Round the Herne

 Today is February 15th which, in the Ancient Roman calendar, was the festival of Lupercalia on which the wolf deities were honoured. This story is Irish rather than Roman, but gives due honour to the power of lupines. Irish texts differ a little as to the names of characters, but the key points in the story have consistence - the queen has a prophetic dream about her descendants, the king dies at the hands of the treacherous Lugaid MacConn, and his wife flees for her life only to give birth and for the infant to be raised by wolves. In this respect there is an echo to the Roman myth that forms the core of Lupercalia, which also relates to wolves rearing lost human infants.  This could be regarded as a totemic story in which the people of Cormac become associated with wolves - perhaps an older understanding of the story would have seen them as having a long-term association with lupines.

  My reading of the final, tenth, chapter of "Puck of Pook's Hill" by Rudyard Kipling (1906). This time the children meet the shade of a Jewish doctor and accountant. Not the most politically correct delineation of a Jewish character ever written, but the character plays a subtly heroic role in this final tale-within-the-tale. Worth bearing in mind that "The Song of the Fifth River" was published in 1906 (presumably written a little earlier than that) and that Israel was not proclaimed as a nation state until Ben-Gurion did so in 1948 - so when Kipling composed it no Jewish person was metaphorical king of their own nation. I cannot find a musical version of that poem. There is a musical version of "The Children's Song" by an amateur composer, but I'm not including it here because the tune was just painful to listen to.

  My reading of the ninth chapter of "Puck of Pook's Hill" by Rudyard Kipling (1906). We find out more about Old Hobden (as much land-wight as human) and his mysterious friend Tom. A musical version of " The Bee Boy's Song " at the start of the chapter was composed by Peter Bellamy. The " Three Part Song " which appears at the end of the chapter is sung here by Jackie Oates.

 A traditional Chinese story about how cattle came to Earth from the heavenly realms, to mark the Year of the Ox. Apologies to anyone who actually speaks Mandarin properly for my hatchet job in trying to say Happy New Year at the end. The spirit is willing, even if the tongue is flabby. There are quite a few tales from around the world about beings who serve as messengers from the divine realms, which I dare say could form the basis for a talk or general musing at some stage. When (if) my brain comes back to life, I will come back tt he ideas that are lurking in the unconscious. 

  My reading of the eighth chapter of "Puck of Pook's Hill" by Rudyard Kipling (1906). This time the children meet with an architect and hear tales of pirates (and yes, I did accidentally say Suffolk instead of Sussex at one point, but could not be bothered to record the whole thing all over again.) There does not appear to be a musical version of "Hal o' the Draft" as heard at the beginning of the chapter, but there is a musical rendition of " A Smuggler's Song " which appears at the end. This is by Robin Jeffrey and Tim Laycock.

  My reading of the seventh chapter of "Puck of Pook's Hill" by Rudyard Kipling (1906). The centurion continues his tale of life up on Hadrian's Wall. There is a musical version of " A Pict Song ", which ends this chapter, by Emerald Rose. Their lyrics are slightly different from Kipling's original verses.

  My reading of the sixth chapter of "Puck of Pook's Hill" by Rudyard Kipling (1906). In this instalment, the children are further regaled by the adventures of the Roman centurion - this time with a sage of life on Hadrian's Wall. There is a musical version of " A Song to Mithras " which appears at the end of this chapter. This is produced by Griffin Distribution. The same company also do a musical version of the song at the start, untitled in the book but called " Rimini " by the singer. The site does not give the names of the specific singers or instrumentalists.

 My reading of the fifth chapter of "Puck of Pook's Hill" by Rudyard Kipling (1906). The children encounter the shade of a Roman centurion who tells them about life in his era and how he came to join the army. No attempt at song this time but, if you would like to hear a musical version of the poem " Cities and Thrones and Powers " at the beginning of the chapter, then Peter Bellamy created one. I cannot find a musical rendition for "A British-Roman Song" that ends the chapter.

 The saga continues with a further account from the ghost of Sir Richard about dark dealings in the days of Norman England (with one poem, no singing! That said, Leslie Fish has created a musical setting for the Runes on Weland's Sword ).

 My reading of the third chapter of "Puck of Pook's Hill" by Rudyard Kipling (1906). This time the children have a return visit with Sir Richard for tales of daring-do at sea. I've given up trying to sing (be grateful for small mercies) and settled for discordant recitation. Puck is less prominent in this chapter. The more politically correct listeners might want to stopper up their ears at the use of some racial terms that are very much of their Edwardian day. The two songs that bookend this chapter can be listened to with renderings by proper singers, this is a lovely version of Harp Song of the Dame Women  by Wendy Stewart (which should obviously be sung by a woman, or a chorus of them, and not by me) and here a nice sea shanty version of Thorkild's Song by Peter Bellamy.

 This is my reading of the second chapter of Rudyard Kipling's "Puck of Pook's Hill" in which the children are introduced to the shade of a Norman knight from the 11th century. Having made ears bleed with my attempts at singing in the first chapter, I've avoided the temptation here.  There is a musical version of Sir Richard's Song which I found that people might prefer to listen to (I didn't attempt to recreate the tune in my reading here), with Michael Kelly singing .

 To cheer up a student who is very unwell, here is my reading of the first chapter of Puck of Pook's Hill by Rudyard Kipling (1906) replete with godawful silly voices and tuneless crooning - it can scarcely be called singing - of Kipling's song-poems that frame the chapter. Several folksingers have set some of Kipling's songs to music and given a proper chunky-knit sweater version of them of various music channels. I can add links if anyone would like to hear the at some point.

 An anonymous poem written originally in Old Irish, which was in circulation between 600 and 900 CE is dedicated to Saint Brigit and extols her various titles and the virtues they represent. That this is a Christian saint is indicated via the line that refers to her as Daughter of Dubhtach, the father of the future abbess of Kildare as mentioned in her hagiography. The other lines of the poem could as easily be about the goddess Brigid to whom the imagery of the saint is so closely related. it may well be that audiences hearing this poem at its inaugural reading might have struggled to distinguish one from the other - and in some cases not even regarded there as being much difference. The theological demarcations of today were not necessarily seen as all that important well over a millennia ago. Even the clearly Christian references to her as being the Heaven-King's sister and having reached Holy Heaven could be seen as remembrances of pagan Brigid as sibling to divine figures such...