&&000 CANADIAN SCHOOLBOOKS CA508.TXT GRADE 8 1950s [1945-1959] edited by dph 18 dec 03 from text sampled by dph 9-10 dec 03 in Toronto Re-edited 20 June 2005 &&111 CHALLENGE AND RESPONSE "It is =SilasPeterson, of =Horsham. Do not wink with one eye and look with the other, =Silas, and do not hop and dance after you shoot, with your tongue out, for that will not speed it upon its way. Stand straight and firm, as =God made you. Move not the bow arm, and steady with the drawing hand!" A sunburned and black-eyed =Brabanter had stood near the old archers, leaning upon a large crossbow and listening to their talk, which had been carried on in that hybrid camp dialect which both nations could understand. He was a squat, bull-necked man, clad in the iron helmet, mail tunic and woollen gambeson of his class. A jacket with hanging sleeves, slashed with velvet at the neck and wrists, showed that he was a man of some consideration, an under officer, or file-leader of his company. "I cannot think," said he, "why you =English should be so fond of your six-foot stick. If it amuse you to bend it, well and good; but why should I strain and pull when my little =moulinet will do all for me, and better than I can do it for myself?" "By my hilt! camarade," said =Aylward, "with all respect to you and to your bow, I think that is but a woman's weapon, which a woman can point and loose as easily as a man." "I know not about that," answered the =Brabanter, "but this I know, that though I have served for fourteen years, I' have never yet seen an =Englishman do aught with the longbow which I could not do better with my arbalest. By the three kings! I would even go further, and say that I have done things with my arbalest which no =Englishman could dog with his longbow." "Well said, mon =gar," cried =Aylward. "Now, I have shot little of late, but there is =Johnston here who will try a round with you for the honor of the Company." "And I will lay a gallon of =Jurançon wine upon the longbow," said =BlackSimon. "I take both your challenge and your wager," said the man of =Brabant, throwing off his jacket and glancing keenly about him with his black, twinkling eyes. LIFE AND ADVENTURE As yet the knights held their long lances upright, their bright points glancing in the sun, and the streamers with, which they were decorated fluttering over the plumage of the helmets. Thus they remained while the marshals of the field surveyed their ranks with the utmost exactness, lest either party had more or fewer than the appointed number. The tale was found exactly complete. The marshals then withdrew from the lists, and =WilliamdeWyvil with a voice of thunder pronounced the signal. words, =Laissezaller! The trumpets sounded as he spoke. The spears of the champions were at once lowered and placed in the rests; the spurs were dashed into the flanks of the horses; and the two foremost ranks of either party rushed upon each other in full gallop and met in the middle of the lists with a shock, the sound of which was heard at a mile's distance. The rear rank of each party advanced at a slower pace to sustain the defeated and follow up the success of the victors of their party. The consequences of the encounter were not instantly seen, for the dust raised by the trampling of so many steeds darkened the air, and it was a minute ere the anxious spectators could see the fate of the encounter. When the fight became visible, half the knights on each side were dismounted, some by the dexterity of their adversary's lance, some by the superior weight and strength of opponents which had borne down both horse and man. Some lay stretched on the earth as if never more to rise; some had already gained their feet and were closing hand to hand with those of their antagonists who were in the same predicament. Several on both sides, who had received wounds by which they were disabled, were stopping their blood by their scarfs, and endeavouring to extricate themselves from the tumult. The mounted knights, whose lances had been almost all broken by the fury of the encounter, were now closely engaged with their swords, shouting their war-cries and exchanging buffets, as if honor and life depended on the issue of the combat. LIFE AND ADVENTURE pigeons and fresh white rolls, everything first class! Or else you say, Let a good dinner appear before me! And a golden tray with all kinds of food and dishes fit for a king appears before you-right in front of your eyes are fried tongues and stuffed kishke, smelling deliciously, and fresh crisp chalah, and lots of wine of the best quality, and nuts and carobs and mountains of candy-such an enormous lot that you've had too much already!" =Shmulik would turn his head to one side and spit an excess of saliva. His friend would see by his dry lips and his pale dreamy-eyed face that =Shmulik would not have refused a piece of fried tongue, nor a stuffed kishke, nor even a slice of white bread. And he would make a vow that the very next day he would bring to =Shmulik a few nuts and carobs and a candy stolen from Mother's shop. But, in the meantime, he would beg =Shmulik to relate more and still more. Shmulik did not have to be coaxed. He would moisten his lips and speak on. " and after you are stuffed with all these fine things, after you've drunk down the excellent wine, you take the stone, rub it and say, `Let a soft bed appear!' Immediately you have a bed of ivory, decorated with gold, with a feather quilt as soft as butter, and with silken pillows at the head, the whole covered with a satin blanket. You undress and fall asleep, and you dream of angels and cherubs, of seraphs of the Upper and Lower =Paradise. Or, if you prefer, you rub the stone, and suddenly you rise into the clouds and then above the clouds, and you fly like an eagle, way up, far, far away." Did the writings of his friend =SholomNahumVevik's, many years later when he had become =Sholom =Aleichem, reflect the spirit of this poor orphan with his wonderful stories? Who knows? One thing is certain =Shmulik had enriched =Sholom's imagination, broadened his understanding, and to this day, deep in his heart, he treasures =Shmulik's dreams and =Shmulik's fantasies of riches and magic stones although perhaps in a different guise. LIFE AND ADVENTURE In all the rehearsals and performances in the huge arena, full of strange noises, blocked with alien human beings, =Henry led the other tigers; and although =Fletcher's influence over him was weakened, he still recognized it. =Fletcher seemed farther away from him at these times, less sympathetic and godlike, but =Henry tried hard to follow the intense persuasive eyes and the brief emphatic voice; he would not lose touch even with this attenuated ghost of =Fletcher. It was with =Henry and =Henry alone that =Fletcher dared his nightly stunt, dropped his whip and stick at his feet and let =Henry do his tricks as he did them in his cage alone, with nothing beyond =Fletcher's eyes and voice to control him. The other eleven tigers, beaten, glaring and snarling, on to their tubs, sat impassively despising =Henry's unnatural docility. He had the chance they had always wanted, and he didn't take it-what kind of tiger was he? But =Henry ignored the other tigers. Reluctantly, standing with all four feet together on his tub, he contemplated a further triumph. =Fletcher stood before him, holding a stick between his hands and above his head; intimately, compellingly, through the language of his eyes =Fletcher told Henry to jump from his tub over his head. What =Fletcher said was: "Come on, old thing! Jump! Come on! I'll duck in time. You won't hurt me! It's my stunt! Stretch your old paws together and jump!" And =Henry jumped. He hated the dazzling lights, loathed the hard, unexpected, senseless sounds which followed his leap, and he was secretly terrified that he would land on =Fletcher. But it was very satisfactory when after his rush through the air he found he hadn't touched =Fletcher, but had landed on another tub carefully prepared for him. And =Fletcher said to him as plainly as possible before he did the next trick with the other tigers: "Well! You are a one-er and no mistake!" The meat trick was the worst of =Fletcher's stunts. He had to put a table in the middle of the cage, and whip each tiger up to it. When he had them placed each on his tub around the table, he had to feed them with a piece of raw meat deftly Wanted A Miracle The first snowflakes were hurrying to meet her as =Dilys came from school; but she felt no joy in their feathery kisses; neither did she visualize a cloak of white laid across the valley, where the curled petals drifted. The remembered humiliation of the afternoon still scorched her too fiercely. She walked slowly through the playground and down the street to the hump-backed bridge. There she stood, staring down into the sullen press of black water-a dark, secretive child, black hair flowing smooth and straight to her shoulders. Again, she lived an afternoon's agony and shame that had begun when Miss =Roberts lifted her baton and rapped on the music stand for silence. Miss =Roberts was new to =Bryngwyn School, and she had promised that she would lift them to the heights of achievement. They should bring back the Cup from the =ThreeValleys'Musical =Festival, did they but practice enough. The talent was there, she said; this very afternoon, they would sing to her, class by class, and she would know who was good enough to be chosen for the School Choir. =Dilys had sung desperately, fear like a taut knot inside her, but those finely attuned ears of Miss =Roberts missed nothing; three lines, and then she rapped furiously on the music stand. Her voice had a deadly quietness, as penetrating as the raw cold outside. "Someone," she said softly, "is not singing in tune. We will begin again." The whole class knew who it was and felt the disgrace sharply. Their eyes sidled towards =Dilys and away again, and the warm pink tide raced into her cheeks. She stood, taut as a bowstring, her fists bunched tightly in the folds of her tunic. Please God, she prayed, let me be able to sing, just this once! Miss =Brown never cared much for singing; when the notes came wrong and the class all laughed at me, she said that not everyone could sing in tune. LIFE AND ADVENTURE colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, This have we found; know now whether it be thy son's coat or no. And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast bath devoured him; =Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. And =Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. And =Joseph was brought down to =Egypt. And the =Lord was with =Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the =Egyptian. And his master saw that the =Lord was with him, and that the =Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And =Pharaoh said to =Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river: and, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fat-fleshed and well-favored; and they fed in a meadow; and, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill-favored and lean-fleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of =Egypt for badness; and the lean and the ill-favored kind did eat up the first seven fat kind: and when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill-favored, as at the beginning. So I awoke. And I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good; and, behold, seven ears, withered, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them: and the thin ears devoured the seven good ears. And I told this unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me. And =Joseph said to =Pharaoh, The dream of =Pharaoh is one: =God has declared to =Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good kind are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one. And the seven lean and ill-favored kind that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine. That is the thing which I have spoken to. ADVENTURES IN COURAGE =Tabanaora was the eldest of eight brothers who lived in a northern village of =Tarawa. He was a man of thirty or more when =Tebina, the youngest, came up for initiation into manhood. He himself had schooled =Tebina, through twelve long months of ritual segregation, to face the stern ordeal. The boy went through the terrible test by fire without the flicker of an eyelid. =Tabanaora's love soared (in the words of my old friend) as proud as the frigate-bird up against the noon-day sun. But his joy was short-lived, for =Tebina was killed by a tiger-shark the very day after he had been pronounced cured of his burns. The shark took him after sunrise, as he stood fishing with rod and line, breast-deep on a sandbank by his home village. He was seen from the shore to fling up his arms of a sudden and go under. That was the last of him. A dozen canoes went to search the bank, but no trace of his body remained. It was not only grief for his personal loss that weighed on =Tabanaora but fear for the boy's after-life too. He still believed in =Nakaa, the guardian of the gate between earth and paradise. There at the gate he sat forever, waiting to strangle in his net the ghosts of those unhappy dead whose way into the life beyond had not been ritually straightened. The straightening of =Tebina's way was impossible-and he was doomed to everlasting extinction-unless at least one limb of his body could be recovered for the death rituals. But =Tabanaora had a hope to buoy him. The shark would probably return at the same hour next day to the bank where it had made its kill. Such is the habit of the brutes, and he built upon it. He prepared himself for what he had to do next by fasting all day alone in his screened hut by the lagoon side. At sunset he emerged and crossed the narrow breadth of the land to the ocean beach, carrying with him his ten-foot spear of fire-hardened wood. He labored all night by torchlight, to the thunder of the surf, arming the spear's edges ADVENTURES IN FANCY is to say, an erect and stately and motionless man-at-arms, clad from head to heel in shining steel armor. Splendid carriages, with splendid people in them and splendid servants outside, were arriving and departing by several other noble gateways. Poor little =Tom, in his rags, approached, and was moving slowly and timidly past the sentinels, with a beating heart and a rising hope, when all at once he caught sight through the golden bars of a spectacle that almost made him shout for joy. Within was a comely boy, tanned and brown with sturdy outdoor sports and exercises, whose clothing was all of lovely silks and satins, shining with jewels; at his hip a little jeweled sword and dagger; dainty buskins on his feet, with red heels; and on his head a jaunty crimson cap, with drooping plumes fastened with a great sparkling gem. Several gorgeous gentlemen stood near-his servants, without a doubt. Oh! he was a prince-a prince, a living prince, a real prince-without the shadow of a question; and the prayer of the pauper-boy's heart was answered at last. =Tom's breath came quick and short with excitement, and his eyes grew big with wonder and delight. Everything gave, way in his mind instantly to one desire: that was to get close to the prince, and have a good, devouring look at him. Before he knew what he was about, he had his face against the gate-bars. The next instant one of the soldiers snatched him rudely away, and sent him spinning against the gaping crowd of country gawks and =London idlers. That soldier said: "Mind thy manners, thou young beggar!" The crowd jeered and laughed; but the young prince sprang to the gate with his face flushed, and his eyes flashing with indignation, and cried out: "How dare you use a poor lad like that! How dare you use the king my father's meanest subject so! Open the gates, and let him in!" You should have seen that fickle crowd snatch off their hats then. You should have heard them cheer, and shout, "Long live the =PrinceofWales!" Mama and the Idle Roomer Finances were low for many months after the Strike. Not that we were to worry, =Mama told us, but would we mind having to move the davenport into the kitchen so that we could rent the front room? We didn't mind, especially after =Mama promised that with the money she got she would buy herself the warm coat she needed so badly. Mr =Hyde called in answer to the neat "Room for Rent" sign in the window. =Mama and I showed him the room. Probably because it was =Mama's first experience in renting, she forgot to ask for references or payment in advance. "The quarters are eminently satisfactory." Mr =Hyde had such a refined way of speaking. "I'll have my bags sent up this evening. And my books." Mr =Hyde fitted smoothly into our midst. True, he didn't seem to have regular hours of business. But he always spoke pleasantly to the children, and whenever he passed Mama in the hall he bowed gallantly. =Papa liked him, too. Mr =Hyde had visited =Norway once and could talk with =Papa about the wonderful fishing there. Only Aunt =jenny, who had a boardinghouse of her own, disapproved. "When," she asked, "is he going to pay his rent?" "Is hard," Mama said, "to ask. Surely he will pay soon." But Aunt =jenny only =hmphd. She'd seen his kind before, she told us darkly. =Mama needn't think she'd be able to buy a new coat with the rent she'd get from that one. Gentleman? =Hmph! Now that worried us children. But =Mama smiled at our long faces. "Such talk," she scolded, and made coffee for Aunt =jenny to stop her grumbling. LAND, SEA AND AIR =Salisbury and any other place. The coach was none of your steady-going yokel coaches, but a swaggering, rakish, dissipated =London coach; up all night, and lying by all day, and leading a terrible life. It cared no more for =Salisbury than if it had been a hamlet. It rattled noisily through the best streets, defied the cathedral, took the worst corners sharpest, went cutting in everywhere, making everything get out of its way; and spun along the open country road, blowing a lively defiance out of its key-bugle as its last glad parting legacy. It was a charming evening. Mild and bright; and even with the weight upon his mind, which arose out of the immensity and uncertainty of =London, =Tom could not resist the captivating sense of rapid motion through the pleasant air. The four greys skimmed along as if they liked it quite as well as =Tom did; the bugle was in as high spirits as the greys; the coachman chimed in sometimes with his voice; the wheels hummed cheerfully in unison; the brass-work on the harness was an orchestra of little bells; and thus, as they went clicking, jingling, rattling smoothly on, the whole concern, from the buckles of the leader's coupling-reins to the handle of the hind boot, was one great instrument of music. =Yo, =ho! past hedges, gates and trees; past cottages and barns, and people going home from work. =Yo, =ho! past donkey-chaises drawn aside into the ditch, and empty carts with rampant horses, whipped up at a bound upon the little water-course, and held by struggling carters close to the five-barred gate, until the coach had passed the narrow turning in the road. =Yo, =ho! by churches dropped down by themselves in quiet nooks, with rustic burial-grounds about them, where the graves are green, and daisies sleep-for it is evening-on the bosoms of the dead. Yo, ho! past streams, in which the cattle cool their feet, and where the rushes grow; past paddock-fences, farms and rick-yards; past last year's stacks, cut slice by slice away, and showing, in the waning light, like ruined gables, old and brown. =Yo, =ho! LIFE AND ADVENTURE butt-submerged timber, I wiped the rain from my eyes. Before they could fill again, I made out the country ahead. By the sweep of the river timber, =Wheelbar was not far. Then my eyes blurred over; the rain smashed my hat brim down. Ten minutes later =Wheelbar boiled in front of me. I say boiled because there's no other word. The bridge was under completely, with only the side rails showing. Swirling, whitecapped water tossed feet deep over the bridge way itself. As far as I could see, water stretched each side of it. The =Lachlan had swollen into a sea and was no longer a river. What gave me my biggest shock was the sight of a loaded wool wagon. At =Wheelbar roads branch to =Carrathool, =Hay and =Booligal, of "=Hay, =Hell and =Booligal" fame. The wagon was where I judged the =Booligal road to be. Although the wagon stood on what I knew to be fairly high ground, water was up over its five-foot-span wheels, almost, in fact, up to the high platform. The wagon was hopelessly bogged, probably down to the hubs in mud. Four men were wading, hip-deep or more, poking round the wheels. About twenty yards from them a big cluster of horses stood, rumps turned to the rain. They were packed tightly together, so tightly you could have walked on their backs. Water bubbled and slapped round them. They formed an island of horseflesh in the angry, restless flood. I guessed there were about seventy of them. Vaguely, beyond them, I saw three more wagons. But they seemed to be all right. No one was bothering with them. It was the one hull down near the bridge that had all the attention. Riding towards it, I thought the job of freeing it looked hopeless. Luckily, the four-tiered load of wool bales had not tilted. When it did, the whole lot would capsize and be carried away, possibly to finish up in a treetop somewhere down-river. I had this in mind as the bay plugged closer. Over his pricked ears I stared at the teamsters. I don't suppose you can get any wetter than wet; but when you see four men hip deep and more in water, with heavy rain beating down on &&000