15 March 2009
Cambridge
(BBC) -- In the
third installment of a four part interview, Alexandra Hawkins talks
with BBC's Lydia Frost about her historical discovery while studying at
the University of Cambridge. Below is the transcript for the third
interview.
Frost: Welcome back, Ms. Hawkins! I am so excited to continue our discussion of your wonderful find!
Hawkins: Thank you! It is great to be back.
Frost: Well, shall we get straight to it? What event inspired the third fairy tale written by Joseph Jacobs?
Hawkins:
The third event that led
to Jacobs's fairy tale, "The Pedlar of Swaffham," involved the teenage
son of King James I, Charles (who was to become Charles I of
England). King James's wife Anne had a hard time dealing with
Charles because of his arrogance and sense of entitlement.
Therefore, without Charles's knowledge, Anne decided to put forth a
challenge to the masses regarding her son. The person who found a
way to get the prince to help them would be granted a certain amount of
money that would come directly from Prince Charles's allowance.
Frost: (Interjecting) Oh, I can already tell he will not be happy about that.
Hawkins: Exactly! Well, a middle-aged pedlar heard about the queen's contest in the local pub one night. He tried in vain to come up with a way to get the prince to perform some helpful task for him, but consistently failed to think of a strategy. One morning, while he walked past the shops near the Tower Bridge mulling over the challenge, he ran directly into Prince Charles. Of course, the prince immediately rebuked him for his clumsiness and began to question the pedlar as to why he was not selling any goods. The pedlar managed to stutter out some sort of response, but the prince brushed him aside. The pedlar followed behind the prince and carefully attempted to regain his attention. The pedlar told the prince that he had a surplus of fruit that he had tried to sell the previous day. He asked the prince if he would be willing to help him sell the stock he had remaining. Prince Charles, believing the pedlar was an ignorant commoner, decided to fool the man with a deceptive plan. The prince put forth a seemingly generous offer for all of the fruit, but really he would only pay half the value. Now the pedlar immediately knew what the prince was attempting to do. He accepted the offer and went on his way with his new found money. The next day the pedlar sought an audience with Queen Anne. The pedlar praised Prince Charles's kindness and helpfulness to the prince's mother. Upon his disclosure of the events of the previous day, the queen called her son into the room. Prince Charles, shocked to see the man he swindled the day before, approached his mother and her guest cautiously. After confirming what the pedlar had told the queen, the pedlar was awarded what amounted to the prince's allowance for two months.
Frost: (Interjecting) What a clever man! I cannot believe he got away with it.
Hawkins: Well, the story is not quite finished. Prince Charles was undoubtedly furious. The queen suspected he would attempt to exact some sort of revenge on the newly rich pedlar. She explained to her son that if anything unfortunate befell the man and his new- found money, he would not receive any more allowance from his parents. So the pedlar walked away a very rich man and became known throughout England for his wisdom.
Frost: That story is incredible! Talk about an intense challenge. I am not sure I would want to take on a member of the royal court.
Hawkins: (Laughing) I agree completely!
Frost: So what did Jacobs do to make a fairy tale out of this fascinating event?
Hawkins: Well, Jacobs keeps the
pedlar character, but he did not include members of the royal
family.
Instead, the pedlar has a recurring dream that tells him if he comes
to the market place by London Bridge he will be told good news.
So the pedlar wanders up and down between the shops until he comes
across a wealthy shopkeeper. Now the shopkeeper berates the
pedlar for not having anything to sell, just as the prince does.
However, the shopkeeper tells the pedlar that he has also experienced a
repeating dream. He explains how in his dream, he is behind a
pedlar's house in Swaffham and digging beneath a great oak tree where
he finds a vast amount of treasure. The pedlar is ecstatic upon
hearing this news and rushes off toward his home. Sure enough,
when he digs underneath the oak tree in the back of his house, he finds
the money the shopkeeper had dreamt about. Jacobs is obviously
commenting on how people should be faithful to their dreams and have
confidence in their ability to make them come true.
Frost: Wow! I can definitely see how Jacobs turned the historical event into a fairy tale. Each week, I am more and more intrigued by Joseph Jacobs and how clever he was in writing fairy tales to teach lifelong lessons. I cannot wait for our final interview to find out about the last event and fairy tale! Thank you once again, Ms. Hawkins.
Hawkins: My pleasure, Ms. Frost. Talk to you next week!
Frost: Welcome back, Ms. Hawkins! I am so excited to continue our discussion of your wonderful find!
Hawkins: Thank you! It is great to be back.
Frost: Well, shall we get straight to it? What event inspired the third fairy tale written by Joseph Jacobs?
Hawkins:
The third event that led
to Jacobs's fairy tale, "The Pedlar of Swaffham," involved the teenage
son of King James I, Charles (who was to become Charles I of
England). King James's wife Anne had a hard time dealing with
Charles because of his arrogance and sense of entitlement.
Therefore, without Charles's knowledge, Anne decided to put forth a
challenge to the masses regarding her son. The person who found a
way to get the prince to help them would be granted a certain amount of
money that would come directly from Prince Charles's allowance. Frost: (Interjecting) Oh, I can already tell he will not be happy about that.
Hawkins: Exactly! Well, a middle-aged pedlar heard about the queen's contest in the local pub one night. He tried in vain to come up with a way to get the prince to perform some helpful task for him, but consistently failed to think of a strategy. One morning, while he walked past the shops near the Tower Bridge mulling over the challenge, he ran directly into Prince Charles. Of course, the prince immediately rebuked him for his clumsiness and began to question the pedlar as to why he was not selling any goods. The pedlar managed to stutter out some sort of response, but the prince brushed him aside. The pedlar followed behind the prince and carefully attempted to regain his attention. The pedlar told the prince that he had a surplus of fruit that he had tried to sell the previous day. He asked the prince if he would be willing to help him sell the stock he had remaining. Prince Charles, believing the pedlar was an ignorant commoner, decided to fool the man with a deceptive plan. The prince put forth a seemingly generous offer for all of the fruit, but really he would only pay half the value. Now the pedlar immediately knew what the prince was attempting to do. He accepted the offer and went on his way with his new found money. The next day the pedlar sought an audience with Queen Anne. The pedlar praised Prince Charles's kindness and helpfulness to the prince's mother. Upon his disclosure of the events of the previous day, the queen called her son into the room. Prince Charles, shocked to see the man he swindled the day before, approached his mother and her guest cautiously. After confirming what the pedlar had told the queen, the pedlar was awarded what amounted to the prince's allowance for two months.
Frost: (Interjecting) What a clever man! I cannot believe he got away with it.
Hawkins: Well, the story is not quite finished. Prince Charles was undoubtedly furious. The queen suspected he would attempt to exact some sort of revenge on the newly rich pedlar. She explained to her son that if anything unfortunate befell the man and his new- found money, he would not receive any more allowance from his parents. So the pedlar walked away a very rich man and became known throughout England for his wisdom.
Frost: That story is incredible! Talk about an intense challenge. I am not sure I would want to take on a member of the royal court.
Hawkins: (Laughing) I agree completely!
Frost: So what did Jacobs do to make a fairy tale out of this fascinating event?
Frost: Wow! I can definitely see how Jacobs turned the historical event into a fairy tale. Each week, I am more and more intrigued by Joseph Jacobs and how clever he was in writing fairy tales to teach lifelong lessons. I cannot wait for our final interview to find out about the last event and fairy tale! Thank you once again, Ms. Hawkins.
Hawkins: My pleasure, Ms. Frost. Talk to you next week!