful.
I left them there.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
The Little Musgrave
As it fell out upon a day
As many in the year
Musgrave to the church did go
To see fair ladies there
And some came down in red velvet
And some came down in pall
And the last to come down was the lady barnard
The fairest of them all
She's cast a look on the little musgrave
As bright as the summer sun
And then bethought this little musgrave
This lady's love I've won
Good day good day you handsome youth
God make you safe and free
What would you give this day musgrave
To lie one night with me
I dare not for my lands, lady
I dare not for my life
For the ring on your white finger shows
You are lord barnard's wife
Lord barnard's to the hunting gone
And I hope he'll never return
And you shall slip into his bed
And keep his lady warm
There's nothing for to fear musgrave
You nothing have to fear
I'll set a page outside the gate
To watch til morning clear
And woe be to the little footpage
And an ill death may he die
For he's away to the green wood
As fast as he could fly
And when he came to the wide water
He fell on his belly and swam
And when he came to the other side
He took to his heels and ran
And when he came to the green wood
'twas dark as dark can be
And he found lord barnard and his men
Asleep beneath the trees
Rise up rise up master he said
Rise up and speak to me
Your wife's in bed with little musgrave
Rise up right speedily
If this be truth you tell to me
Then gold shall be your fee
And if it be false you tell to me
Then hanged you shall be
Go saddle me the black he said
Go saddle me the grey
And sound you not the horn said he
Lest our coming it would betray
Now there was a man in lord barnard's train
Who loved the little musgrave
And he blew his horn both loud and shrill
Away musgrave away
I think I hear the morning cock
I think I hear the jay
I think I hear lord barnard's horn
Away musgrave away
Lie still, lie still, you little musgrave
And keep me from the cold
It's nothing but a shepherd boy
Driving his flock to the fold
Is not your hawk upon it's perch
Your steed is eating hay
And you a gay lady in your arms
And yet you would away
So he's turned him right and round about
And he fell fast asleep
And when he woke lord barnard's men
Were standing at his feet
And how do you like my bed musgrave
And how do you like my sheets
And how do you like my fair lady
That lies in your arms asleep
It's well I like your bed he said
And well I like your sheets
But better I like your fair lady
That lies in my arms asleep
Get up, get up young man he said
Get up as swift as you can
For it never will be said in my country
I slew an unarmed man
I have two swords in one scabbard
Full dear they cost my purse
And you shall have the best of them
I shall have the worst
So slowly, so slowly he rose up
And slowly he put on
And slowly down the stairs he goes
Thinking to be slain
And the first stroke little musgrave took
It was both deep and sore
And down he fell at barnard's feet
And word he never spoke more
And how do you like his cheeks, lady
And how do you like his chin
And how do you like his fair body
Now there's no life within
It's well I like his cheeks she said
And well I like his chin
And better I like his fair body
Than all your kith and kin
And he's taken up his long long sword
To strike a mortal blow
And through and through the lady's heart
The cold steel it did go
As it fell out upon a day
As many in the year
Musgrave to the church did go
To see fair ladies there
I knew this as Matty Groves and is one of my favourite folk songs. Here sung as Musgrave by Nic Jones
"Matty Groves" is an English language folk ballad that describes an adulterous tryst between a man and a woman that is ended when the woman's husband discovers and kills them. It dates to at least the 17th century, and is one of the Child Ballads collected by 19th-century American scholar Francis James Child. It has several variant names, including "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matty_Groves
http://www.nicjones.net/
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
Lewis Carroll - Alexandra Kitchin
Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 133,000 USD
5 by 5 7/8 in. (12.7 by 14.9 cm.)
albumen print, numbered '1677' by the photographer in violet ink and numbered '1677' in an unidentified contemporary hand in pencil on the reverse, matted, framed, circa 1868
Alexandra (Xie) Kitchin, the young daughter of Carroll's friend and colleague Rev. George W. Kitchin, was one of Lewis Carroll's most frequent sitters. So enamored of his subject was Carroll that, when asked how to obtain an excellent photograph, he replied, 'Take a lens and put Xie before it' (quoted in Masterpieces of Photography, p. 100). This particular print of Alexandra Kitchin is one of few extant examples of the image. Another print is in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. A similar photograph of Kitchen on the same couch, in different attire and pose, was offered by Sotheby's London in 2001 (Sale LO1276, Lot 98).
Carroll was often uncomfortable in the presence of adults, preferring the company of children, who he referred to as 'child-friends.' He possessed a rare ability to put children at ease, perhaps due to his vivid imagination and penchant for storytelling. Throughout his twenty-five years taking photographs, Carroll photographed children often. They are posed simply, in their everyday dress, without the costumes and literary references favored by his Victorian contemporaries--Julia Margaret Cameron, Oscar Gustave Rejlander, and Henry Peach Robinson among them.
Best known as the author of such children's books as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) was also a lecturer in Mathematics at Oxford University and an ordained deacon. Carroll took up photography in 1856, working primarily in portraiture, often photographing those closest to him. Like his contemporary Julia Margaret Cameron, Carroll photographed the artists and elite of the day, including Alfred Lord Tennyson, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and John Ruskin. Both Carroll and Cameron shared an affinity for portraiture and photographing children, frequently using the children of friends and relatives as their subjects.
Ernest Howard Shepard
The embroidery frame
pencil
11 x 7 in. (28 x 17.8 cm.)
British lion: "Speaking as one symbolic animal to another, my dear, I want you to get rid of any inferiority complex you may have felt in the past"
signed 'Ernest H. Shepard' (lower left)
pen and black ink and crayon
11¼ x 9¼ in. (28.6 x 23.5 cm.)
The artist's granddaughter.
Mrs Wharton Shober, 1985.
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