Hi Bob. The title for the series is intended to be slightly ironic although
absolutely authentic. Ironic because some of the stories were not really
bedtime stories, or rather not fitting, rather like Grimm's Fairy Tales
were/are slightly horrific. Not all the stories are unpleasant, however. The
opening lines are scene setting for the series and also an homage to a
wonderful old Mum who like many old mums struggled through the war years to
earn a living and raise kids under the most difficult of circumstances. She
told us stories of our family and gave depth and place to our lives, a
belonging. She read to us from a Yorkshre dialect reader,( I shall always
remember John Hartley's 'Bite Bigger' and all three brothers can recite bits
from it, my oldest brother can recite all of it and does, )and Palgrave's
Golden Treasury as well as the Dandy and Beano until we could read for
ourselves. The family is far larger now and burgeons into grandchildren and
great grandchildren so I am collecting the tales for them as part of their
family heritage, the dialect/accent is part of that heritage, I hope and
trust. Thanks for the read and kind remarks . Regards Arthur.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Cooper" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 11:52 PM
Subject: Re: New Sub: The Two-ringed Circus
> Hi Arthur,
> A well worked tale! I love the voice in the poem, I think you've caught
the
> tale-telling tone really well.
> But here's a thought... (well, it's a question!)
> Is stating that it's a tale told near bedtime adding to the poem or just
> hinting towards a sentimental response from the reader? In other words:
> would the drama of the tale not be more powerful without the introduction
of
> where the tale was heard?
> I know that tall-ish tales - like The Ancient Mariner - start by
introducing
> a storyteller but I also recall that Browning's narrative story poems
don't.
> I'm wondering if the story-teller, and those the story was heard by,
create
> too much distance between the reader and the tale.
> Whaddya think?
> Bob
>
> >From: Arthur Seeley <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: New Sub: The Two-ringed Circus
> >Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2004 16:58:04 +0100
> >
> >Tales at my Mother's Knee: No. 1: The Two Ring Circus
> >
> >
> >
> >Always a story for bed
> >
> >even though she worked all hours
> >
> >in that fiery bakery
> >
> >Up at five, to bed at eleven,
> >
> >husband at the war and three kids to keep,
> >
> >but always a story for bed.
> >
> >Hands smoothed over the crisp apron
> >
> >the coke in the oven rustled to settle,
> >
> >beside the quiet metronomic rock of her chair
> >
> >we gathered and she began:
> >
> >
> >
> >"Mi Dad, thi granddad Thomas
> >
> > had a terrible thirst, tha knows,
> >
> >sup owt he would, well it killed him at finish,
> >
> >didn't it, but you know that."
> >
> >
> >
> >"He wuh a skilled mason and all,
> >
> >helped to build Ogden Water, he did.
> >
> >He had a hand in most of t'big buildings in Halifax as well,
> >
> > I seem to recall."
> >
> >
> >
> >"But he had to have his drink, hadn't he?
> >
> >Chose how many times
> >
> >he said he wouldn't, never again,
> >
> >oh no, never again,
> >
> >took the oath, in his best black suit
> >
> >and shirt and tie, holding his hymn book,
> >
> >swore to God on high, he did,
> >
> >but bless me if he didn't start again two weeks later.
> >
> >Aye, drink wuh a curse for him
> >
> >and many like him I suppose.
> >
> >Smart as paint and a good worker
> >
> >when he wuh sober
> >
> >but a rabscallion when t' drink wur on him."
> >
> >
> >
> >"Do you know when he'd spent up
> >
> >and he had nowt to buy a drink with,
> >
> >not a copper coin,
> >
> >he still had his two-ringed circus in his topcoat."
> >
> >
> >
> >"Ah! I can see yuh looking strange there,
> >
> >that made thi sit up and take notice, eh,
> >
> >but he did, tha knows,
> >
> >anyroad he called it his two-ringed circus."
> >
> >
> >
> >"He had an albino rat
> >
> >that he'd caught from back at t'oven.
> >
> >It used to come out
> >
> >and sit on t'hearth and whistle,
> >
> >he told us,
> >
> >and one night he copt it
> >
> >and kept it on a chain
> >
> >in his topcoat pocket.
> >
> >He fed it scraps and things
> >
> >and called it Albert,
> >
> > which is a daft name for a rat,
> >
> >I allus thought."
> >
> >
> >
> >"So now, he could go into a pub
> >
> >and tell anyone as would listen
> >
> >that he had t' only whistling rat in t'world.
> >
> >But it wouldn't whistle fuh nowt you see,
> >
> >there had to be a pint or two in it fuh him.
> >
> >He wur its manager he reckoned and deserving.
> >
> >So when there wur a pint on t' counter
> >
> >out would come t' rat
> >
> >and it would sit on t' bar
> >
> >and whistle like a good un.
> >
> >Mind you I don't think it wuh whistling really,
> >
> >just squeaking like rats do,
> >
> >but when you've had a few yourself
> >
> >and this feller tells you it's whistling
> >
> >you'll believe it.
> >
> >Being white with those pink albino eyes
> >
> >helped a bit too, I'm thinking."
> >
> >
> >
> >"What? Two rings.
> >
> >Oh aye, I wuh coming to that.
> >
> >Well in t'other pocket
> >
> >he had the smallest pups in t' world.
> >
> >Yuh see, this peke had died
> >
> >while it wuh being operated on for gall stones
> >
> >and she wuh pregnant
> >
> >so they had to take these pups away from her.
> >
> >They wuh fully formed
> >
> >but pale and hairless
> >
> >and their little eyes wuh shut.
> >
> >They wuh in a jar kept in surgical alcohol.
> >
> >Pickled in a way, I suppose.
> >
> >I didn't like to look at them.
> >
> >They made me feel queer,
> >
> >bobbing and floating about like that,
> >
> >like little fish.
> >
> >He even kept the gallstone on his watch chain.
> >
> >He wuh a queer one at times,
> >
> >tha knows, really queer."
> >
> >
> >
> >"He lost his watch
> >
> >and t' chain with t' stone on't
> >
> >in a fight over summat and nowt
> >
> >one Wake week when he wuh drunk."
> >
> >
> >
> >"But it kept him in drink
> >
> >did his two-ringed circus
> >
> >until t'time came
> >
> > when everyone had seen it
> >
> >and weren't interested nomore,
> >
> >all t'novelty had gone, you see.
> >
> >When you've seen it once
> >
> >there's not much else left is there, really.
> >
> >Not worth a drink, anyroad."
> >
> >
> >
> >"Albert, the rat, died and all,
> >
> >so yuh Grandad, as I live and breath,
> >
> >bless me if he didn't empty the pups out
> >
> >and drink the jar of alcohol."
> >
> >
> >
> >"He did it private, mind,
> >
> >in the lean-to in't back yard
> >
> >where he kept his tools and ladders."
> >
> >
> >
> >"Yuh Grandma, bless her, found him asleep
> >
> > and white as t'toilet wall, laid out on some sacking.
> >
> >She swilled him with t'mop bucket but he didn't move,
> >
> >not for two days, he dint.
> >
> >By Gow, but he wuh poorly."
> >
> >
> >
> >"I went out a few times to look at him,
> >
> >pale, snoring, sometimes moaning.
> >
> >It's not nice, yuh know,
> >
> >seeing yur own Dad laid like that.
> >
> >white as tallow and covered in puke."
> >
> >
> >
> >"Aye, well. t'drink killed him at finish, dint it ?
> >
> >Now, come on, no more tales tonight.
> >
> >Off to bed like good lads."
>
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