μεταμορφώσεις

[Jeff Bernstein]

[Jeff Bernstein]

cont’d : THE STORY OF THE JEWELS

How Paris chose the fairest beauty of three.

 

18

 

“Young Paris was at that time a herdsman,

     and kept his father’s beasts and sheep at Troy.

     When he received the apple, Juno, Queen

     of Heaven, promised him staggering luxury

     if he picked her as the fairest beauty.

     ‘You’ll be the richest man that ever lived,’

     she said. Then Athena promised the boy

     wisdom and strength, and make him so great a lord

he should beat his enemies and all whom he would.” 

 

19

 

“So Paris had wealth and strength and power

     to consider. But then shapely Venus

     came to him, and in the glowing colour

     of the comb you see the burning of his cheeks.

     ‘What need ye,’ she said, ‘of strength or riches,

     when Priam’s your dad, and Hector thy brother?

     Art thou one of the world’s great possessors

     already? All Asia is in your power.

Give me the apple, and I’ll give you something more.’”

 

20

 

“‘Thou shalt know a thousand honied secrets,’

     said Venus, coming to press her body

     against his (he’s wearing robe and sandals).

     ‘Give me the apple,’ she said, ‘and you’ll taste

     the fairest thing that ever came to earth;

     none born shall ever be fairer than she.

     Only then shalt thou be richer than rich,

     and more powerful than others. With her,

thou shalt reach greatness, for this is the one treasure—’”

 

21

 

“‘no Beast can prize enough; for a partner

     honest and fair can put away many

     sorrows from the heart, and bring a lover

     to joy and bliss.’ Paris considered this,

     while Venus breathed gently in his face,

     and he presented her with the apple,

     and said, ‘Now, Venus, let me have my prize!’

     And she said, ‘Oh no, you’ve just won Helen.’

I trust all here understand the moral of this tale.”

 

 

to be cont’d : THE STORY OF THE JEWELS

[Jeff Bernstein]

 

"Just lightin' out for the territories, huh? Brother, I been there."

"As decent a lad as you would meet on a May morning."

Coen Bros. c1800?

Johann Peter Hebel
Francisca and Other Stories
Anvil Press,
Lexington, Kentucky
1957

 

[Jeff Bernstein]

[Jeff Bernstein]

How do we resist?

[Jeff Bernstein]

cont’d : THE STORY OF THE JEWELS

c. The Mirror

 

22

 

“Now let me tell you about the mirror;

     and the Court decide if it’s a wonder

     I be moved and angry to lose such jewels.

     The mirror is a very Glasse of Glorie,

     in which one sees, by magic mystery,

     if you stand fix’d with the cristall in your eye,

     all that was and is within a mile

     of where ye stand;—whatever ye desire

to know of Beasts and everything else, you’ll know.”

 

23

 

“The wood around the glass is like the wood

     King Crompart felled and hewed to make a horse

     for love of King Morcadigas’ daughter,

     she of the fair face whose heart he hoped to win.

     The wooden horse was so cunningly made

     that whosoever rode it would be within

     the hour a hundred miles thence; and this

     was well proved, for Cleomedes the King’s son

was young and hardy and desired to do great deeds

 

24

 

to become famous in this world; so he leapt

     up on the Horse of Tree, and King Crompart

     turned a pin that stood on its neck, and lo!

     the horse rose up and went out the window,

     and ere one might say his nightly prayers

     Cleomedes was ten mile away.

     In my judgment there was never mirror

     so lovely and so valuable to Beast.

And now” (said Fox) “another story comes to mind.”

 

25

 

“In the beginning was a Horse, sorely

     jealous that a Deer ran faster and farther

     in the field; and the horse became angry;

     he couldn’t catch and overtake the Deer.

     So the Horse spoke to a Herdsman this way :

     ‘If thou could take the Deer that I show thee,

     thou should find for yourself great profit in it,

    for thou should sell his horns, his skin, his flesh.’

And the Herdsman answered, ‘How may I come by him?’

 

26

 

The Horse said, ‘Sit on me and I’ll bear you,

     and we’ll hunt him down until we take him.’

     So the Herdsman sprang up onto the Horse,

     and saw the Deer, and rode swiftly after,

     but the Deer was swifter and outran the Horse.

     They hunted so far after him that the Horse

     was weary, so he said to the Herdsman,

     ‘I am weary, I will rest, get off now,

give me leave to go from thee.’ And the man said no.”

 

27

 

“‘I have arrested thee,’ said the Herdsman.

     ‘I have a bridle on thy head, and spurs

     on my heels; thou shalt never be free again.

     I shall restrain and subdue thee always.’

     My Lord, see how the Horse was taken by

     his own net! The worst way to be taken,

     surely! There be far many that Labour

     to hurt others, but they themselves get hurt,

and find themselves rewarded with the same—or worse.”

 

 

continuing : THE STORY OF THE JEWELS

[Jeff Bernstein]

28

 

Fox said, “There was also an Ass and a Dog,

     who both lived with a rich man. The man loved

     his Dog, and played with him often, as folk

     do with their Dogs. The Dog leapt up and licked

     his master about the mouth, and they played

     catch and fetch together; and the Ass saw,

     and a terrible envy grew inside,

     and he said to himself, ‘How may this be?

This Dog does nothing for the man but leap and lick.’”

 

29

 

“‘But I’,’ said the Ass, ‘I am put to work,

     to hawl and draw, and do more in a week

     that this Dog with all his dog years will work

     in his life! The Dog sits by his Master’s feet

     at table, and there eateth bones and flesh

     and fat trenchers of food; whilst I eat

     nothing but nettles and thistles, and suffer

     many insults. Well, I shall suffer no more,’

the Ass said, ‘but I’ll think how to win my Lord’s love.’”

 

30

 

“So the man came a-walking in the field.

     The Ass ran up to him, frisking in circles

     and barking, and showing his tongue. He dropped

     his forefeet on the man’s shoulders and licked

     his face all over, as he’d seen the Dog do;

     but the Man cried, ‘Help! This Ass will kill me!’

     So his servants beat the Ass half to death.

     After that the Ass returned to his stable

and ate his thistles and nettles, and was an ass as before.”

 

 

continuing : THE STORY OF THE JEWELS

[Jeff Bernstein]

                                             31

 

“Those with enough, yet still spite others’ welfare,

     but are then served likewise, is a fine dish

     to prepare and savour, and is necessary

     in the menu of the judicious cook.

     Let Asses use lewdness to gain manners,

     and thence lordships; for these seldom rule well,

     and will suffer in the end their just desert.

     They take heed of nothing but their profit;

and all those who raise them up!—the more’s the pity!”

 

 

cont’d : THE STORY OF THE JEWELS

with special guest star

Tibert the Cat

[Jeff Bernstein]

[Jeff Bernstein]

                                             32

 

“Hear now how my Dad and Tibert the Cat

     ran together; and had sworn together

     that nor for love nor hate should they sever

     their friendship. And whatever prize they got,

     they would each give a half to the other.

     Then once upon a time they saw hunters

     coming over the fields with many hounds.

     So they leapt to it, and ran fast from them

with all of their might, as if afraid for their life.”

 

                                             33

 

“And my Father said, ‘Tibert! Where do we go?”

     The hunters have seen us! Know ye any help?’

     My Father trusted on the promise Tibert

     had made to never leave him in the lurch.

     So Dad told him, ‘I have a sack of tricks

     with me if we need ’em; so if we stay

     together we need not fear any hounds

     or hunters.’ But Tibert began to sigh,

and was afraid, and said, ‘I know only one trick!’”

 

34

 

And the Cat scampered up a tree trunk high

     into the canopy under the leaves,

     where nor hound nor hunter might do him harm.

     Aw! Tibert left my Father in the lurch!

     My Father stood in jeopardy of his life,

     for the Hunters set on him all the Hounds,

     and the barking company came running,

     and Men blew their horns, and cried, and hallooed,

‘After the Fox, dear Hounds! Catch him and tear him apart!’”

 

35

 

And as my Father saw the Hounds coming

     for him, Tibert the Cat laughed from above,

     and mocked my Father, and scorned him, and said,

     ‘What? Friend Fox, cousin, unbind now your sack

     of tricks and use ’em! It’s time. Where is it?

     Ye be called wise; help yourself, for you have need.’

     Friends! This much must my Father hear of him,

     who once had all his trust! So the Hounds

came barking and snarling, and Dad was nigh his death.”

 

36

 

“So he ran and fled in fear of his life.

     He let his scrip slide off, so he was lighter

     and ran faster; yet that wasn’t enough,

     for the hounds were too swift, and came to bite;

     but he had one last adventure in him—

     there was an old hole in the grass he saw,

     and he slipped inside, keeping still and quiet;

     and he escaped the hunters and the hounds.

Thus did his false friend Tibert the Cat deceive him.”

 

37

 

“Alas” (said Fox) “how many today break promises

     and get away with it, though they break ’em!

     “Yet—” (Fox continued) “though I might hate the Cat,

     and would it be a wonder if I did?,

     I do not; because I love my soul too well.

     Nevertheless, if I saw him in misfall

     in some way, it wouldn’t much touch my heart.

     Still, for God’s love I shall forgive the Cat.

I shall neither hate him, nor have ill-will toward him.”

 

38

 

“And yet” (said Reynard the Fox) “’tis not so clear,

     any of this; for a little ill-will

     abideth in me, as all this returneth

     to my memory; but with God’s

     guidance I shall overcome this trial

     of spirit. Know that the cause of this ill-will

     is the sensuality of my flesh

     wrestling with the rock of my reason.

But I have the strength to overcome it, praise God.”

[Jeff Bernstein]

Over a dog . . .

[Jeff Bernstein]

cont’d : THE STORY OF THE JEWELS

 

39

 

“Hear now what the magic mirror revealed

     of the Wolf, how he found once a dead horse

     flayed, with all its flesh eaten; so the Wolf

     went and rooted out great morsels of the bones,

     and in hunger took in three or four at once,

     and swallowed them in, for he was so greedy;

     and what do you think happened but one bone

     caught itself end-to-end inside his throat.

For this he felt great pain and great fear of his life.”

 

40

 

“The Wolf then, with the bone caught in his throat,

     looked all over for masters and surgeons,

     and he promised great gifts if he be healed

     of his disease; but he found no remedy.

     At last he came to the long-leggéd Crane

     with his long neck and long bill, and the Wolf

     asked him for help, promising he would love

     the Crane so well that he would forever

be the better; all this the Wolf promised the Crane.”

 

41

 

“The Crane truly desired the reward,

     so he put his head in Isengrim’s mouth

     and slipped down his throat, and plucked out the bone

     with his long bill. The Wolf reacted bad

     to this, and cried out, ‘Ow! thou doest me harm!

     But,’ he said, ‘I forgive thee. But do not

     do it again.” The Crane said, ‘Sir Isengrim,

     go and be merry, for you be whole again!

Now give to me what ye promised to give to me.’”

 

42

 

“The Wolf answered, ‘Will you hear what he says?

     I am the one who suffered! I have cause

     to complain!—and he wants something from me?

     Where’s the thanks for the kindness I did him?

     He put his head down my throat, and I felt

     a harm though he promised it wouldn’t hurt.

     So if anyone here should get a reward,

     it’s me.’ And the Wolf added, ‘It’s only right.’

And so the Crane lowered his head all dejected.”

 

43

 

“Hear now my thoughts on the matter” (said Fox)

     “How is it with us these days when evil Beasts

     reward those who do them good? When the false

     arise and become great, then all our worship

     of their greatness comes to no profit to us.

     There are many that ought to help others,

     yet find cause to say they themselves be hurt,

     and would play the victim for their own profit;

they who chastise others would best be clear themselves.”

 

 

cont’d : the Fox keeps talking

[Jeff Bernstein]

Aus dem Schatzkästlein des rheinischen Hausfreundes

Berlin : Verlag der Nation

1982

Peau d'Âne
Charles Perrault
Eragny Press
1902

[Jeff Bernstein]

Charles Perrault
Puss in Boots
Lagardère Group
16th arrondissement
Vivendi (60%)
1991

 

[Jeff Bernstein]

44

 

“All this and more” (said Fox) “I remember

     seeing in the Glasse of Glorie. The Master

     who made it was a cunning Beast, profound

     in many sciences. Because these jewels—

     the ring, the comb and the mirror—were so good

     and precious to me to keep and have, therefore

     I sent them to my Lord the King and Queen.

     Where are they now out in the world” (Fox said)

“who give their lords and ladies such valuable presents?”

 

45

 

“O, the sorrow that my two children made

     when I sent the glass away! Their tears

     were long; for they loved to look in the glass,

     to see how their clothing and fur became

     them on their little bodies. Alas! How could

     I have known my dear friend Cuwart was nigh

     death when I delivered him the jewels

     inside the scrip! I trusted no other

so well; he and the Ram were two of my dearest friends.”

 

46

 

“Out, I say! I cry upon the murderer

      to show yourself!” (said Fox) “Hear me, my friends!

     I shall find the truth, and reveal the Beast

     responsible for these terrible misdeeds,

     though I travel the wide earth to seek him!

     Murder abideth not hid, it shall come out.

     Perhaps someone in our company now

     knoweth what became of Cuwart the Hare,

though speaketh not; for false shrews well cover their falseness.”

 

 

next : cont’d.

[Jeff Bernstein]

[Jeff Bernstein]

47

 

“But the greatest wonder I have” (said Fox)

     “is that the King here sayeth so cruelly

     that nor Father nor I did him any good.

     That makes me marvel, to come from a King.

     But before him appears so many things

     that he forgetteth one with another,

     and so fareth by me as he has done.

     My dear Lord, let me stir your memory

with the tale of your Father who needed to pee.”

 

48

 

“Good King, remember when ye were a youngling

     of two year, when your good father still lived?

     At that time my own Father came from school

     in Monpellier, where five years of study

     had made him expert in reading urine,

     and in the herbs that make one laxative.

     He was an eminent master in that science,

     and went round in distinguished clothes of silk,

and a girdle of gold to secure his garments.”

 

49

 

“My Father came to Court, and found the King

     in sickness—a catarrh stoppered his throat,

     and his ruddy nose was sorely running green.

     Whereof for all this my Father was sorry

     at heart, for he loved him above all lords.

     The King that day was happy to see him,

     and gave the others leave to quit the Court,

     for he trusted so one so much as him;

and he said to my Father, ‘Reynard, I feel sick.’”

 

50

 

“And my Father answered, ‘All you need do

     is pee; take this chamber-pot, what we surgeons

     call a urinal, and make your water therein;

     and as soon as I see it I shall say

     what sickness you have, and determine the cure.’”

     The King did as he was counselled to do,

     for he trusted so one so much as him,

     as the one doctor who wouldn’t kill him;

so his majesty passed his pee into the pot.”

 

51

 

“Then did my Father inspect the King’s pee,

     and said, ‘My Lord, if ye be whole again,

     find the liver of a seven-year-old wolf,

     and do not leave this, or else ye shall die,

     for your urine showeth a plain tale.’

     The Wolf was standing near, but said nothing;

     he was, if I remember, Isengrim’s dad.

     But the King said to him, ‘Sir Isengrim,

ye have heard that I must have your liver, to live?’”

 

52

 

“‘I heard that,” said the Wolf; ‘My lord, now hear

     my reply—I am not yet five year old,

     I have heard my dear mother tell me so.’

     Then my Father said, ‘What skilleth these words?

     Let him be opened up and I shall know

     if the liver be good or no.’ So they took him

     to the kitchen and cut his liver out,

     which the King ate, and soon was whole again.

Then he thanked my Father, and told all to call him Master.”

 

 

next : more.

[Jeff Bernstein]

[Jeff Bernstein]

53

 

“Yea” (said Fox) “the King thanketh my Father,

     and commanded all his household, upon

     their lives, that ever after they should call

     him Master Reynard. And my Father abode

     by the King, and was believed of all things,

     and must always go by his side; and the King

     gave him a garland of roses to wear

     always on his head. But all this is turned now.

All the good old days he lived are now forgotten.”

 

54

 

“Forgotten!” (said Fox); “But the covetous

     and greedy shrews are raised and set on high,

     and are heard, and made great, while the wise

     are put back; yet without wisdom we fall

     into much trouble and sorrow. Think ye!

     When a greedy Beast from nothing is made

     a lord, and waxes great, and is raised over

     his neighbours in power and influence,

then he loses all of his knowledge of himself;

 

55

 

he becomes blind to his progress, and hath

     no pity on any Beast’s harm or hurt,

     nor heareth any Beast’s words, even if

     that Beast hath spectacular gifts of speech.

     All the greedy one desires is to gather

     good for himself, and to be ever greater.

     O woe! All the greedy Beasts now in Courts

     of lords all over our land! They flatter

and fawn, and please, for their singular avail,

 

56

 

but if their Lord hath need of them, alas!

     They would watch him suffer right hard, or die,

     ere they would give or lend him anything.

     They be like the Wolf who had rather see

     his good King die than give him his liver.

     But I would rather see twenty such Wolves

     die before my King and Queen should fall amiss!

     —By the way, O King, if you don’t remember

my Father, ’twas long ago, and you’ve forgotten this.”

 

next : &co.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 16 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

[Jeff Bernstein]

One of the strongest characteristics of that outbreak of the reason and the imagination, of that assertion of the liberty of the heart, in the Middle Ages, was its antinomianism, its spirit of rebellion and revolt against the moral and religious ideas of the time. . . . More and more, as we come to mark changes and distinctions of temper in what is often in one all-embracing confusion called the Middle Ages, that rebellion, that claim for liberty of heart and thought, comes to the surface.

Walter Pater, The Renaissance, “Two Early French Stories” (1872)

 

*

 

End of Norman Mailer’s Tough Guys Don't Dance (1984)

 

*

 

Beginning of Thomas Mann, The Holy Sinner (1951)

[Jeff Bernstein]

[Jeff Bernstein]

Tasteful Tension

 

Walter Pater describes Aucassin and Nicolete as having “a faint air of overwrought delicacy, almost of wantonness . . .”

 

Can Scroob confirm this quick, fast and in a hurry?

 

Nicolete, a beautiful young woman locked in a tower, decides to escape. Without much ado she reaches for her bliaut drap de soie [silk], then weaves her bedsheets into a corde. In between expressing these two physical actions, the story provides the following parenthetical detail of the drap de soie :

 

               que ele avoit molt bon;

 

which Scroob translates as

 

               which was very becoming on her.

 

A vital point to mention in the midst of an emergency?

 

*

 

This sweet detail may be equated to the “Ovidian note”, a sweet, charming storytelling vibe suffusing the Metamorphoses. A fine example is 2.192. The young Phaeton has recklessly taken control of the Chariot of the Sun, and its horses are running riot through the sky; during the galloping chaos, which Ovid draws out at comic length, the following amusing aside appears :

 

               nec nomina novit equorum.

 

and he doesn’t even know the horses’ names.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 16 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

57

 

“Forgotten!” (said Fox) “all the care and love

     my Father gave the throne of our forest!

     And also I, too, have shown our majesty

     reverence and worship and courtesy,

     tho I be thanked but little for all this;

     but perhaps our King remembers little

     of me too, and of what I shall now say.

     Yea” (said Fox) “tho I be thanked but little,

must a King be mindful of every little thing?”

 

58

 

“Once upon a time” (began Reynard the Fox)

     “I was walking with Isengrim the Wolf,

     and we had got under us both a Swine,

     and for his loud crying we bit him to death.

     Then, Sire, from out of a grove came ye

     over to us. Ye saluted us friendly,

     and welcomed us, and the Queen was behind;

     ye spoke of great hunger but nothing to eat,

and asked of us to give you part of our winning.”

 

59

 

“Isengrim said something I didn’t catch;

     but I spoke loudly, and said, ‘Yea, my Lord,

     have all you like, with all due courtesy;

     I only wish I had more to give you.

     And though it be a larger part, take it

     with our blessing.’ Isengrim then slunk off,

     but he took with him one half for himself,

     leaving for you and the Queen a quarter;

and the last quarter, which was mine, he ate that, too!”

 

60

 

“He ate that last quarter as hastily

     as he could as he went, leaving for me

     but half the lungs, for which reason I pray

     that God shall punish him for this evil.

     Thus he showed his conditions and nature.

     My Lord, ye had eaten your part, and yet

     were not full; and ye would have eaten more,

     but Isengrim the Wolf had left you no more,

nor even offered you any as he slunk away!”

 

61

 

“So ye lift up your right paw and smote him

     in the forehead, and tore off the skin there;

     and he bled, and he howled, and ran off,

     and left behind what was left of his part,

     just lying there. Then ye commanded him,

     ‘Return at once with more!’ And ye added,

     ‘After this see better how ye deal and part.’

     Then I said to you, ‘My Lord, I will go

with the Wolf, if it pleases you.’ So I went with him.”

 

62

 

“And all the way we went he bled and groaned,

     but all that softly; he dare not cry aloud.

     We went so far that we brought back a calf.

     When ye saw us coming ye laughed well-pleased,

     and said to me that I was swift in hunting.

     ‘Ye find well when ye take it upon you,’

     you said, ‘The calf is good and fat—you deal.’

     I answered, ‘My Lord, with the best of wills.

The one half, my Lord, shall be for you and the Queen.’”

 

63

 

“‘The guts, liver, lungs, and all the inwards,

     take for your children. The Wolf gets the head,

     and I the feet.’ Then ye said, ‘Dear Reynard,

     ‘who hath taught you to part so courteously?’

     ‘My Lord,’ said I, ‘’tis the very same one

     now off on his own, bleeding from his crown;

     he lost his skin with the uncourteous

     parting of the Swine, and for his courtesy

and greed,’ I said, ‘he now hath harm and hurt and shame.’”

 

64

 

“Alas!” (Reynard now spoke to King and Court)

     “there be many wolves prowling nowadays,

     that destroy and eat, without right or reason,

     all that they may have the overhand of.

     They spare no one, nor friend nor enemy;

     whatever they can eat they gladly eat.

     Nothing is enough, and they never stop

     eating. O, woe be to our lovely land,

to our forest where the wolves have the overhand!”

 

 

next : more.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 16 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

16 September 1999 : Does film matter?

Did you ever read the Latin poet Ovid on The Art of Love?

Scrooby : ?