Early translation into English from Kernowec (Cornish) of The Tale Of Ivan - part 7

St Levan Church (Llanlavan is probably Saint Levan - My poor knowledge of Cwmraeg (Welsh) would suggest so anyway, Llan in Welsh being roughly equivalent to a parish area) - image © Copyright Tim Heaton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

[cont...] "...42 I am here, replied Ivan. In the name of Mary, whom do I hear  said she ; if you are Ivan, come in. Bring you also a light, said Ivan. Then she brought a light.

43 And when Ivan was come in, as I was advancing to the door, said he, I heard some one else in the bed.

44 Oh ! Ivan, replied she, when you determined to go away, I was three months gone with child ; and now we have a beautiful infant in the bed, gracious in the sight of God may he be !

45 Reph'ed Ivan, I will tell thee, my master and my mistress gave me a cake, and told me, when I and my wife should be most joyful together, that we should break the cake and not sooner. And now we have cause to be joyful.

46 Then they broke the cake, and there were nine pounds in the cake; and the money they had, and the bread they eat ; and there never was an idle word nor strife between them afterwards. And so it ends."


Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 1818 

Maps with help from here - http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Celtic_Fairy_Tales/Addenda_and_Corrigenda

Map - Llanlavan / St Levans.
Ty Hwrdh / Chyannor [Unknown]
Map - Wayn Her / St Hilary's Moor. [Saint Hillary?]
Map - Kaer Esk fair (Exeter)
Map - Tre Rhyn / Trereen [Treen?]
Map - Market Jew / Marazion.
Coed Carn y Wylfa / Cûz Carn na huila [Unknown]
Map - Burman / Buryan.

[The place-name corrections in this tale are due to Mr. Phillimore, who points out that Llwyd, in his Welsh translation of the original Cornish, gave the Welsh equivalents of the Cornish place-names.]

Early translation into English from Kernowec (Cornish) of The Tale Of Ivan - part 3

St Levan Church (Llanlavan is probably Saint Levan - My poor knowledge of Cwmraeg (Welsh) would suggest so anyway, Llan in Welsh being roughly equivalent to a parish area) - image © Copyright Tim Heaton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

[cont...] "...13 Fair leave he took and towards home (" Tref," i.e. town) he travelled, and at last he came to Wayn-Iler, and there he met three merchants from Tre Rhyn, persons of his own parish, coming home from

14 Kaer Esk fair (Exeter). Oho! Ivan, said they, come with us, joyful are we to see you. Where have you been so long ?

15 I have been, said Ivan, in service, and now I am going home to my wife. Oh ! said they, come with us, and thou shalt be welcome.

16 And they took the new road, and Ivan kept the old.
 ..." [cont...]

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 1818

Early translation into English from Kernowec (Cornish) of The Tale Of Ivan - part 1

St Levan Church (Llanlavan is probably Saint Levan - My poor knowledge of Cwmraeg (Welsh) would suggest so anyway, Llan in Welsh being roughly equivalent to a parish area) - image © Copyright Tim Heaton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

THE TALE OF IVAN.
( Translated from the Cornish.)

MR EDITOR, I HAVE sent you the following translation of one of the "Inabinogi," or tales for the instruction of youth, which is chiefly curious, as it is the only tale that I am aware of which is in existence in foe Cornish language; at the same time, it may not be disagreeable to some of your readers, to see how the ancients of the times gone by conveyed their lessons of instruction to the young. It is to be found in the 251, 252, pp. of Llwyd's Archaeologia Britannica, with a Welsh translation annexed. 

Yours, PWY. 

Jesus College, Oxford, 23d April 1818.

1 There were formerly a man and woman living in the parish of Llanlavan, in the place which is called Ty Hwrdh.

2 And (the) work became scarce and therefore said the man to his wife, I will go and search for work, and you may live here.

3 He took fair leave, and travelled far towards the East ; and at last he came to the house of a husbandman (Villanus), and asked there for work to perform.

4 What work canst thou perform ? said the husbandman. I can perform every kind of work, said Ivan, Then they agreed for three pounds as the hire of a year..." [cont...]

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 1818

Proverb on dying in debt

"Let him hang by the heels."  - Somerset.

(Of a man that dies in debt : His wife leaving all at his death, crying his goods in three markets and three Parish Churches is so free of all his debts). 

Ray 1768

[Not sure how the proverb links to the interpretation!  A friend of my wife said that if you die in debt you have made a profit....  Once again we find the number 3 has massive importance in folklore]

The Cock-crow stones of Cornwall

The Cheesewring at St Cleer is on the left of the photo.     Image by © Copyright Eric Foster and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

"A ROCK of white marble (?) with many rock basins on its surface lies in Looe harbour, under Saunder's Lane, and is now -covered by every tide. This stone once stood on the top of an elevated rock near it, and when in this position, whenever it heard a cock crow in the neighbouring farmyard of Hay, it turned round three times.

The topmost stone of that curious pile of rocks in the parish of St Cleer known as the Cheesewring is gifted in like manner. Even now the poultry-yards are very distant, but in ancient days the cocks must have crowed most lustily, to have produced vibrations on either the sensitive rock or the tympanum of man."

Hunt 1903

Map -  Looe Harbour.  (I cannot find Saunders Lane or Hay farmyard)
Map - Hay Lane, Looe
Map - The Cheesewring

The Table Men and the Saxons in Kernow

Saint Sennen Church - image by Andrewrabbott (talk).Andrewrabbott at en.wikipedia [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

"AT a short distance from Sennen church, and near the end of a cottage, is a block of granite, nearly eight feet long, and about three feet high. This rock is known as the Table-men, or Table-main, which appears to signify the stone-table. At Bosavern, in St Just, is a somewhat similar fiat stone; and the same story attaches to each. --

It is to the effect that some Saxon kings used the stone as a dining-table. The number has been variously stated; some traditions fixing on three kings, others on seven. Hals is far more explicit; for, as he says, on the authority of the chronicle of Samuel Daniell, they were -- 

Ethelbert, 5th king of Kent;
Cissa, 2d king of the South Saxons;
Kingills, 6th king of the West Saxons;
Sebert, 3d king of the East Saxons;
Ethelfred, 7th king of the Northumbers;
Penda, 5th king of the Mercians;
Sigebert, 5th king of the East Angles,--who all flourished about the year 600...

...The only tradition which is known amongst the peasantry of Sennen is, that Prince Arthur and the kings who aided him against the Danes, in the great battle fought near Vellan-Drucher, dined on the Table-men, after which they defeated the Danes."

Hunt 1903

 

Map - Sennen Church
Map - Bosavern

[I cannot find the location of the battle of Vallan-Drucher - Though it is described in The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 5 1887 as being near Vallan Dreath, which is very close to Sennen Cove.

Perhaps unsurprisingly the Table-Men / Saxon bit of the folklore is currently very unfashionable on the internet, and, I suspect, in Kernow / Cornwall. The only modern mentions I have found to it is to King Arthur's battle with the Danes (being more acceptably 'British' and 'Celtic')]

Some more on the Dartmoor Folk Festival

[As I mentioned before I really love this small and eccentric festival.  It is held in South Zeal,on the edge of Dartmoor

The field before the crowds gathered at Dartmoor Folk Festival 2001.  Some of these photos are by me, some by my wife Lunar Hine - Please accredit one or other of our blogs if you wish to use them.

They help keep alive a number of local traditions. One is the local Step Dancing.  I have come across mentions of this happening in the farmhouses around Dartmoor back into victorian times, and I haeve no dobt there would have been local dance tradition before this.

The winner of the youth section of the step dancing competition 2011

I missed the main competition (I have witnessed it before - preformed on a cart top, with the musician playing a small concertina facing away from the competitor so that he does not favour one person over another. Men and women compete. In the crowd old ladies sit and mutter to each other about how well - or not - a competitor is doing.  It seems they are permitted to bring a bit of their own style in, but if they are seen as going too far into some more mainstream form of tap dancing they frowned on).

 

This video is on its side - sorry!

All I saw this year was the two winners, the adult and the child's category, preforming their dances. Unfortunately it was at very short notice, so soft shoes where used instead of hard.

And this one...  Oh well - the adult winner

The Step Dancing Memorial Cup

The Bob Cann Shield for step dancing.  I am not sure whether this or the cup is for adults...

Talking of shoes - one year I saw a dance off in the Kings Arms for a pair of shoes at this festival - in the corner rumored to be the domain of a Devon gypsy family - it is always full of musicians and dancers anyway!

The winner of the broom dancing took center stage, surrounded by her fellow competitors. This year the fashion for stripy socks added to the display!

Another competition is the children's broom dancing - another local tradition. This year it was almost all girls, and the brooms where decorated. This is a good dance, though it seems to have only one form that is repeated. Personally I would like to see a few adult broom dancers, and maybe an evolving tradition to run alongside the fixed dance - there is a lot you could do with a broom.

The broom dancing shield, 1991-2011 so far, first presented by the Exeter Morris men and Bob Cann - the founder of the festival.

The winner of the Broom dancing championship also wins the years broom - later the girl who won was seen proudly carrying it around the village.  The mini broom has the newish colours of Devon on it (they actually relate to the county sports teams, lord Exmouth and the lush hills and granite of the area, as well as Westcountry saint Petroc.

Morris dancers also abounded, much to the pleasure (and occasional fear) of my litle daughter. She was fine when they danced, even growling and laughing at them when they rushed at us with sticks, but when they milled around unchaperoned by the music she got a little anxious, espesially at the ragged, flower headed, blacked out faced Exmoor Morris Dancers.

Dartmouth?? Morris

Also present where Dartmouth? Morris and Lodestone Morris.  I think there was also one of the genuinely old sides from Oxfordshire that never died out.

Lots of beer was drunk and music played.  Only later was I aware of the irony that while around England young people where drinking heavily and wielding big sticks (baseball bats and truncheons) in the rioting and looting that was happening in the poor areas of our cities here on Dartmoor everyone was actively turning up to watch people hit each other with sticks and drink far, far, far to much...

Sticks and drink - a tamer sort of riot...

Music was everywhere.  This man was from Lodestone morris, and showed me a penny whistle that could be played in only one hand...

Most of the Morris dancing was in the streets and by the pub, but at the end of the day they came on to the main arena. Ths is Lodestone Morris again.

Exmoor Morris dancing again. This group made a big thing about having come sooo very far, from foreign lands... Exmoor...

My daughter learning to walk and dance to the music. She and the other small children saw the dance floor as the place to be, and between dance acts nobody stopped them charging around to the sound of the accordion.

Finally the intimidating Minehead Sailors Horse (a hobby horse) did its wild dance and 'bumbped' its unsuspecting victim...

 The only things I have to add that I can remember was about the stalls - many where stuffed with local crafts - jewelry, prints, bee products...  The one that stuck most in my mind was sett up for one day only. in the street outside the festival, under the bunting, a small boy stood at a workmate with a hammer, chisel and some pots of paint. He has been there a few years that I have been. He had mined some rusty used horseshoes out from behind a barn on his parents farm and did them all up smart. A sign proclaimed "Lucky Devon Horseshoes". Next year I will photograph his wheres.

That reminds me - on the bus through Drewsteinton I noticed three old horseshoes, all toe down, on the same barn door. They had been painted over many times. A very lucky barn I think, considering the folkloric power of three.]

Roodmas day at Bovey Tracy

The shrine to Saint Helena in Basilica di San Pietro

"This is a festival of the Romish church, designed to commemorate the finding of the Cross upon which Jesus suffered, by St. Helena.

On the first Monday after the third of May, this festival is annually held at Bovey Tracy. It is known as Roodmas Day. A procession is formed and the perambulation of the bounds of the parish takes place. Huge garlands of flowers are carried on the points of staves, and every available space on the house walls is decorated with a profusion of blooms."

Hewett 1900

Map - Bovey Tracy


 

Devon Charm to cure a fever

Saint Honorius - Honoratus of Amiens (Saint Honorius, Saint Honore)

"WRITE on parchment the following and bind it over the heart of the patient.

" In the name of St. Exuperus and St. Honorius, fall-fever, spring-fever, quartian, quintain, ago, super ago, consummatum est."

While fixing this charm to the patient, repeat three Paters and three Aves. The patient will recover after wearing the charm nine days."

Hewett 1900

Devon toad charm to staunch blood

Common Toad - Bufo Bufo - By Lilly M (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-SA-2.5 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

"Take a fine full-grown toad ; kill him, then take three bricks and keep in a very hot oven until they are red hot. Take one out and place the toad upon it ; when the brick is cold remove the toad ; then take the other bricks and place the toad on them successively until he be reduced to powder. Then take the toad ashes and sew them up carefully in a silk bag one-and-a-half inch square. When one is bleeding place this bag on the heart of the sufferer, and it will instantly stay the bleeding of the nose or any wound."

Hewett 1900

Devon charm to protect from theives and enemies

Frontispiece of the Old Testament -By Phillip Medhurst (Photo by Harry Kossuth) [FAL], via Wikimedia Commons

"SAY daily at sunrise :

"In the power of God, I walk on my way
In the meekness of Christ, what thieves soe'er I meet
The Holy Ghost to-day shall me keep.
Whether I sit, or stand, walk or sleep,
The shining of the sun
Also the brightness of his beams, shall me help.
The faith of Isaac to-day shall me lead ;
The sufferings of Jacob to-day be my speed.
The devotion of the holy Lamb thieves shall let,
The strength of Jesus's passion them beset,
The dread of death hold thieves low,
The wisdom of Solomon cause their overthrow.
The sufferings of Job set them in hold,
The chastity of Daniel let what they would.
The speech of Isaac their speech shall spill,
The languishing faith of Jerom let them of their will.
The flaming fires of hell to hit them, I bequeath,
The deepness of the deep sea, their hearts to grieve
The help of Heaven cause thieves to stand.
He that made the sun and moon bind them with his hand
So sure as St. Bartholomew bound the fiend,
With the hair of his beard.
With these three sacred names of God known and unknown.
Miser, Sue, Tetragrammaton, Christ Jesus ! Amen."

Hewett 1900

[I am not a great expert on such things, but this line "Miser, Sue, Tetragrammaton," sounds a bit Jewish.  Although it does feature Jesus and Saint Bartholomew the rest seem to be old testament characters.]

Devon charm to cure whooping cough

Donkey, or Ass, at Clovelly in Devon - by Neil Kennedy [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"Bring an ass before the door of the house, into whose mouth thrust a slice of new bread, then pass the sick child three times over and under the animal's body, and the charm is completed."

Hewett 1900

[This charm reminds me of another on Dartmoor, where the sick child was put amongst the sheep - there was obviously an idea that the cough sounded like an animal, and thus sympathetic magic was needed.]

Devon charm to cure Ringworm, Barngun, or skin eruptions such as shingles

Shingles on a back - By Timepants (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

"Barngun is cured by blessing, and the outward application of clotted cream, thus : Take three locks of
wool one white, one grey, one black dip them into a basin of clotted cream, and when thoroughly saturated,
take each lock and rub in succession each infected spot on the skin. Hang the wool on sprigs of white thorn against the wind to dry. Repeat this process five, seven, or nine times, as the case may require. While lubricating the sores chant in monotone the following : 

There were three angels come from the west, 

to cure Simon Fluke (or other) of the barngun, 

white barngun, red barngun, black barngun,
aching, sticking, pricking, barngun, 

all sorts of barngun,
barngun-biibee, 

ill will I prove 'e. 

I stick thee
up on thees yer thorn, 

there thou shalt die, 

and never come near'n no more, 

in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen."

Hewett 1900 

[This charm is very similar to other Devon charms for other ailments in the opening and closing lines, and in the use of colours (take note: there are three colours - 3 is a very frequently used number in folklore). Also note the hypnotically intensifying rhythm.]

Devon charm for curing sciatica, or boneshave

Me dipping my wizened leg into a Dartmoor Stream on a hot day.  If you wish to use my photos please attribute this blog

"TAKE a pail of clean river water, dipped from the down-flowing stream, a pair of shears, a large key, and a new table knife. Dip the knife into the pail of water, draw it back upwards, downwards and across the hip three times each way. Then dip the key into the water and proceed as before. Then dip the shears into water, shear the hip as though it were covered with wool. Return the water left in the bucket to the river and sing

As this watter goeth to zay,
So flow boneshave away."

Hewett 1900

Devon charm to cure a sore throat

"Read the eighth Psalm seven times for three successive mornings over the patient."

Hewett 1900

Devon charm to destroy the power of a witch

Common Frog

"TAKE three small-necked stone jars : place in each the liver of a frog stuck full of new pins, and the heart of a toad stuck full of thorns from the holy thorn bush. Cork and seal each jar. Bury in three different churchyard paths seven inches from the surface and seven feet from the porch. While in the act of burying each jar repeat the Lord's prayer backwards. 

As the hearts and livers decay so will the witch's power vanish. After performing this ceremony no witch can have any power over the operator."

Hewett 1900

[At Pitt Rivers museum in Cambridge there is a toad and a bulls heart from 19th century Devon stuck with pins and nails... There are examples available on the internet, including here, but the owners of the images somehow think that there job is to restrict the use of this folk material, rather than facilitating free communal use of our past... I wish I wasn't trying to keep this site copyright legal - there is lots of interesting stuff held by various public institutions, but they all restrict the use of the information they make available. Oh well.]

Devon charm for seeing ones husband via the moon.

The moon

"ON seeing the new moon, make the sign of the cross three times in the air, and once on your forehead. Clasp both hands tightly together and hold them in a supplicating attitude, uplifted towards the moon. Then repeat :

All hail, all hail, to thee,
All hail to thee, new moon,
I pray to thee, new moon,
Before thou growest old,
To reveal unto me,
Who my true love shall be!

Before the moon is at full the suppliant will see her true love."

Hewett 1900

Devon charm to cure colic

Common Toad (Bufo bufo) - Some rights reserved by jasja dekker  http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasja_dekker/2706427022/sizes/l/

"Mix equal quantities of elixir of toads and powdered Turkey rhubarb.

Dose: Half a teaspoonful fasting for three successive mornings."

Hewett 1900

Four Devon charms to cure toothache

Aching human tooth! - Some rights reserved by zenilorac  http://www.flickr.com/photos/zenilorac/639735618/sizes/z/

"(1) Carry a dead person's tooth in the left waistcoat pocket.

(2) Bite a tooth from the jaw of a disinterred skull.

(3) "As Peter sat weeping on a stone our Saviour passed by and said, 'Peter, why weepest thou ?' Peter said unto Him, ' I have got the toothache.' Our Saviour replied, 'Arise and be sound.'"

And whosoever keeps this in memory or in writing will never suffer from toothache.

(4)-Mix

Two quarts of rat's broth.

One ounce of camphor.

One ounce essence of cloves.

Dose: Take one teaspoonful three times a day."

Hewett 1900

Devon Charm to heal burns

The eastern fire of the rising sun on the frosty ground near Chagford. If you want to use my images please attribute this blog.

"THE witch repeats the following prayer while passing her hand three times over the burn :
 

Three wise men came from the east,
One brought fire, two carried frost.
Out fire ! In frost !
In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."

Hewett 1900