YOU GUYz.
today per request of my momocita we are discussing the ole carol “Good King Wenceslas”.
Of course this is the song that my mom picked because 1. she wishes she was british, and 2. she loves things from England in 1853, when the lyrics for this song was written by English hymn writer John Mason Neale.
Serz you guys we need to get viewings up on this 25 days of christmas biz. yesterday we had a record low. did no one want to know about teachers using, “santa claus is coming to town” to get young children to behave?!?!? idk. idk.
Here are the lyrics to this song. According to wikipedia, the feast of stephen is for St. Stephens day, which is “the second day of Christmas, december 26″. Who has the 2nd day of christmas on december 26, that is totz bogus. jk.
Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen man if i were looking out on my second day of christmas feast, i would be like “this 2nd day of christmas feast was awesome, yall lets take a nap”.
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even after i ate, if there was snow outside that was deep and crisp, i would be in for the night.
Brightly shone the moon that night this moon being bright was a setup, just so you could see the poor guy gath’ring his winter fuel. King Wenceslas, you just got played.
Though the frost was cruel
When a poor man came in sight told you this was a setup, john mason neale was just wanting to paint king wenceslas as good so he could write this song.
Gath’ring winter fuel
“Hither, page, and stand by me
If thou know’st it, telling
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?” translation – hey assistant of mine, who’s that poor dude? what’s his deal? where does he live and what does he even live in – if he has a house.”
“Sire, he lives a good league hence
Underneath the mountain
Right against the forest fence
By Saint Agnes’ fountain.” translation – king, he lives super far from here under a mountain on the edge of the forest and next to a fountain. translation over. here we go again, ole john neale just using rhyme to say were the peasant lived, i am pretty sure he just wanted to rhyme mountain with fountain.
“Bring me flesh and bring me wine
Bring me pine logs hither
Thou and I will see him dine
When we bear him thither.” translation – okay bring me some of those feast of stephen day leftovers – and we are gonna go find him and give him all of this good stuff.
Page and monarch forth they went
Forth they went together this is redundant. forth they went, forth they went together. yea if it’s the page and the monarch going forth, they are gonna be together. la doyeeee.
Through the rude wind’s wild lament
And the bitter weather the wind was ticked off, because no one wanted to bring him feast of stephen leftovers, so he was totally rude/bitter.
“Sire, the night is darker now
And the wind blows stronger
Fails my heart, I know not how,
I can go no longer.” this page is weak. and can’t even handle a walk in the night cold to go give the poor peasant some food. king wence, you need a new page. this guy is ready to have the king just leave him to die. this page is not up for the job description of being king wence’s right hand man – extra extra read all about it, there is an opening for a page in king wence’s court.
“Mark my footsteps, my good page
Tread thou in them boldly
Thou shalt find the winter’s rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly.” you seriously expect me to believe that because king wence was good that his footsteps radiated warmth to keep the page from dying in the cold. okay, i wish this guy would have been around to walk in front of me when i was living in idaho. because there was plenty of times that i was ready to throw in the towel of life because it was so cold outside. thanks for nothing good king.
In his master’s steps he trod
Where the snow lay dinted
Heat was in the very sod
Which the Saint had printed he lived because of the kings heat filled foot steps. horray. i want a pair of those shoes that make your foot steps radiate warmth…can you only get them if you are a saint? i bet they sell in sky mall.
Therefore, Christian men, be sure
Wealth or rank possessing
Ye who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing um, yes i believe in doing good unto others. but the moral of this song is to have a good king put you in dangerous situations, and then his goodness will bless you. no i don’t think so. if the page would have never left the house with the king to deliver the left overs, then he never would have almost died. don’t put yourself in bad situations with super human saints, and they won’t have to save you anyway. moral of the story, take a nap after you eat your christmas feast – instead of going outside. help the poor when it’s light out, and you have enough clothes on to stay warm. the end.
what will tomorrow’s song be you guys??? i have no idea.
speaking of doing good unto others – i am going visiting teaching tonight and i am responsible for providing the “Christmas treat” of my choice. i think that means i am supposed to make something. but i have yet to figure out how to use my oven….so maybe they will be partaking of some of those delightful little debbies christmas trees….or i will figure something else out, as well as the christmas trees, because if i was being brought something and it was homemade cookies or the trees (depending on who was making the cookies, and what kind they were) i would pick the trees almost every time.
love,
melissa.
