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 5

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...] "...25 Now, as to the woman of the house, she conspired with a certain monk in the town, to murder the old man in his bed that night, while the rest were asleep, and lay the murder on the merchants.

26 And while Ivan was in bed, there was a hole in the pine-end of the house, and he saw a light, and he rose out of his bed and listened, and heard the monk speaking; and the monk turned his back upon the hole "perhaps," said he, " there is some one in the next house who may see our horrid deeds :" And with that the adultress, with her paramour, put the old man to death.

27 In the meantime, however, Ivan with his knife cut, through the hole, a pretty round piece of the monk's gown

.
28 And the next morning the adultress began to cry aloud, because her beloved was murdered ; and as there was neither man nor child in the house except the merchants, they ought to be hanged on his account.

29 Then they were taken and carried to prison, and at last Ivan came to them.

30 Alas, alas! Ivan, said they, a hard fate attends us ; our host was killed last night, and we shall be hanged for him.

31 Aha ! request the justices, said Ivan, to summon those who committed this heinous crime before hem.

32 Who knows, replied they, who committed the crime ? Who committed the crime ! said Ivan. If I know not how to prove who committed the crime, I will suffer myself to be hanged in their stead.

33 Explanation replied they 

(Nos 33, 34, and 35, Ivan repeats what he had seen, and produces the piece of the gown in evidence.)

36 And with that the merchants had their liberty, and the woman and the monk were hanged...." [cont...]

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 1818

King Arthurs Stone

Goss Moor - © Copyright Tony Atkin and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

"In the western part of Cornwall, all the marks of any peculiar kind found on the rocks are referred either to the giants or the devil. In the eastern part of the county such markings are almost always attributed to Arthur. Not far from the Devil's Coit in St Columb, on the edge of the Gossmoor, there is a large stone, upon which are deeply-impressed marks, which a little fancy may convert into the marks of four horse-shoes. This is "King Arthur's Stone," and these marks were made by the horse upon which the British king rode when he resided at Castle Denis, and hunted on these moors. King Arthur's beds, and chairs, and caves, are frequently to be met with. The Giant's Coits,--and many traditions of these will be found in the section devoted to the giant romances--are probably monuments of the earliest types of rock mythology. Those of Arthur belong to the period when the Britons were so far advanced in civilisation as to war under experienced rulers; and those which are appropriated by the devil are evidently instances of the influence of priestcraft on the minds of an impressible people."

Hunt 1903

Map - Goss Moor (King Arthur's Stone no longer seems to exist - correct me if I am wrong!)

Map - Castle Denis

Unlucky in Devon - 14 & 15 - (Sunday)

Hillerton Cross, Devon - Martin Bodman [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Common

It is unlucky

"To turn a feather-bed on Sunday.

To cut one's nails on Sunday."

Hewett 1900

Sunday rules (in Devon?)

"Some persons object to cut their nails, or turn a feather bed on Sunday."

Hewett 1900

Lightning protection of church bells

A contemporary woodcut of The Great Thunderstorm, Widecombe, Dartmoor, Devon, England which occurred in 1638.  Any lightning defense attempted here obviously didn't work very well!

"IN ancient times church bells were anointed with holy oil, exorcised, and blessed by the bishop, from a belief that when these ceremonies had been performed, they had the power to drive the devil out of the air, to calm tempests, protect from lightning, and keep away the plague.

The passing bell was anciently rung to bespeak the prayers of all Christian people for a soul just departing, and to drive away the evil spirit who stood at the bed's foot to hinder its passage to the other world.

Men's death I tell by doleful knell,
Lightning and thunder I break asunder,
The winds so fierce I do disperse,
Men's cruel rage I do assuage.

A very frequent inscription on church bells in the fifteenth century, was voce mea viva depells cunta nociva.

This is a proof of the belief that demons were frightened away by the sound of bells."

Hewett 1900

[Again - Caution should be taken with Sarah Hewetts work - while it is ostensibly to do with Devon, and has many uniquely Devon stories in it, it is sometimes hard to ascertain when she is referring to a Devon tradition, and when it is simply a general British or European thing. In this case I am giving her the benefit of the doubt, and including it because of the inscription.  I have no idea whether this was ever written on any Devon bell though!]

Dream divination on Saint Mark's Eve in Devon

Landscape with a Graveyard by Night by Matthias Withoos (1627-1703)

"Repair to the nearest churchyard as the clock strikes twelve, and take from a grave on the south side of the church three tufts of grass, and on going to bed place them under your pillow, repeating earnestly three several times,

The eve of St. Mark by prediction is blest,
Set therefore my hopes and my fears all to rest :
Let me know my fate, whether weal or woe ;
Whether my rank's to be high or low ;
Whether to live single or to be a bride, 

And the destiny my star doth provide. 

Should you have no dream that night, you will be single and miserable all your life. If you dream of thunder and lightning, your life will be one of great difficulty and sorrow."

Hewett 1900

[This bit of lore in Hewett 1900, and another I have not included on this blog, are found verbatim in  Memoirs of extraordinary popular delusions, Volumes 1-2 By Charles Mackay who copies them from Mother Bridget's "Dream and Omen" book - no source can be found for this so it may well be these things never appeared in Devonshire before the publication of Hewett's book...]

The White Bird of the Oxenhams of South Tawton - Part 1

The Oxenham Arms in South Zeal, near South Tawton -
  © Copyright Lewis Clarke and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1412429

"There exists in the family of the Oxenhams a tradition that a bird with a white breast is always seen fluttering over their beds, previous to the death of a member of their family.

The Oxenhams were an ancient family of considerable influence and importance, occupying and possessing
large and valuable properties in the vicinity of Okehampton. But the glory of the house has departed, though there are still branches of it at the present time residing at South Tawton, who still retain the tradition of the white bird. Very recently (1892) an Oxenham has said that the bird appeared to him, and very shortly afterwards his father died. It therefore appears that this bird of ill-omen is a legacy in perpetuity, bequeathed at an ill-starred moment to his descendants by some unfortunate ancestor. There are numerous records of the appearance of this bird prior to 1700, but the most interesting is that which describes its visit to Sir James Oxenham, on the eve of his daughter Margaret's nuptials.

The full text of a poem giving details of the appearance of the apparition, is given in " The Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature, and Art," for 1896, which was sent by Miss E. Gibbs, of South Tawton, who copied it from the housekeeper's commonplace book at Oxenham House...." [cont.]

Hewett 1900

Some instances of Robin Lore - Ashburton and Dawlish

The weeping robin - By Rasbak (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"A remarkable instance of credulity in robin-lore came to my notice in 1891. The following was told me by an educated lady, whose temperament is in no way morbid or hysterical ; but is in herself bright, cheerful, and religious. The sight of a robin carries her memory back to some of the saddest days of her life. Here is her story :

" In 1848 I was staying with my grandparents at Ashburton, in Devonshire. My grandmother, having a severe cold, went early to bed, and the weather being oppressively hot, the window was left open. Presently a robin, dishevelled and melancholy, flew into the room and perched on the towel-rail. No amount of persuasion could dislodge him, and at last all efforts to eject him were abandoned. He continued his sad weep, weep, weep, for at least an hour, when he quietly flew out of the window. That night grannie died. Again, in 1851, a robin, just as unhappy and forlorn as the former one, flew into my father's bedroom, exhibiting every sign of dejection. Nor would he be easily driven off, but sought the tester of the bed, where he continued his weep, weep, weep. That night my father died.
 

"Again, in the autumn of 1884, while on a visit to Dawlish with my husband and children, we often took our books and work into the garden. One evening, as usual, we were in the summer-house, the children playing noisily, when a robin flew into their midst, and hopped on the table, finally perching himself on the handle of my work-basket. A more pitiable dejected little birdie could not be imagined, his feathers were ruffled and touselled, and both wings drooped to his feet. There he sat, uttering his dolorous weep, weep, weep, for several minutes ; when we rose to go into the house he followed, sometimes fluttering along before us in the path, at others flitting from bush to bush close at our side. Even after we had closed the window we heard him on the shrubs outside, still pathetically uttering his doleful weep, weep, weep. The next morning my dear husband, who had gone along the Strand for a stroll while I dressed the children for a walk, dropped suddenly dead, and was brought home within a quarter of an hour after leaving the house. Can you wonder at my having a dread of a visit from a robin, after these pitiful experiences?""

Hewett 1900

Map - Ashburton
Map - Dawlish

Recipe for making a Dumb Cake

This fireplace is from Dolgoch Youth Hostel in Wales, not Devon!  - If you want to use my images, please do, but I would appreciate it if you attributed this blog

"IN the preparation of a dumb cake, if perfection be desired, it is imperative to observe strict: silence, and to follow these instructions closely.

Let any number of unmarried ladies each take a handful of wheaten flour, and place it on a sheet of white paper, then sprinkle it with as much salt as can be held between the finger and thumb ; then, one must put as much clear spring-water as will make it into dough, which being done, each of the party must roll it up, and spread it thin and broad, and each maid must, at some distance apart, make the first letters of their Christian and surname with a large new pin, towards the end of the cake ; if more christian-names than one, the first letter of each one must be made. Then set the cake before the fire, and each girl must sit down in a chair, as far from the fire as the room will admit, not speaking a word all the time. This must be done between eleven and twelve o'clock at night. Each person in rotation must turn the cake once, and five minutes after midnight the husband of her who is to be wed first will appear and lay his hand upon that part of the cake bearing her initials. From the Norwood Gipsy Fortune-teller.

If the cake be eaten, strict silence must be observed from the moment a slice is cut. The person walks backwards from the room, up the stairs, and after undressing goes into bed, still backwards. Stumbling and giggling are inadmissible. It is presumed that happy dreams of " the loved one" will occupy the hours of slumber."

Hewett 1900

[This recipe seems to be taken from a publication talking about London, but as "Dumb Cake" is used in one of the previous post I thought it was worth posting. The last paragraph could well be referring to a Devon practice - the area covered by Hewetts book.]

Berkeley Castle

"There is a bedroom, called Admiral Drake's room, in which are the bedstead, chairs, and washhand-stand - all of ebony - which the great navigator used during his voyage round the world."

Valentine (undated)


Map - Berkeley Castle

[I include this only to compliment all the other mythological beliefs about the man - some tangible relics]

The Death of King Rufus - part 2

"..The morning of that second of August dawned in unusual splendour. The previous night had been disturbed by Rufus, who had had an awful dream, and v-hose shouts had called his followers to his bedside, where, at his request, they had retained till dawn. Put at breakfast the king was in great spirits the day was come that he had fixed on for the chase, and he had forgotten his dream.

While he was preparing for the hunt, an artizan brought him six new arrows. He praised the workmanship, and, keeping four for himself, he gave the two others to his favourite, Sir Walter Tyrrel, or de Poix, saying, "Good weapons are due to him who knows how to make a good use of them."

And now the horses were at the door, and the huntsman's horn sounded, when a strange monk suddenly appeared and demanded an interview with the king, saying that he had matters of great moment to communicate to him. He was admitted and brought before the Red King. "What would you with me, Sir Priest?" asked William, frowning at the delay..." [cont..]

Valentine (undated)

The Fairy Widower - part 6

'...Jenny entered on her duties, and gave, and continued to give, satisfaction. She loved the darling little boy, and he appeared to love her, and the time passed away with astonishing rapidity.

Somehow or other she had never thought of her mother. She had never thought of her home at all. She was happy and in luxury, and never reckoned the passing of time.

Howsoever happiness may blind us to the fact, the hours and days move onward. The period for which Jenny had bound herself was gone, and one morning she awoke and all was changed. She was sleeping in her own bed in her mother's cottage. Every thing was strange to her, and she appeared strange to everybody. Numerous old gossips were called in to see Jenny, and to all Jenny told her strange tale alike. One day, old Mary Calineck of Zennor came, and she heard, as all the others had done, the story of the widower, and the baby, and the beautiful country. Some of the old crones who were there at the time said the girl was "gone clean daft." Mary looked very wise--" Crook your arm, Jenny," said she...' [cont.]

Hunt 1903