1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:10,479 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media book Club. Book Club book Club. It's 2 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:14,040 Speaker 1: the Cool Zone Media book Club, the only book club 3 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:16,439 Speaker 1: where you don't have to do the reading because I'm 4 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 1: going to do the reading for you. There's probably other 5 00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: book clubs where you don't have to do the reading, 6 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:22,200 Speaker 1: but they're not going to be ones where I do 7 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:26,440 Speaker 1: the reading for you, unless you find like audiobooks I've 8 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:28,960 Speaker 1: read or something, in which case I guess you can 9 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:32,600 Speaker 1: find one like that. Well, I can't promise this is 10 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:35,000 Speaker 1: the only book club where you don't have to do 11 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:37,560 Speaker 1: the reading because I do it for you. But it's 12 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:42,240 Speaker 1: one of them, maybe the only one. This week's story 13 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:45,760 Speaker 1: is by someone I've admired for a long time because 14 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: he's an anti state socialist jack of all trades from 15 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:52,800 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century who made invaluable contributions to politics, visual art, literature, 16 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:56,640 Speaker 1: and is mostly famous as a wallpaper designer. How could 17 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,800 Speaker 1: I not love him? He was custom made to be 18 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:05,119 Speaker 1: someone I like. His name is William Morris. William Morris 19 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:06,760 Speaker 1: is on my short list of people I want to 20 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:08,560 Speaker 1: cover on cool People did cool stuff, So I don't 21 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 1: know as much about him as I will by the 22 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:14,160 Speaker 1: time I researched a whole episode about him. Maybe he's terrible, 23 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:17,280 Speaker 1: I don't know. He seemed to be really good to 24 00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: his family and that's usually how he judged people. But 25 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:27,840 Speaker 1: in short, William Morris today's author, there was this upper 26 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: middle class guy named William Morris. He was born in 27 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:33,759 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty four in England. He went to Oxford and shit, 28 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:36,520 Speaker 1: he got really into art and he wound up basically 29 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:41,200 Speaker 1: revolutionizing interior decoration, and he like designed wallpaper and textiles 30 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:43,800 Speaker 1: and shit for the rich, whom he wound up despising. 31 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:46,840 Speaker 1: He did a ton of medievalism and worked to translate 32 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:51,000 Speaker 1: old Norse epics and shit into English and seen through 33 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:53,760 Speaker 1: his fiction as one of the fathers of modern fantasy fiction. 34 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: He became a socialist, burning his bridges with rich clientele 35 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:02,120 Speaker 1: and financing radical publishing mark alongside workers. He was arrested 36 00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:04,440 Speaker 1: for assaulting an officer in like his early fifties or 37 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: late forties or some shit. His socialism was basically Marxist 38 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 1: theoretical underpinnings, with strong anarchist sympathies and ties. He was 39 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: friends with friend of the Pod Peter Kropotkin, for example, 40 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:21,720 Speaker 1: and he opposed state socialism, but he also didn't become 41 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:26,480 Speaker 1: an anarchist or something like that. He was caught up 42 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:29,120 Speaker 1: in all the factional infighting, but he basically tried not 43 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:31,480 Speaker 1: to be. He spent all of his last days trying 44 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:35,920 Speaker 1: to fight for unity among all the socialists. This story 45 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:38,840 Speaker 1: is the first story he ever published, when he was 46 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 1: probably twenty one or so and in Oxford. It was 47 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:46,160 Speaker 1: inspired by his time touring churches in France. This story 48 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 1: is not a nail biter, It is not action packed. 49 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:53,079 Speaker 1: It's a story of a kind we don't see much anymore, 50 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: and it shows his commitment to craftsmanship and beauty in 51 00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 1: how it develops its themes. It also, to me shows 52 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: how much he owes the Romantics, who were all like 53 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:05,639 Speaker 1: proto socialists and interesting as hell. I've read some of 54 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:07,919 Speaker 1: their stuff on this podcast and talked about some of 55 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:11,639 Speaker 1: their lives on cool people who did cool stuff. As 56 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 1: for this story, I remember once during a writing workshop, 57 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:17,720 Speaker 1: the instructor, who might have been Tobias Buckel, but I'm 58 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:20,240 Speaker 1: not certain. I don't remember who said it was like 59 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:24,280 Speaker 1: talking about how look in your first novel, your publisher 60 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:26,079 Speaker 1: isn't going to let you get away with spending eight 61 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:28,959 Speaker 1: pages describing the stained glass windows in a church, or 62 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:33,840 Speaker 1: whatever your interest is. But once you've earned your audience's trust, 63 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: publishers will trust you to go down those sorts of paths. 64 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 1: And this story is just about the most perfect and 65 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:43,160 Speaker 1: essentially literal version of that I've ever read, although it 66 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 1: is his first story, and maybe the reason it's trusted 67 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:50,800 Speaker 1: is because he later earned everyone's respect. But I think 68 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 1: he earns it in this story. I think that he 69 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:58,880 Speaker 1: makes these pages describing the literal beauty of churches. He 70 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 1: makes it what the story is about in a really 71 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: interesting way. But I'll talk about that afterwards. I hope 72 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 1: you like this story. It's called the Story of the 73 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:13,640 Speaker 1: Unknown Church by William Morris. I was the master mason 74 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 1: of a church that was built more than six hundred 75 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:18,760 Speaker 1: years ago. It is now two hundred years since that 76 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:21,640 Speaker 1: church vanished from the face of the earth. It was 77 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 1: destroyed utterly. No fragment of it was left, not even 78 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: the great pillars that bore up the tower at the 79 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:32,160 Speaker 1: cross where the choir used to join the nave. No 80 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: one knows even where it stood. Only in this very 81 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:38,440 Speaker 1: autumn tide. If you knew the place, you would see 82 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:41,720 Speaker 1: the heaps made by the earth covered ruins, heaving the 83 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:45,640 Speaker 1: yellow corn into glorious waves, so that the place where 84 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:48,880 Speaker 1: my church used to be is as beautiful now as 85 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:52,520 Speaker 1: when it stood in all its splendor. I do not 86 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:55,160 Speaker 1: remember very much about the land where my church was. 87 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:58,400 Speaker 1: I have quite forgotten the name of it, but I 88 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: know it was very beautiful. And even now, while I 89 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:04,040 Speaker 1: am thinking of it, comes a flood of old memories, 90 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:07,520 Speaker 1: and I almost seem to see it again, that old 91 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:11,240 Speaker 1: beautiful land. Only dimly do I see it in spring 92 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:13,880 Speaker 1: and summer and winter. But I see it in autumn 93 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:18,800 Speaker 1: tide clearly now, yes, clearer, clearer, oh so bright and glorious. 94 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:22,000 Speaker 1: Yet it was beautiful too in spring, when the brown 95 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:25,159 Speaker 1: earth began to grow green, Beautiful in summer, when the 96 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:28,200 Speaker 1: blue sky looked so much bluer if you could ham 97 00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:31,880 Speaker 1: a piece of it between the new white carving, Beautiful 98 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:36,680 Speaker 1: in solemn starry nights, so solemn that it almost reached agony, 99 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:40,479 Speaker 1: the awe and joy one had in their great beauty. 100 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:44,159 Speaker 1: But of all these beautiful times, I remember the whole 101 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:47,599 Speaker 1: only of autumn tide. The others come in bits to me. 102 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 1: I can only think of parts of them, but all 103 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:54,440 Speaker 1: of autumn, and of all days and nights in autumn, 104 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:58,720 Speaker 1: I remember one more particularly that autumn day. The church 105 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:01,960 Speaker 1: was nearly finished, and the monks for whom we were 106 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:04,599 Speaker 1: building the church, and the people who lived in the 107 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:09,239 Speaker 1: town hard By, crowded round us, oftentimes to watch us carving. 108 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 1: Now the great church and the buildings of the abbey 109 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:18,159 Speaker 1: where the monks lived, were about three miles from the town, 110 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: and the town stood on a hill overlooking the rich 111 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:25,080 Speaker 1: autumn country. It was girt about with great walls that 112 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:29,279 Speaker 1: had overhanging battlements and towers at certain places all along 113 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: the walls, and often we could see from the churchyard 114 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:35,599 Speaker 1: or the abbey garden the flash of helmets and spears, 115 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:39,480 Speaker 1: and the dim shadowy wavings of banners as the knights 116 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:41,800 Speaker 1: and lords and men at arms passed to and fro 117 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:45,120 Speaker 1: along the battlements. And we could see too, in the 118 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:48,000 Speaker 1: town the three spires of the three churches, and the 119 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:50,640 Speaker 1: spire of the cathedral, which was the tallest of the three, 120 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 1: was gilt all over with gold, and always at night 121 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:56,680 Speaker 1: time a great lamp shone from it that hung in 122 00:06:56,720 --> 00:06:59,680 Speaker 1: the spire midway between the roof of the church and 123 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:03,120 Speaker 1: the at the top of the spire. The abbey where 124 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:06,000 Speaker 1: we built the church was not girt by stone walls, 125 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:09,359 Speaker 1: but by a circle of poplar trees. And whenever a 126 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:12,720 Speaker 1: wind passed over them, were it ever so little a breath, 127 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:15,720 Speaker 1: it set them all a ripple. And when the wind 128 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 1: was high, they bowed and swayed very low. And the wind, 129 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:22,720 Speaker 1: as it lifted the leaves and showed their silvery white sides, 130 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:25,600 Speaker 1: or as again in the lulls of it it let 131 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:28,960 Speaker 1: them drop, kept on, changing the trees from green to white, 132 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:33,160 Speaker 1: and white to green. Moreover, through the boughs and trunks 133 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:35,679 Speaker 1: of the poplars we caught glimpses of the great golden 134 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:40,640 Speaker 1: corn sea, waving, waving, waving for leagues and leagues. And 135 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:45,240 Speaker 1: among the corn grew burning scarlet poppies and blue corn flowers. 136 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:48,520 Speaker 1: And the corn flowers were so blue that they gleamed, 137 00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:50,960 Speaker 1: and they seemed to burn with a steady light, and 138 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:54,240 Speaker 1: they grew beside the poppies among the gold of the wheat. 139 00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:59,440 Speaker 1: Through the corn sea ran a blue river, and always 140 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:03,080 Speaker 1: green meadows and lines of tall poplars followed its windings. 141 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:06,520 Speaker 1: The old church had been burned, and that was the 142 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:09,480 Speaker 1: reason why the monks caused me to build the new one. 143 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:11,840 Speaker 1: The buildings of the abbey were built at the same 144 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: time as the burned down church, more than one hundred 145 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:17,360 Speaker 1: years before I was born. And they were on the 146 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:19,800 Speaker 1: north side of the church and joined to it by 147 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:22,680 Speaker 1: a cloister of round arches. And in the midst of 148 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:25,000 Speaker 1: the cloister was a lawn, and in the midst of 149 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 1: that lawn a fountain of marble carved round about with 150 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:32,319 Speaker 1: flowers and strange beasts. And at the edge of the lawn, 151 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:35,880 Speaker 1: near the round arches, were a great many sunflowers that 152 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:38,920 Speaker 1: were all in blossom on that autumn day, and up 153 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:41,680 Speaker 1: many of the pillars of the cloister crept passion flowers 154 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:45,080 Speaker 1: and roses. Then farther from the church and past the 155 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:48,840 Speaker 1: cloister and its buildings were many detached buildings, and a 156 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:52,040 Speaker 1: great garden round them. All within the circle of the 157 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:55,720 Speaker 1: poplar trees. In the garden were trellises covered over with 158 00:08:55,840 --> 00:09:01,120 Speaker 1: roses and convolvolus, and the great leaved fairiness durium, And 159 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:04,680 Speaker 1: especially all around by the poplar trees that were their trellises, 160 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:08,160 Speaker 1: but on these grew nothing but deep crimson roses, the 161 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:11,120 Speaker 1: hollyhocks too, were all out in blossom at that time, 162 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:14,199 Speaker 1: great spires of pink and orange, and red and white, 163 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:18,840 Speaker 1: with their soft, downy leaves. I said that nothing grew 164 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 1: on the trellises by the poplars but crimson roses. But 165 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:23,960 Speaker 1: I was not quite right, for in many places the 166 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:27,240 Speaker 1: wild roses had crept into the garden from without. Lush 167 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:30,920 Speaker 1: green brioni and green white blossoms that grow so fast 168 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:34,280 Speaker 1: one could almost think that we see it grow. And 169 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:39,600 Speaker 1: deadly night shade la belladonna, oh so beautiful red berry, 170 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:44,280 Speaker 1: and purple yellow spiked flower, and deadly, cruel looking dark 171 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:47,920 Speaker 1: green leaf, all growing together in the glorious days of 172 00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:51,599 Speaker 1: early autumn. In the midst of the great garden was 173 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:54,800 Speaker 1: a conduit, with its sides carved with the histories of 174 00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:58,160 Speaker 1: the Bible. And there on it too, as on the 175 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:02,320 Speaker 1: fountain in the cloister, much carving of flowers and strange beasts. 176 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:06,200 Speaker 1: Now the church itself was surrounded on every side but 177 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: the north by the cemetery, and there were many graves there, 178 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 1: both of monks and of laymen, And often the friends 179 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:16,240 Speaker 1: of those whose bodies lay there had planted flowers about 180 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:20,839 Speaker 1: the graves of those They loved. I remember one such particularly, 181 00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:22,920 Speaker 1: for at the head of it was a cross of 182 00:10:22,960 --> 00:10:25,800 Speaker 1: carved wood, and at the foot of it, facing the cross, 183 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:29,760 Speaker 1: three tall sunflowers. Then in the midst of the cemetery 184 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:32,440 Speaker 1: was a cross of stone carved on one side with 185 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:35,640 Speaker 1: the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and on the 186 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:39,600 Speaker 1: other with our Lady holding the Divine Child. So that 187 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:43,440 Speaker 1: day that I specially remember, in autumn tide, when the 188 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:46,959 Speaker 1: church was nearly finished, I was carving in that central 189 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:49,960 Speaker 1: porch of the west front where I carved all those 190 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:52,160 Speaker 1: base reliefs in the west front with my own hand. 191 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:56,240 Speaker 1: Beneath me, my sister Margaret was carving at the flower 192 00:10:56,320 --> 00:10:59,720 Speaker 1: work and the little quatrefoils that carry the sign of 193 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:02,840 Speaker 1: the zone podiacs and emblems of the months. Now, my 194 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:05,520 Speaker 1: sister Margaret was rather more than twenty years old at 195 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:08,760 Speaker 1: that time, and she was very beautiful, with dark brown 196 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:12,120 Speaker 1: hair and deep, calm violet eyes. I had lived with 197 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:14,760 Speaker 1: her all my life, lived with her almost alone latterly, 198 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:17,880 Speaker 1: for our father and mother died when she was quite young, 199 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:20,280 Speaker 1: and I loved her very much, though I was not 200 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:23,640 Speaker 1: thinking of her just then as she stood beneath me carving. Now, 201 00:11:23,679 --> 00:11:25,920 Speaker 1: the central porch was carved with a base relief of 202 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:28,440 Speaker 1: the last Judgment, and it was divided into three parts 203 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:32,400 Speaker 1: by horizontal bands of deep flower work. In the lowest division, 204 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 1: just over the doors, was carved the Rising of the Dead. 205 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:40,880 Speaker 1: Above were angels blowing long trumpets, and Michael, the archangel 206 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:44,880 Speaker 1: weighing the souls and the blessed lead into heaven by angels, 207 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:47,760 Speaker 1: and the lost into hell by the devil. And in 208 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:52,320 Speaker 1: the topmost division was the Judge of the World. And 209 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:55,880 Speaker 1: much like William Morris, was conflicted by doing the work 210 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:59,440 Speaker 1: of the rich while being a dedicated socialist, I too 211 00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:03,520 Speaker 1: feel that way every time I interrupt everything I do 212 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:09,280 Speaker 1: to transition to ads like these ones. Enjoy them, we 213 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:27,040 Speaker 1: all do. And Rebecca, all the figures in the porch 214 00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:29,680 Speaker 1: were finished except one. And I remember when I woke 215 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:33,440 Speaker 1: that morning my exultation at the thought of my church 216 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:37,240 Speaker 1: being so nearly finished. I remember too, how kind of 217 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:40,560 Speaker 1: misgiving mingled with the exultation, which, try all I could, 218 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:44,040 Speaker 1: it was unable to shake off. I thought then it 219 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:46,920 Speaker 1: was a rebuke for my pride. What perhaps it was? 220 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:51,400 Speaker 1: The figure I had to carve was Abraham sitting with 221 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:54,520 Speaker 1: a blossoming tree on each side of him, holding in 222 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:57,439 Speaker 1: his two hands the corners of his great robe, so 223 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:00,920 Speaker 1: that it made a mighty fold. Wherein their hands, crossed 224 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:04,319 Speaker 1: over their breasts were the souls of the faithful, of 225 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:08,360 Speaker 1: whom he was called Father. I stood on the scaffolding 226 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:12,080 Speaker 1: for some time, while Margaret's chisel worked on bravely down below. 227 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:15,520 Speaker 1: I took mine in my hand and stood so listening 228 00:13:15,559 --> 00:13:18,800 Speaker 1: to the noise of the masons inside. And two monks 229 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:21,120 Speaker 1: of the abbey came and stood below me, and a 230 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:24,480 Speaker 1: knight holding his little daughter by the hand, who every 231 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:26,679 Speaker 1: now and then looked up at him and asked him 232 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:29,880 Speaker 1: strange questions. I did not think of these long, but 233 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:32,120 Speaker 1: began to think of Abraham. Yet I could not think 234 00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:35,000 Speaker 1: of him sitting there, quiet and solemn while the judgment 235 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,160 Speaker 1: trumpet was being blown. I rather thought of him as 236 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:41,400 Speaker 1: he looked when he chased those kings, so far, riding 237 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: far ahead of any of his company, with his mail 238 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:47,240 Speaker 1: hood off his head and lying in grim folds down 239 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:50,400 Speaker 1: his back, with the strong west wind blowing his wild 240 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:53,640 Speaker 1: black hair far out behind him, with the wind rippling 241 00:13:53,679 --> 00:13:57,160 Speaker 1: the long scarlet pennon of his lance, riding there amid 242 00:13:57,160 --> 00:13:59,960 Speaker 1: the rocks and the sands alone, with the last gleam 243 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:02,880 Speaker 1: of the armor of the beaten Kings, disappearing behind the 244 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:06,040 Speaker 1: winding of the pass, with his company a long long 245 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:09,280 Speaker 1: way behind, quite out of sight, though their trumpets sounded 246 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:12,040 Speaker 1: faintly among the clefts of the rocks. And so I 247 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:15,080 Speaker 1: thought of him till in his fierce chase he leapt 248 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:20,160 Speaker 1: horse and man into a deep river, quiet, swift and smooth. 249 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:23,640 Speaker 1: And there was something in the moving of the water lilies, 250 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:26,920 Speaker 1: as the breast of the horse swept them aside, that 251 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:29,880 Speaker 1: suddenly took away the thought of Abraham, and brought a 252 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:33,200 Speaker 1: strange dream of lands I have never seen. And the 253 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:37,200 Speaker 1: first was of a place where I was quite alone, 254 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:39,680 Speaker 1: standing by the side of the river, and there was 255 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:41,880 Speaker 1: the sound of singing a very long way off, but 256 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:44,680 Speaker 1: no living thing of any kind could be seen. And 257 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:49,160 Speaker 1: the land was quite flat, quite without hills, quite without trees, too, 258 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:52,520 Speaker 1: and the river wound very much, making all kinds of 259 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:55,600 Speaker 1: quaint curves. And on the side where I stood there 260 00:14:55,640 --> 00:14:58,520 Speaker 1: grew nothing but long grass, But on the other side, 261 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:02,240 Speaker 1: quite on to the horizon, a great sea of red 262 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:06,960 Speaker 1: corn poppies, only paths of white lilies wound all among them, 263 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:11,360 Speaker 1: with here and there a great golden sunflower. So I 264 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:13,280 Speaker 1: looked down at the river by my feet, and I 265 00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:16,080 Speaker 1: saw how blue it was, and how as the stream 266 00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:20,280 Speaker 1: went swiftly by it swayed to and fro the long 267 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:23,040 Speaker 1: green weeds. And I stood and looked at the river 268 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:26,040 Speaker 1: for long till at last I felt someone touch me 269 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:29,320 Speaker 1: on the shoulder, and looking round, I saw standing by 270 00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:33,240 Speaker 1: me my friend, Am youu whom I love better than 271 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:36,080 Speaker 1: anyone else in the world. But I thought in my 272 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:39,240 Speaker 1: dream that I was frightened when I saw him, for 273 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:42,680 Speaker 1: his face had changed so it was so bright and 274 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:46,080 Speaker 1: almost transparent, and his eyes gleamed and shone as I 275 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:49,560 Speaker 1: had never seen them do before. Oh, he was so 276 00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:54,320 Speaker 1: wondrously beautiful, so fearfully beautiful. And as I looked at him, 277 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:57,960 Speaker 1: the distant music swelled and seemed to come close up 278 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:00,960 Speaker 1: to me, and then swept by us, and fainted away, 279 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:04,280 Speaker 1: and at last died off entirely. And then I felt 280 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:07,600 Speaker 1: sick at heart and faint and parched, and I stooped 281 00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:10,040 Speaker 1: up to drink the water of the river, And as 282 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:13,520 Speaker 1: soon as the water touched my lips low, the river vanished, 283 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:17,120 Speaker 1: and the flat country with its poppies and lilies, and 284 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:20,280 Speaker 1: I dreamed that I was in a boat by my sofa, again, 285 00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:24,720 Speaker 1: floating in an almost landlocked bay of the Northern Sea, 286 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:28,400 Speaker 1: under a cliff of dark basalt. I was lying on 287 00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:31,000 Speaker 1: my back in the boat, looking up at the intensely 288 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:34,160 Speaker 1: blue sky, and a long low swell from the outer 289 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:36,640 Speaker 1: sea lifted the boat up and let it fall again, 290 00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:40,200 Speaker 1: and carried it gradually nearer and nearer towards the dark cliff. 291 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:42,400 Speaker 1: And as I moved on, I saw it last on 292 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:45,480 Speaker 1: the top of the cliff, a castle with many towers, 293 00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:48,680 Speaker 1: and on the highest tower of the castle there was 294 00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:52,040 Speaker 1: a great white banner floating with a red chevron on it, 295 00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:56,320 Speaker 1: and three golden stars on the chevron. Presently I saw 296 00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:58,880 Speaker 1: two on one of the towers, growing in a cranny 297 00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:02,320 Speaker 1: of the worn stones, a great bunch of golden and 298 00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:06,639 Speaker 1: blood red wallflowers. And I watched the wallflowers and banner 299 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:09,560 Speaker 1: for long, when I suddenly heard a trumpet blow from 300 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:12,399 Speaker 1: the castle, and saw a rush of armed men on 301 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:15,560 Speaker 1: to the battlements, and there was a fierce fight till 302 00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:18,520 Speaker 1: at last it was ended and one went to the 303 00:17:18,560 --> 00:17:21,119 Speaker 1: banner and pulled it down and cast it over the 304 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:24,360 Speaker 1: cliff into the sea, and it came down in long sweeps, 305 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:27,840 Speaker 1: with the wind making little ripples in it. Slowly, slowly 306 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:29,800 Speaker 1: it came till at last it fell over me and 307 00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:33,119 Speaker 1: covered me from my feet till over my breast. And 308 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:35,560 Speaker 1: I let it stay there and looked again at the castle. 309 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,159 Speaker 1: And then I saw that there was an amber colored 310 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:41,400 Speaker 1: banner floating over the castle in place of the red chevron, 311 00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:44,880 Speaker 1: and it was much larger than the other. Also, now 312 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:48,399 Speaker 1: a man stood on the battlements, looking towards me. He 313 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:51,320 Speaker 1: had a tilting helmet on with the visor down, and 314 00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:55,080 Speaker 1: an amber colored surcoat over his armor. His right hand 315 00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:58,399 Speaker 1: was ungauntleted, and he held it high above his head, 316 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:01,720 Speaker 1: and in his hand was the bunch of wallflowers I 317 00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:04,560 Speaker 1: had seen growing on the wall. And his hand was 318 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:07,320 Speaker 1: white and small, like a woman's. For in my dream 319 00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:09,880 Speaker 1: I could see very far off things that much clearer 320 00:18:10,119 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 1: than we see real material things on earth. Presently, he 321 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:15,800 Speaker 1: threw the wallflowers over the cliff, and they fell in 322 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:18,800 Speaker 1: the boat just behind my head. And then I saw 323 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:21,680 Speaker 1: looking down from the battlements of the castle, and you. 324 00:18:22,960 --> 00:18:26,439 Speaker 1: He looked down towards me, very sorrowfully, I thought. But 325 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:30,119 Speaker 1: even as the other dream said nothing, so I thought 326 00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:33,600 Speaker 1: in my dream that I wept for very pity and 327 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:36,000 Speaker 1: for love of him. For he looked as a man 328 00:18:36,359 --> 00:18:39,400 Speaker 1: just risen from long illness, and who will carry till 329 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:42,639 Speaker 1: he dies a dull pain about with him. He was 330 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:45,879 Speaker 1: very thin, and his long black hair drooped all about 331 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:48,680 Speaker 1: his face. And as he leaned over the battlements looking 332 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,359 Speaker 1: at me, he was quite pale, and his cheeks were hollow, 333 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:55,280 Speaker 1: but page his eyes large and soft and sad. So 334 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:57,520 Speaker 1: I reached out my arms to him, and suddenly I 335 00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:00,119 Speaker 1: was walking with him in a lovely garden, and we 336 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:02,960 Speaker 1: said nothing, for the music which I had heard at 337 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:05,800 Speaker 1: first was sounding close to us now. And there were 338 00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:09,120 Speaker 1: many birds in the boughs of the trees, oh, such birds, 339 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:13,000 Speaker 1: gold and ruby and emerald. But they sung not at all, 340 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:16,800 Speaker 1: but were quite silent, as though they too were listening 341 00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:19,879 Speaker 1: to the music. Now. All this time, m You and 342 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:22,520 Speaker 1: I had been looking at each other. But just when 343 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:24,840 Speaker 1: I turned my head away from him, and as soon 344 00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:27,399 Speaker 1: as I did so, the music ended with a long wail. 345 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:31,520 Speaker 1: And when I turned again, em You was gone. Then 346 00:19:31,560 --> 00:19:34,520 Speaker 1: I felt even more sad and sick at heart than 347 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:37,080 Speaker 1: I had before. When I was by the river, and 348 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:39,399 Speaker 1: I leaned against a tree and put my hands before 349 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:42,560 Speaker 1: my eyes. When I looked again, the garden was gone, 350 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:45,840 Speaker 1: and I knew not where I was. Presently, all my 351 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:49,199 Speaker 1: dreams were gone. The chips were flying bravely from the 352 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:51,840 Speaker 1: stone under my chisel at last, and all my thoughts 353 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:54,920 Speaker 1: now were in my carving. When I heard my name, 354 00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:59,280 Speaker 1: Walter called, and when I looked down, I saw one 355 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:02,320 Speaker 1: standing below me whom I had seen in my dreams 356 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:06,120 Speaker 1: just before, am you. I had no hopes of seeing 357 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:08,160 Speaker 1: him for a long time. Perhaps I might never see 358 00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:10,639 Speaker 1: him again, I thought, for he was away, as I thought, 359 00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:14,159 Speaker 1: fighting in the Holy Wars. And it made me almost 360 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:16,840 Speaker 1: beside myself to think him standing close by me in 361 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:19,960 Speaker 1: the flesh. I got down from the scaffolding as soon 362 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:23,080 Speaker 1: as I could, and all thoughts else were soon drowned 363 00:20:23,119 --> 00:20:26,320 Speaker 1: in the joy of having him by me. Margaret too, 364 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:29,479 Speaker 1: how glad she must have been, for she had been 365 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:31,879 Speaker 1: betrothed to him for some time before he went to 366 00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:36,879 Speaker 1: the Wars, and he had been five years away, five years, 367 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:39,200 Speaker 1: And how we had thought of him through those many 368 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:42,560 Speaker 1: weary days, how often his face had come before me, 369 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:46,879 Speaker 1: his brave, honest face, the most beautiful among all the 370 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:50,320 Speaker 1: faces of men and women I have ever seen. Yes, 371 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:53,399 Speaker 1: I remember how five years ago I held his hand 372 00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:56,760 Speaker 1: as we came together out of the cathedral of that great, 373 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:00,359 Speaker 1: far off city whose name I forget now. And then 374 00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:03,600 Speaker 1: I remember the stamping of the horses feet. I remember 375 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:06,879 Speaker 1: how his hand left mine at last, and then someone 376 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:09,639 Speaker 1: looking back at me earnestly, as they all rode on together, 377 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,440 Speaker 1: looking back with his hand on the saddle behind him, 378 00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:17,119 Speaker 1: while the trumpets sang in long, solemn peals, and they 379 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:20,199 Speaker 1: all rode on together, with the glimmer of arms and 380 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:22,919 Speaker 1: the fluttering of banners, and the clinking of the rings 381 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:25,920 Speaker 1: of the mail that sounded like the falling of many 382 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:29,000 Speaker 1: drops of water into the deep still waters of some 383 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:32,840 Speaker 1: pond that the rocks nearly meet over, And the gleam 384 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:35,480 Speaker 1: and flash of the swords, and the glimmer of the 385 00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:38,000 Speaker 1: land's heads, and the flutter of the rippled banners that 386 00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:40,960 Speaker 1: streamed out from them swept past me and were gone, 387 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:44,040 Speaker 1: And they seemed like a pageant in a dream whose 388 00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:47,200 Speaker 1: meaning we know not, And those sounds too, the trumpets 389 00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:48,879 Speaker 1: and the clink of the mail, and the thunder of 390 00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:52,960 Speaker 1: the horse hoofs. They seemed dream like too, And it 391 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:55,480 Speaker 1: was all like a dream that he should leave me, 392 00:21:56,119 --> 00:21:59,119 Speaker 1: for we had said we should always be together. But 393 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:01,840 Speaker 1: he went away. And now he has come back again, 394 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:07,840 Speaker 1: much like ads come back again. Well, kind of the opposite, 395 00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:12,080 Speaker 1: because we want Amu to come back. But I guess 396 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:14,679 Speaker 1: we're grateful for the ads that provide us, the money 397 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:32,400 Speaker 1: that feed us. Sort of whatever, here's ads, and we're back. 398 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:37,080 Speaker 1: We were by his bedside, Margaret and I. I stood 399 00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:39,520 Speaker 1: and leaned over him, and my hair fell sideways over 400 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:43,080 Speaker 1: my face and touched his face. Margaret kneeled beside me, 401 00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:46,560 Speaker 1: quivering in every limb, not with pain, I think, but 402 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:50,600 Speaker 1: rather shaken by a passion of earnest prayer. After some time, 403 00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:53,639 Speaker 1: I know not how long, I stood up from his 404 00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:56,919 Speaker 1: face to the window underneath which he lay. I do 405 00:22:57,040 --> 00:22:59,480 Speaker 1: not know what time of the day it was, but 406 00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:02,280 Speaker 1: I know that it was a glorious autumn day, a 407 00:23:02,359 --> 00:23:05,560 Speaker 1: day soft with melting golden haze. A vine and a 408 00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:09,679 Speaker 1: rose grew together and trailed half cross the window, so 409 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:11,840 Speaker 1: that I could not see much of the beautiful blue sky, 410 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:15,720 Speaker 1: and nothing of town or country beyond. The vine leaves 411 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:19,960 Speaker 1: were touched with red here and there, and three overblown roses, 412 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:24,480 Speaker 1: light pink roses hung amongst them. I remember dwelling on 413 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:27,640 Speaker 1: the strange lines the autumn had made, and read on 414 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:31,560 Speaker 1: one of the gold green vine leaves, watching one leaf 415 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:35,040 Speaker 1: of one of the overblown roses, expecting it to fall 416 00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:38,879 Speaker 1: every minute. But as I gazed and felt disappointed that 417 00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:42,320 Speaker 1: the rose leaf had not fallen yet, I felt my 418 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:45,439 Speaker 1: pain suddenly shoot through me, and I remembered what I 419 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:51,120 Speaker 1: had lost. And then came bitter, bitter dreams, dreams which 420 00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:53,959 Speaker 1: had once made me happy, dreams of the things I 421 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:56,480 Speaker 1: hoped would be, of the things that would never be. 422 00:23:56,640 --> 00:23:59,680 Speaker 1: Now they came between the fair vine leaves and rose 423 00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:04,199 Speaker 1: and that which lay before the window. They came, as before, 424 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:08,399 Speaker 1: perfect in color and form, sweet sounds and shapes, but 425 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:12,560 Speaker 1: now in every one was something utterably miserable. They would 426 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:15,240 Speaker 1: not go away. They put out the steady glow of 427 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:17,640 Speaker 1: the golden haze, the sweet light of the sun through 428 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:20,600 Speaker 1: the vine leaves, the soft leaning of the full blown roses. 429 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,560 Speaker 1: I wandered in them for a long time. At last 430 00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:27,359 Speaker 1: I felt a hand put me aside gently, for I 431 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:29,920 Speaker 1: was standing at the head of the bed. And then 432 00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:33,639 Speaker 1: someone kissed my forehead, and words were spoken. I know 433 00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:37,159 Speaker 1: not what words. The bitter dreams left me for the 434 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,679 Speaker 1: bitterer reality at last, For I had found him that morning, 435 00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:43,800 Speaker 1: lying dead, only the morning after I had seen him, 436 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:46,840 Speaker 1: when he had come back from his long absence. I 437 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:50,040 Speaker 1: had found him lying dead, with his hands crossed downwards, 438 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:53,320 Speaker 1: with his eyes closed, as though the angels had done 439 00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:56,040 Speaker 1: that for him. And now when I looked at him, 440 00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:59,639 Speaker 1: he still lay there, and Margaret knelt by him, with 441 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:03,560 Speaker 1: her face touching his. She was not quivering now, her 442 00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:06,440 Speaker 1: lips moved not at all as they had done just before. 443 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:09,760 Speaker 1: And so suddenly those words came to my mind, which 444 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,280 Speaker 1: she had spoken when she kissed me, and which at 445 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:15,399 Speaker 1: the time I had only heard with my outward hearing. 446 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:21,040 Speaker 1: For she had said, Walter, farewell, and Christ keep you, 447 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:24,119 Speaker 1: but for me, I must be with him. For so 448 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:26,840 Speaker 1: I promised him last night that I would never leave 449 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:32,760 Speaker 1: him anymore, and God will let me go. And verily, Margaret, 450 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:35,760 Speaker 1: and am YOUU did go and left me very lonely 451 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:41,240 Speaker 1: and sad. It was just beneath the westernmost arch of 452 00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:45,199 Speaker 1: the knave. There I carved their tomb. I was a 453 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:47,840 Speaker 1: long time carving it. I did not think I should 454 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:51,160 Speaker 1: be so long at first, and I said I shall 455 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:54,720 Speaker 1: die when I have finished carving it, thinking that would 456 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:58,080 Speaker 1: be a very short time. But it so happened after 457 00:25:58,119 --> 00:26:00,760 Speaker 1: I had carved those two whom I had loved, lying 458 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:03,840 Speaker 1: with their clasped hands like husband and wife above their tomb, 459 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:07,480 Speaker 1: that I could not yet leave carving it, and so 460 00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:09,639 Speaker 1: that I might be near them, I became a monk 461 00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:13,159 Speaker 1: and used to sit in the choir and sing, thinking 462 00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:15,280 Speaker 1: of the time when we should all be together again. 463 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 1: And as I had time, I used to go to 464 00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:20,560 Speaker 1: the westernmost arch of the nave and work at the 465 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:24,159 Speaker 1: tomb that was there under the great sweeping arch. And 466 00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:26,840 Speaker 1: in the process of time I raised a marble canopy 467 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:29,200 Speaker 1: that reached quite up to the top of the arch, 468 00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:31,879 Speaker 1: and I painted it too, as fair as I could, 469 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:35,919 Speaker 1: and carved it all about with many flowers and histories, 470 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:39,240 Speaker 1: and in them I carved the faces of those I 471 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:42,120 Speaker 1: had known on earth, for I was not as one 472 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:45,080 Speaker 1: on earth now, but seemed quite far away out of 473 00:26:45,119 --> 00:26:48,800 Speaker 1: the world. And as I carved, sometimes the monks and 474 00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:51,199 Speaker 1: other people too would come and gaze and watch how 475 00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:54,840 Speaker 1: the flowers grew. And sometimes too, as they gazed, they 476 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:59,879 Speaker 1: would weep for pity, knowing how all had been. My 477 00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:02,800 Speaker 1: life passed, and I lived in that abbey for twenty 478 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:06,600 Speaker 1: years after he died, till one morning, quite early when 479 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:09,159 Speaker 1: they came into the church for matins, they found me 480 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:13,240 Speaker 1: lying dead with my chisel in my hand, underneath the 481 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:21,919 Speaker 1: last lily of the tomb. The end. There is so 482 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:24,879 Speaker 1: much I like in this story. First of all, I 483 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:29,239 Speaker 1: love that it's obvious he loves decoration, right. This is 484 00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:31,160 Speaker 1: the story of a man who is going to go 485 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:35,880 Speaker 1: on to revolutionize wallpaper, you know, and like dyeing silks 486 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:40,159 Speaker 1: and stuff like that. And there's this art movement in 487 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:42,879 Speaker 1: the late nineteenth century, the arts and crafts movement that 488 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:45,560 Speaker 1: had Mores as its primary inspiration. He actually didn't like 489 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:48,040 Speaker 1: join it at first. He ended up in it kind of. 490 00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:52,000 Speaker 1: This is a movement that basically holds up decoration as art, 491 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:54,840 Speaker 1: which was a reaction to the removal of artisanship that 492 00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:58,600 Speaker 1: was happening because of the industrial Revolution. So like decorating 493 00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:02,240 Speaker 1: your shit as anti industrial this practice. Hell yeah. And 494 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:06,840 Speaker 1: also I feel like that ties into the romanticism, like 495 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:11,119 Speaker 1: romanticism was an early kind of response to growing industrialization 496 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:14,720 Speaker 1: as well. But it's also this story about how we 497 00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:17,439 Speaker 1: put our entire lives into making beautiful things and then 498 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:20,439 Speaker 1: one day those things will fall apart, right Because at 499 00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:22,040 Speaker 1: the very beginning of this, when he's talking about how 500 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:24,439 Speaker 1: much he loves autumn and he's been dead for six 501 00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:29,640 Speaker 1: hundred years or whatever, how as beautiful as this church 502 00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:31,639 Speaker 1: that he built and carved with his own hands with 503 00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:36,280 Speaker 1: his sister, How beautiful that was. The undulating fields of 504 00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:38,760 Speaker 1: corn that roll over the ruins of that great church 505 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:43,040 Speaker 1: are just as beautiful. That the trees are just as beautiful. 506 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:48,080 Speaker 1: And that handsome man, Phew, that handsome man was beautiful also. 507 00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:50,320 Speaker 1: I love when I first read this, I didn't realize 508 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:52,520 Speaker 1: that the name Mu is pronounced m you. It's a 509 00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:58,320 Speaker 1: French last name. It's spelled like amyacht to my English 510 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:02,800 Speaker 1: speaking eyes, and I like wonder whether it was intentional, 511 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:05,920 Speaker 1: the like am you. You know, there's like something I 512 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:09,000 Speaker 1: don't know, there's symbolism there. This is a man who 513 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:12,400 Speaker 1: is not afraid of symbolism, you know, like waiting for 514 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:15,200 Speaker 1: the last leaf to drop, just being like, please just 515 00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:17,680 Speaker 1: drop already, like while he's waiting for his friend to die, 516 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:22,480 Speaker 1: and how kind of tragical that is. I don't know, 517 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:25,920 Speaker 1: I liked it. I hope you liked it. I'll probably 518 00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:29,840 Speaker 1: read you more William Morris, honestly, but we'll see have 519 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:32,280 Speaker 1: a good week and we'll see you next week on 520 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:35,880 Speaker 1: cool Zone Media Book Club. In the meantime, check out 521 00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:37,880 Speaker 1: me on tour. I'm going to be on tour. I'm 522 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:40,880 Speaker 1: going to be reading from my novel Thesapling Cage and 523 00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:44,520 Speaker 1: maybe some fables that were inspired by it on my 524 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:46,680 Speaker 1: book tour, which you can find out more information by 525 00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:49,720 Speaker 1: going to my substack Margert Kildoy at substack dot com, 526 00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:53,440 Speaker 1: or just kind of googling where's Margaret Kiljoy talking. I 527 00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:56,720 Speaker 1: don't know if that'll work. Google sucks now, but whatever, 528 00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:00,280 Speaker 1: I'll talk to you seon. It Could Happen Here is 529 00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:03,000 Speaker 1: a production of cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from 530 00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:06,120 Speaker 1: cool Zone Media, visit our website Coolzonemedia dot com, or 531 00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:08,840 Speaker 1: check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 532 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:11,880 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find sources for 533 00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:15,240 Speaker 1: It Could Happen Here, Updated monthly at coolzonemedia, dot com, 534 00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:17,200 Speaker 1: slash sources, Thanks for listening.