Tea at Trianon: Talking Animals - What Do They Know?

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Talking Animals - What Do They Know?

From The Prairie Reader:

Speaking for those of us who are pet owners, it often seems like our pets are trying to tell us something. That pensive look they give us at dinner time or when it appears that they see something we can’t or a strange noise is heard. Their seeming desire to speak can be especially spooky when it occurs in the dark of night. What could be waiting for us in the other room or under the bed? If only they could talk, it might clear up such mysteries. However, some animals actually do talk, at least in the books we love to read. Here are some examples of stories that show friendly animal characters and sometimes some that are not so friendly.

Lewis Carroll takes us on a trip in his book, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” along with his heroine Alice. Published in 1865, Alice deals with many strange people and creatures. One well known character is the very recognizable Cheshire Cat. This smug cat got his start in 1788, long before Carroll’s book was published, by appearing in a collection of slang words amassed by a Militia Captain who scoured the London slums during his idle hours. Later, the captain published his collection under the title “A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.”

Alice’s version relates to a cat that waxes philosophically at times and can appear out of thin air and also disappear in the same way leaving with his head last followed by his well known grin. The Queen of Wonderland, being an evil type, is always demanding “Off with their head” everytime she becomes disenchanted with one of her subjects. One mystery that she seeks to resolve is “can a disembodied head be beheaded?” Good question.
“The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” (1900) by L. Frank Baum brings to life a talking lion who travels with a lost young girl named Dorothy and two other characters to the city of Oz. This lion is expected to be brave, powerful and courageous but, is instead, fearful of the world around him. By the end of the book he has proved himself to have gained all of these missing traits by being a good and helpful friend to Dorothy and her companions. (Read more.)