Round the Herne

 Some thoughts on the Jungian archetype of the Trickster, preparatory to a meeting of the Suffolk Jungian Circle (via Teams - 7.30pm on Wednesday 28th January, leave a message if you would like the link). 

  My reading of the eighth and ninth chapters of Kenneth Grahame's children's classic "The Golden Age" (1895). The narrator encounters an eccentric vicar (with whom I feel a certain sympathy) and then the adult and child views of reality clash - whose ontology will prevail? Only further chapters will show, but the governess's views of the fairy folk are the ones that held sway in late Victorian times and continue to do so in many parts of society to this very day. I may need to re-record chapter eight to include some Greek words that I skipped over - being able to translate on the hoof is not a skill I possess. One thing I love about Grahame's work is the extensive vocabulary he naturally assumes his young readers (as well as characters) possess. I do not know how loquacious middle-class Victorian children were, but Grahame clearly assumes they have a much bigger vocabulary than even the average 19-year old has these days. The ninth chapter tips the seasonal w...

  My reading of the fourth and fifth chapters of Kenneth Graham's children's book "The Golden Age" (1895). The narrator has an encounter with a neighbour and then his sister's dolls spring into imaginal life.

 This is my reading of W B Yeats' epic poem "The Wanderings of Oisin". I uploaded a prose storytelling version of this myth a while back. Yeats' poem is a dialogue between Patrick (not yet a saint) and the ancient Irish hero Oisin who has returned from centuries spent in Tir na nOg, an Otherworldly realm, with his beloved fairy-wife Niamh. The myth ends with the old man dying, bewildered by the changes in life and religion that he has seen in Ireland. I would have posted this yesterday, but minutes after I finished recording it, I heard the news about the death of the Queen - and it seemed a little inappropriate to put up a poem about a dying man and a lost era on the same day as the second Elizabethan Age came to an end.

 This was recorded back in February as a practice for a group storytelling at the Leaping Hare convention in late March. Meant to upload it weeks ago, but forgot. It is based on the tale of how Fionn's son, Oisin, is drawn to Tir na nOg, Land of the Ever Young, for love of  a mysterious woman and how he finds the world much changed upon his return. The encounter with Bishop Patrick is much as it is in the original version, though told with a definite sympathy to the pagan viewpoint. 

 A few years ago I recorded Christina Rossetti's 1862 "Goblin Market" poem from an anthology I have. Yesterday a graduate gave me a beautifully illustrated copy of the poem from a 1977 edition of the work, and so felt like recording another version of it. The illustrations, shown in the recording, are by the famed Arthur Rackham - to make it easier to see some of them in full technicolour, I have posted some images into this blog post.  My earlier recording of the poem is actually the most popular post (in terms of viewings) that has gone up on this blog - nobody ever leaves a comment, so I am not sure if there is a big Rossetti fan club out there or if it is people who just really like goblins (or maybe they are goblins who like hearing about themselves). Whatever the case, I hope you enjoy this hauntingly beautiful poem and learn from to be careful of what overly ripe temptations you succumb to in life!      

  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.

  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.

 The second instalment (a few days late going up due to the mayhem of life) looks at different understandings of deity in various forms of paganism and touches briefly on other orders of spiritual beings. If you have any questions for the third and final part, please add them to the comment section below. As previously, if you find this useful please make a donation to a food-bank or similar kind of charity in a place near you.

Below is a poem written in the Welsh cywydd llosgyrnog metre as an honouring of Gwynn app Nudd, the medieval name for the King of the Fairies in Welsh folklore. For some of us at least Gwynn is a later understanding of an Ancient British deity whose name has survived on some altar stones from the Romano-British period, Vindos or Vindonnus (possibly two separate beings, but my intuition is that they are different titles for the same entity). I'm not sure who the artist of the inset picture is - cannot find a name as yet! As per the explanation given in my reading of it in a YouTube recording linked at the bottom of this page (and yes, I know I misread one of the words but I don't have the time at the moment to re-record it properly), the story contained in the poem has its roots in the hagiography of a 7th century monk - the manuscript of which dates to the 1500s. The monk, Collen, sets up his hermitage on an island in the flood plains of Glastonbury that is already owned by Gwy...

Term is about to restart and I am slowly getting back into the swing of things. I was going to record a philosophical witter, but my remaining brain cell needs warming up first! This poem was written by Charles MacKay, detailing the fate of a fickle article who falls for the charms of a Kelpie. It appears in a book given to me Christmas gone, the Book of Fairy Poems, and was written some time prior to 1872 - though I haven't pinned down the exact year. The rather charming illustration inset left is by Warwick Goble, whose work appears in the same book that I have the poem in. Most descriptions of kelpies do not seem as pleasant or whimsical as the one in the one Goble came up with - but who can say for sure what they look like (given that few people ever live long enough to tell)?

This poem is an excerpt from the much longer poem, "Plea from the Midsummer Fairies" by Thomas Hood. With midsummer just around the corner, it seemed appropriate. When my brain starts working again - hopefully this side of Ragnarok - I will write something original and record that.