"Fairy Ointment: A Midwife Catches a Royal Thief"
1 March 2009
Cambridge
(BBC) -- Alexandra Hawkins, an exchange student at the
University of Cambridge, gives her first of four exclusive interviews
to the BBC's Lydia Frost regarding her historical discovery. Below is a
transcript of the interview.
Frost:
First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to meet with us
concerning your incredible find! Let's get straight to it, what exactly
did you uncover?
Hawkins: Well, I had been studying the life of King James I and while doing my research I came across a very old, fragile book about a family who happened to be in the royal court. When I examined it more closely, I saw that this book contained four documents of a most peculiar nature. Originally, I had come to the conclusion that it was the diary of the patriarch of the family because it appeared to contain some sort of records. After adapting these documents from the Early Modern English language (what Shakespeare's works and the King James Bible were originally published in) to present day English, I immediately realized they were royal records that had been kept secret under the guise of a family's daily records. As you can imagine, I was in utter shock at that moment.
Frost: (Interjecting) Wow, I cannot even imagine your surprise at this amazing find.
Hawkins: Yes, I am still reeling. Anyway, as I continued reading, I began to find the events these records described were sounding extremely familiar to me. Of course, I am thinking this is ridiculous at the time: I remember events that have been kept secret since the 17th century? Yeah, I am sure! However, that nagging feeling of déjà vu kept lingering so I did some more research. After I described one of the documents over the phone to my grandmother, being quite careful not to reveal where the information came from, she told me that it reminded her of a fairy tale she used to teach in her high school English class. Thus, I have to credit her with pointing me in the direction of Joseph Jacobs and his compilation of English fairy tales. Sure enough, after reading an obscene quantity of fairy tales I came across one that fit each of the four records I had discovered. This was the point where the hyperventilation set in.
Frost: Yeah, I can imagine! Do you think the fairy tales were centered around these events to help keep them secret?
Frost: How about describing
one of these events that Jacobs used to create a fairy tale?
Frost:
First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to meet with us
concerning your incredible find! Let's get straight to it, what exactly
did you uncover?Hawkins: Well, I had been studying the life of King James I and while doing my research I came across a very old, fragile book about a family who happened to be in the royal court. When I examined it more closely, I saw that this book contained four documents of a most peculiar nature. Originally, I had come to the conclusion that it was the diary of the patriarch of the family because it appeared to contain some sort of records. After adapting these documents from the Early Modern English language (what Shakespeare's works and the King James Bible were originally published in) to present day English, I immediately realized they were royal records that had been kept secret under the guise of a family's daily records. As you can imagine, I was in utter shock at that moment.
Frost: (Interjecting) Wow, I cannot even imagine your surprise at this amazing find.
Hawkins: Yes, I am still reeling. Anyway, as I continued reading, I began to find the events these records described were sounding extremely familiar to me. Of course, I am thinking this is ridiculous at the time: I remember events that have been kept secret since the 17th century? Yeah, I am sure! However, that nagging feeling of déjà vu kept lingering so I did some more research. After I described one of the documents over the phone to my grandmother, being quite careful not to reveal where the information came from, she told me that it reminded her of a fairy tale she used to teach in her high school English class. Thus, I have to credit her with pointing me in the direction of Joseph Jacobs and his compilation of English fairy tales. Sure enough, after reading an obscene quantity of fairy tales I came across one that fit each of the four records I had discovered. This was the point where the hyperventilation set in.
Frost: Yeah, I can imagine! Do you think the fairy tales were centered around these events to help keep them secret?
Hawkins:
No, I do not think it was that big of a conspiracy. I would surmise
that Jacobs found out about these events and decided
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to
use them as inspiration for his next project.
Hawkins:
Of course! I guess I will go in the order in which I discovered
them. The event that inspired the fairy tale "Fairy Ointment" concerns
Margaret, who was the sister of King James I, her husband Henry and a
poor, elderly
midwife. Late one evening, the midwife was summoned to the house
of Margaret, the king's sister, to check on her newborn baby.
Margaret's husband Henry told the midwife that the baby boy was
lethargic and
having trouble breathing, but when the midwife checked on the child,
she discoverd he was fine. Muttering to herself for having
been woken
up for no just cause, she decided it was best to stay the night to
observe
the royal child just to be safe. The next morning, Henry escorted
the midwife home, but stopped at the town market to gather a few things
before they got to her house. Rather annoyed, the midwife
wandered
off to gather a few things she needed as well. When she came to
stand of lovely garments, she noticed Henry talking and joking with the
shopkeeper. As both are noisily laughing, she was shocked to see
Henry, one of the wealthiest men in the land, stuff some garments into
a rather large sack beneath his cloak.
Frost: Some rich people think that they can get things for free by stealing; unfortunately, our present economy is evidence of that!
Hawkins: (Laughing) I think you may be onto something there. However the story is not yet finished. The woman decided to blackmail the king's brother-in-law in order to better her own standard of living. When she approached him with her plan, he laughed and rebuked her for attempting such a worthless cause. Instead, Henry framed the elderly woman for the theft and had her thrown in jail, where she remained until released by her merciful captors when they realized she was no threat in her old age!
Frost: So these are the historical events behind this particular fairy tale? What exactly did Jacobs change in order to create his version?
Hawkins: Yes, these were the events that inspired Joseph Jacobs. His fairy tale, "Fairy Ointment," begins when an elderly midwife is summoned to the house of a poor farmer and his wife to check on their son. She discovers nothing wrong. The mother hands the midwife an ointment which the midwife has never seen before and tells her to put it on the eyes of the child. Bewildered, the woman does as she is told, but curiosity gets the best of her and she puts it on her own right eye. As soon as she does this, everything throughout in the humble cottage changes. The house becomes richly furnished and the woman and child are dressed in fine robes. The midwife realizes she is in a house full of pixies, but keeps her mouth shut and goes home. The next day she sees the husband of the woman in the market and is amazed because he is taking things from different carts without anybody paying him the slightest attention. She goes up to him to pay her respects and he is shocked she can see him. He immediately discovers she has used the magic ointment and he strikes her on her right eye, blinding the one eye until the day of the woman's death. So as you can see, Jacobs changed most of the characters, but kept the midwife. Jacobs' addition of the magical element was a major difference.
Frost: Fascinating! I am not sure which story I enjoy more. Jacobs definitely had a gift for the theatrical.
Hawkins: Indeed he did! It took quite a bit of creativity to do what he did. I love how the fairy tale emphasizes more of a lesson than if the historical events were just retold.
Frost: Yes, our society could take some notes from this fairy tale! History does repeat itself. Well, Ms. Hawkins, I must thank you again for your time and cannot wait for our time together next week to discuss another one of these events.
Hawkins: Thank you, Ms. Frost! It was a pleasure!
Author's Note: I thought that it would be an interesting take on the idea of the fairy tale, if some of them were based on historical events. With most fairy tales offering a lesson and/or a moral at the end, I wanted to use an "historical" example of how someone learned that particular lesson. Nothing is more interesting than a royal scandal, so I decided to base my "actual" events on a particular royal family and its court. I came up with the idea to use the royal court of King James I because he ruled around the mid-seventeenth century. This time period sufficiently allows for Jacobs to have supposedly come across the events and then have written the fairy tales by the late nineteenth century. I debated on how I wanted to approach the story telling process and decided on an interview format. This allows me to take an active role in my own storybook and makes for an entertaining way to complete this assignment. I especially like how I can use the interviewer as a way to guide the discussion and for some comic relief. I have always enjoyed writing in a dialogue format because I feel it really draws a reader into one's story.
Bibliography:
"Fairy Ointment" By Joseph Jacobs, from English Fairy Tales (1890). Web Source: Sacred Texts
Image(s) Information (From Top to Bottom):
BBC Logo
Word Press
"Red Border"
Absolute Backgrounds
Angelina Jolie and Arwan Damon
CNN Interviews
CNN Original Transcript
"Relay for Life"
ACS Events
Frost: Some rich people think that they can get things for free by stealing; unfortunately, our present economy is evidence of that!
Hawkins: (Laughing) I think you may be onto something there. However the story is not yet finished. The woman decided to blackmail the king's brother-in-law in order to better her own standard of living. When she approached him with her plan, he laughed and rebuked her for attempting such a worthless cause. Instead, Henry framed the elderly woman for the theft and had her thrown in jail, where she remained until released by her merciful captors when they realized she was no threat in her old age!
Frost: So these are the historical events behind this particular fairy tale? What exactly did Jacobs change in order to create his version?
Hawkins: Yes, these were the events that inspired Joseph Jacobs. His fairy tale, "Fairy Ointment," begins when an elderly midwife is summoned to the house of a poor farmer and his wife to check on their son. She discovers nothing wrong. The mother hands the midwife an ointment which the midwife has never seen before and tells her to put it on the eyes of the child. Bewildered, the woman does as she is told, but curiosity gets the best of her and she puts it on her own right eye. As soon as she does this, everything throughout in the humble cottage changes. The house becomes richly furnished and the woman and child are dressed in fine robes. The midwife realizes she is in a house full of pixies, but keeps her mouth shut and goes home. The next day she sees the husband of the woman in the market and is amazed because he is taking things from different carts without anybody paying him the slightest attention. She goes up to him to pay her respects and he is shocked she can see him. He immediately discovers she has used the magic ointment and he strikes her on her right eye, blinding the one eye until the day of the woman's death. So as you can see, Jacobs changed most of the characters, but kept the midwife. Jacobs' addition of the magical element was a major difference.
Frost: Fascinating! I am not sure which story I enjoy more. Jacobs definitely had a gift for the theatrical.
Hawkins: Indeed he did! It took quite a bit of creativity to do what he did. I love how the fairy tale emphasizes more of a lesson than if the historical events were just retold.
Frost: Yes, our society could take some notes from this fairy tale! History does repeat itself. Well, Ms. Hawkins, I must thank you again for your time and cannot wait for our time together next week to discuss another one of these events.
Hawkins: Thank you, Ms. Frost! It was a pleasure!
Author's Note: I thought that it would be an interesting take on the idea of the fairy tale, if some of them were based on historical events. With most fairy tales offering a lesson and/or a moral at the end, I wanted to use an "historical" example of how someone learned that particular lesson. Nothing is more interesting than a royal scandal, so I decided to base my "actual" events on a particular royal family and its court. I came up with the idea to use the royal court of King James I because he ruled around the mid-seventeenth century. This time period sufficiently allows for Jacobs to have supposedly come across the events and then have written the fairy tales by the late nineteenth century. I debated on how I wanted to approach the story telling process and decided on an interview format. This allows me to take an active role in my own storybook and makes for an entertaining way to complete this assignment. I especially like how I can use the interviewer as a way to guide the discussion and for some comic relief. I have always enjoyed writing in a dialogue format because I feel it really draws a reader into one's story.
Bibliography:
"Fairy Ointment" By Joseph Jacobs, from English Fairy Tales (1890). Web Source: Sacred Texts
Image(s) Information (From Top to Bottom):
BBC Logo
Word Press
"Red Border"
Absolute Backgrounds
Angelina Jolie and Arwan Damon
CNN Interviews
CNN Original Transcript
"Relay for Life"
ACS Events