The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-03-31
"OLD, OLD YARNS"

Once upon time there we're no sto-
ries, suppose; but it must have been
long while ago, for most of the best sto-
ries are old, and it is singular how they
repeat themselves. Every little tale has
brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and cous-
ms of all degrees. You read of William
the Conqueror slipping, when he first
stepped on English soil and, kissing the
earth, saying that thus he had come to
greet and claim his own; but do you not
remember that the same incident is re-
lated of King Olaf in Norway, of Julius
Cesar when he landed in Britain, and of
old King Agesilaus of Sparta when he
invaded Africa?
In his beautiful poem OF Lady Godiva.
Tennyson refers to the "thankless churl
who bored an anger hole and-peeped:"
but the same "Peeping Tom" of Gov
entry lived in India long before Godiva's
time, or else there was another like him.
So OF the pretty story of King Llewellyn
and his dog Gellert; it is found in a doz-
en- different forms, and was told in Per-
STA and China thousand years before
there was ever Llewellyn reigned in
| Wales. The wonder is where did these
stories begin? Which was the first one
told and who,told itp Somebody has re-
membered the origin of few, and I
think you will be interested in hearing
one that is comparatively modern; so I
will foil cer, To
His real name was John HorneI; but he
was not so very little, unless they meant
/ that he was a small man compare d with
a fat abbot or bluff King Hal. He
lived back in the time OF that English
Bluebeard, Henry Will, and was butler
| in the household of rich old abbot.
| Now, one Of King Henry's devices for
filling his pockets with spending money
was to destroy the abbsys and mon aste-
ries and sell the lands, which he did,
gathering in much wealth thereby. This
abbot, hoping, suppose to gain the
Kings favor and save a POI ton of his
wealth, made out the deeds of some of
his most valuable lands and sent them
as a present to Henry by his butler.
But John Horner had a bump on his
head which is still found on great many
peoples at the present day, and while he
was going to the king he thought he
would just see what all those papers he
was carrying were about. So he 'put in
his thumb and pulled out Plum" that
&c ba opono1 onI rooI tho Iaada and v,,,%
the one for the largest piece of ground
in his own pocket. The rest he carried
to the king, and when he returned to the
abbot he had fine story all ready to tell
how that Henry in reward for his care
and faithfulness had presented him with
that tract of land. Wasn't that pretty
good kind Of a Christmas pie; but think
the plum ought to have choked him, don't
you?
The story Of st. George and the Dragon
is one of the most interesting in our Ian
guage, but the young folks will find that
it differs but little from the Gre elk classic
tale of Perseus and Andromeda. Both
heroes rescue beautiful maiden who is
about to be devoured by monster. A
similar myth is found in the Northern
mythologies and also in the Sanskrit. 1t
would appear that the fight with the
dragon is legend common to all the
Indo Caucasian nations. Its significance
is apparent; the maiden whom the drag
on attempts to devour is the earth. The
monster is the storm cloud. The hero
who fights it is the sun, with his glorious
sword, the lightning flash. By his vic.
tory the earth is relieved from her peril
The fable has been varied to suit the at.
mospheric peculiarities of different eli
mates, but this was the way the first peo-
pies explained the mysteries OF frost and
storm and sunshine, OF winter and of
spring to their children.
All of you, OF course, are familiar with
the old ballad,
"Sing a song of sixpence,
Pocket full of rye
Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in pie,"
hoNO OLSOh ouhk Ats UCAJ bhAS ID
only another fanciful story founded on
something real, which has been put in
rhyme. The four and twenty blackbirds
mean the four and twenty hours of the
day. The pie is the space between the
earth and sky; the bottom crust is the
ground, and the top, flaky and concave is
the sky, "When the pie was opened" is
the breaking ofsday; "The birds began to
sing" is the hours beginning merrily.
"The king in his parlor counting out his
money" is the sun; and the money" the
sunshine that is scattered in rays over
the sky. The queen who is "estinR bread
and honey" is the moon; "the maid in
the garden" is Aurora, the goddess of
the dawn, and the "clothes" are the
clouds. The little bird that ''nips off her
nose," is the first hour of the day, for
Aurora disappears as soon as the king
(the SUM arises. Congregationalist.
Says Rev. DIR. Theodore l.. Cuyler
"One great secret Of the rapid growth of
Wesleyan Methodism was its methodical