I was looking up stuff about kites in the distant past on't net this morning .... here's the best (?) account I found ... Restricted as it was to the wilds of central Wales, for the past hundred years or so the red kite has been almost symbolic of the mystical and mysterious culture of the Celts and the Celtic lands of the western fringes of the British Isles. Driven out from everywhere else, there it remained as a scarce and flitting shadow, shrouded in secrecy and yet majestic in its appearance and mastery of the air. However, in medieval times it was found throughout these islands and such was its renown and closeness to humans, that it found its way into the literature and culture of the times, not only in the countryside, but in towns too, where it became known as a hungry scavenger. Chaucer referred to it in his Knight's Tale (c1390): `We stryve as did the houndes for the boon, They foughte al day, and yet hir part was noon; There cam a kyte, whyl that they were wrothe, And bar away the boon betwixe them bothe.' Shakespeare (A Winter's Tale, c1610) was clearly aware of the kite's habit of adorning its nest with frilly material (including underwear!): `When a kite builds, look to lesser linen.' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I already knew about the Shakespeare, but not the Chaucer. But the thing is .... I've also read that it is not at all clear which species of kite they had in London in Shakespeare's time. Or Chaucer's , for that matter. There seem to be no proper descriptions, and unfortunately they didn't have cameras, binoculars, telescopes etc back then. I strongly suspect that had anyone got such things, they would have been accused as witches/sorcerers and promptly burnt alive. As far as I'm aware, that lack of i/d hasn't changed... but up there it plainly states that they were Red Kites. I wonder where they got their information from ? Or are they just assuming that they are reds because they're the ones we have now ? I suspect so. Have any of you out there in the real world got any idea about all that? I know... I'm letting you all down by being, er ,serious, today .... I can be serious sometimes. Here's Roy Harper ... with the lovely " Goodbye." It's a pity there's so little of his stuff on the net.
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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