G.Christian (1951b)
Main Variant |
Transcription
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It's an old Underwood
custom
by Garth Christian
PEOPLE in the Notting-
hamshire mining
village of Underwood
leave their doors unlocked
until late on Christmas
Eve in case certain strange
visitors call - as they
almost always do.
These visitors are Saint George
and Father Christmas. Beelzebub
and Little Devil Doubt.
Without waiting for the house-
holder to answer their knocks.
they stride into the living room
of every house in the village and
perform a play that is as old as
man himself.
The players - they are boys of
12 or 14 - are disguised in a weird
array of old clothes and all have
blackened faces. Their leader -
St. George - who sometimes
wears an old heavy greatcoat
bearing the words "Home Guard"
on the shoulder, walks into the
room and cries:
"I am St. George of England
bold,
I won ten thousands pounds
in gold.
I followed a fair maiden to a
Giant's d'en
Confined in a dungeon to
meet her fate,
When the Giant almost
struck me dead,
But with my valour I cut off
his head."
Bold Slasher suddenly dashes
into the room and challenges him
to a duel. With stout wooden
swords they fight, and so vigorous
was their performance in one
recent encounter that St. George
accidentally struck the electric
light with his sword and plunged
the room into darkness.
St. George always wins his
fight and as Bold Slasher falls to
the ground Father Christmas
appears:
"Oh Georpc, oh George, what
has thou done?
"Thou's gone and slain my
only son."
He calls for a doctor who
promptly enters, boasting that he
can cure
"The itch, the stich, the palsy
and the gout,
Pains within and pains
without."
He claims. too. that be has
travelled "To Italy, Sicily, France
and Spain. returning to practice
in England again."
This statement is of special
interest for in olden days English
doctors did travel to the Mediter-
ranean countries in pursuit of
medical knowledge. It is clear
that this Mummers Play, written
in the 12th century and revised
500 years later, had its origins
far earlier.
When the doctor has announced
the contents of his bag - crutches
for tame ducks. packs and
saddles for broken-backed mice.
and spectacles for blind bats - he
offers Slasher a drink from his
magical medicine.
"Take a sup out of this batHe
And let it run down thy
throttle."
This sacred medicins is
successful. Bold Slasher rises
from the ground. an action which
is thought to symbolise the rising
power of the winter sun that
marks the first days of the New
Year.
Tell this to the boys who act
this play each year and they are
astonished. Ask them how they
learned the words and they
reply: "We 'ad it from them as
did it last year." So the words
have come down from generation
to generation in this remote
mining village on the Notting-
hamshire and Derbyshire border.
Until the beginning of this
century slightly different versions
of the play could be seen in
hundteds of villages throughout
Britain. Today the Mummers
survive only in a small corner of
Nottinghamshire and parts of
Wiltshire, though the Boxgrove
(West Sussex) Mummers were
revived just before the war.
It was only a few months ago
when Mr. A. K. Gill recorded for
the first time the words used in
the Underwood version quoted
here. He found the task hard
work for no one knew the whole
play and each player in turn had
to be interviewed, among them
old Beelzebub
"In comes I, Beelzebub,
Over my shoulder I carry
a club,
In my hand a dripping pan
Don't you think I'm a jolly
old man."
The last character to appear is
Little Devil Doubt:
"In comes Little Devil Doubt
With my breeches inside out:
Money I want and money I
crave,
If you don't give me money
I'll sweep you to your grave."
The mining folk of NottinghamshIre
are generous. "I usually
collect several pounds" says
Little Devil Doubt. "so I don't
bother to sweep 'em to their
graves." |
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