Robbie Cheadle's Blog, page 62
February 10, 2019
Choux pastry beehive cake
I wanted an interesting cake idea for the beehive that features in Sir Chocolate and the Sugar Dough Bees Story and Cookbook. I came up with the idea of a beehive assembled from cream filled profiteroles.
[image error]
This particular baking scheme required the making of over 20 profiteroles made from choux pastry filled with lightly sweetened whipped cream and topped with white chocolate coloured yellow.
The recipe for basic choux pastry is as follows:
1 cup cake flour
1/2 cup butter
300 ml water
4 eggs lightly beaten
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Line a baking tray with baking paper cut to size. Sift flour into a small bowl. Place water and coarsely chopped butter into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Butter must be completely melted. Remove the saucepan from the heat and add sifted flour. Stir, using a wooden spoon, until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the saucepan.
Add the beaten egg, a little at a time and beat it into the batter. The dough should be glossy and drip slowly from the spoon.
Baking
Spoon balls of the dough onto the prepared baking tin and use a fork to encourage the dough to form a peak. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes on 200 degrees Celsius until the dough stops rising. Reduce the oven temperature to 180 degrees Celsius and bake for a further 20 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven and working very quickly, poke a hole in the bottom of each profiterole to let the steam out. Switch off the oven and return the tray to the oven and leave the profiterole to cool with the door partially open.
Filling
Whip fresh cream and add castor sugar to taste. Fill a pastry bag with the cream with a large round ended nozzle. Insert the nozzle into the cooled profiterole and fill with whipped cream.
Assembly
Stack the profiterole to form a bee hive as show in the picture below. Melt white chocolate over a pot of boiling water. Temper the chocolate by adding +- 1/3 more chopped white chocolate. Add a small amount of powdered yellow food colouring to make a lovely yellow chocolate mixture and carefully pour this over the choux pastry bee hive.
Making the bees
[image error]
Make black and yellow fondant using powdered food colouring.
Make 10 oval shaped balls of yellow fondant. Using a small ball tool make the eye sockets and make the eyes from tiny balls of black fondant. Glue them into the eye sockets using sugar glue or dampen the back of the balls slightly and push them into the eye sockets. Make the mouth using a cocktail stick or a small drinking straw cut to shape. Cut the black strips out of thinly rolled black fondant and glue them to the body. Use an oval cutter to make the wings and leave them for 30 minutes to firm up. Once firm, glue the wings to the body.
Place the bees as desired on the choux pastry beehive to create your masterpiece.
Sir Chocolate and the sugar dough bees story and cookbook
[image error]Available from TSL Publishers, Amazon and sirchoc@outlook.com in South Africa
A greedy snail damages the flower fields and the fondant bees are in danger of starving. Join Sir Chocolate on an adventure to find the fruit drop fairies who have magic healing powers and discover how to make some of his favourite foods on the way.
Recipes
Learn how to make the following delicious recipes included in Sir Chocolate and the sugar dough bees story and cookbook:
Terrific cheese bread;Delightful butter biscuits;Jammy scones;Rainbow cupcakes; andBold banana bread.
All of these recipes are simple and can easily be made by a child under adult supervision.
February 3, 2019
Chocolate fudge balls
Michael asked me to make him these delectable chocolate fudge balls to take to school for his birthday treat.
I adapted this recipe from an original recipe by Lilach German.
[image error]
Ingredients:
120 grams butter;
250 ml milk;
250 ml double cream;
60 ml castor sugar
125 ml cocoa powder
125ml almond flour
300 grams dark chocolate, broken into pieces
400 grams crushed digestive biscuits
1/2 cup almond nibbles
1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles
Method:
Heat the butter, milk, cream and sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat until the butter has melted and the sugar is dissolved. Add the cocoa powder and almond flour and mix until smooth. Bring the mixture to the boil.
[image error]
Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the chocolate, allowing it to melt completely. Add the crushed digestive biscuits and mix until combined.
Place the mixture in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Use a spoon and your hands to roll small balls of the mixture and then roll the balls in either the almond nibbles or the rainbow sprinkles. Place on a baking tray. Store the cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
[image error]
January 27, 2019
#Baking – Olive and cheese scones
[image error]
Ingredients
Method
[image error]Cut the scones in half and spread with butter
These scones are amazing. I had two and that is something I rarely do.
Ingredients
450 grams self raising flour
100 grams butter, cubed
225 grams grated cheddar cheese
1 packet (200 grams) black olives stoned and cut in half
120 ml milk
120 ml cold water
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Add the cubed butter and rub into the flour, using your fingers, until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add the cheese and the olives. Mix the dry ingredients, then make a well in the centre, and pour in the milk and the water. Mix until a soft dough forms.
Turn out onto a floured surface and pat to about 1 centimetre thick. Cut out circles using a glass or cookie cutter. Place on baking trays. Brush the tops with a little milk. Bake for +- 15 minutes until golden brown.
[image error]Cut the scones in half and spread with butter
January 9, 2019
Death does not come - flash fiction
When I look back over my life, I note that I am lacking in one experience. Death. This greatest leveler of them all has always passed me by unscathed.
I heard it, like a rabid dog, whining relentlessly outside my door during a home invasion, when the car was hi-jacked and while I was perched precariously on the edge of a cliff as a child.
It barked madly for attention during my children’s lives when one stopped breathing, another had croup and throughout the twenty-eight anaesthetics and operations they collectively undertook.
It always slunk away, tail between its legs.
I heard it, like a rabid dog, whining relentlessly outside my door during a home invasion, when the car was hi-jacked and while I was perched precariously on the edge of a cliff as a child.
It barked madly for attention during my children’s lives when one stopped breathing, another had croup and throughout the twenty-eight anaesthetics and operations they collectively undertook.
It always slunk away, tail between its legs.
January 5, 2019
New Year's Goals
2019 stole in very quietly for me. I was asleep at 10P.M. after doing a lot of editing on my WIP yesterday. Mr Fox says there were a lot of crackers and fireworks at midnight but I didn’t hear a thing; I am lucky like that.
I do not make resolutions as those are made to be broken. I do, however, like to have measurable goals and these are mine for 2019:
Finish my new book, Through the Nethergate, for publication in early September. It will be ready for developmental editing this month but I anticipate some re-writing. This is a much longer book for me and will be approximately 70 000 words. It is aimed at the YA market and is a supernatural/horror book.
Publish my new Sir Chocolate book, Sir Chocolate and the Fondant Five story and cookbook. I have finished all the artwork and editing. I just need to include one more recipe which I will do this week. It will be ready to send to my publisher by mid-January.
This year I plan to publish a themed Sir Chocolate book. One of Charli Mills’ weekly prompts inspired a new Christmas story, Sir Chocolate and the graffiti artist story and cookbook which I plan to publish in late October this year. I have done some of the artwork over this Christmas period. It will include five lovely Christmas recipes.
I had a very horrible dream while we were on holiday. The down side was I woke up in a panic. The upside was I wrote it down and it has given me a great idea for my next horror book. Writing a 70 000 word book takes me some time so that one will be for next year.
I will be doing a monthly post on Writing to be Read hosted by Kaye Lynne Booth.
I am very pleased with the success of the poetry readathon and plan to host another readathon next year over the same period. It really does inspire me to read more and, of course, the more you read the more you learn.
I am going to learn how to make a bun in my own hair.
Looking over the above, it looks like a very achievable list to me. I will let you all know how it is going over the course of the year.
Thank you for sharing my dreaming, writing and baking journey with me. Wishing you all a happy new year!
I do not make resolutions as those are made to be broken. I do, however, like to have measurable goals and these are mine for 2019:
Finish my new book, Through the Nethergate, for publication in early September. It will be ready for developmental editing this month but I anticipate some re-writing. This is a much longer book for me and will be approximately 70 000 words. It is aimed at the YA market and is a supernatural/horror book.
Publish my new Sir Chocolate book, Sir Chocolate and the Fondant Five story and cookbook. I have finished all the artwork and editing. I just need to include one more recipe which I will do this week. It will be ready to send to my publisher by mid-January.
This year I plan to publish a themed Sir Chocolate book. One of Charli Mills’ weekly prompts inspired a new Christmas story, Sir Chocolate and the graffiti artist story and cookbook which I plan to publish in late October this year. I have done some of the artwork over this Christmas period. It will include five lovely Christmas recipes.
I had a very horrible dream while we were on holiday. The down side was I woke up in a panic. The upside was I wrote it down and it has given me a great idea for my next horror book. Writing a 70 000 word book takes me some time so that one will be for next year.
I will be doing a monthly post on Writing to be Read hosted by Kaye Lynne Booth.
I am very pleased with the success of the poetry readathon and plan to host another readathon next year over the same period. It really does inspire me to read more and, of course, the more you read the more you learn.
I am going to learn how to make a bun in my own hair.
Looking over the above, it looks like a very achievable list to me. I will let you all know how it is going over the course of the year.
Thank you for sharing my dreaming, writing and baking journey with me. Wishing you all a happy new year!
December 13, 2018
Darkness - a metaphorical poem
Heavy clouds, like deep bruises, before a storm;
Shadows in your mind where fears and anxieties gather;
An oppressive space beneath the bed where monsters lurk;
The big blackness that frees our inhibitions;
A rich, velvety curtain sprinkled with bright sparkles;
A spiritual void created by chronic illness;
The colour of a mood inspired by loneliness;
A cancerous growth on an otherwise healthy organ;
The claustrophobic grip of a panic attack;
The herald of restful sleep and bodily rejuvenation;
The secret spaces and caverns deep within the earth;
The state of a mind not enlightened by education and knowledge;
The calm and peaceful volumes beneath the breaking waves;
The blight on the skin of an otherwise unmarred fruit;
The muffling blanket of an anaesthetic over conscious thought.
By Robbie Cheadle
Shadows in your mind where fears and anxieties gather;
An oppressive space beneath the bed where monsters lurk;
The big blackness that frees our inhibitions;
A rich, velvety curtain sprinkled with bright sparkles;
A spiritual void created by chronic illness;
The colour of a mood inspired by loneliness;
A cancerous growth on an otherwise healthy organ;
The claustrophobic grip of a panic attack;
The herald of restful sleep and bodily rejuvenation;
The secret spaces and caverns deep within the earth;
The state of a mind not enlightened by education and knowledge;
The calm and peaceful volumes beneath the breaking waves;
The blight on the skin of an otherwise unmarred fruit;
The muffling blanket of an anaesthetic over conscious thought.
By Robbie Cheadle
February 15, 2017
Geoffrey Chaucer's love birds
It appears that not only is Geoffrey Chaucer the “Father of modern English” but his is also the Father of our modern thoughts on love. In his poem “The Parliament of Fowls”, comprising of 700 lines, Chaucer linked the Christian feast day of St Valentine’s with the concept of romance for the very first time. The poem was written in 1381 in honour of the engagement between Richard II of England and Anne of Bohemia and links the royal engagement, the mating season of birds and St Valentine’s Day.
The Parliament of Fowls is written as a dream vision, a literary form that became very popular during the 13th century. While Chaucer’s dream poems, of which The Parliament of Fowls is one, dealt with love, personal loss, the common profit and fame many of Chaucer’s contemporaries combined dream vision with allegory to deal with more philosophical topics in response to the massive religious, social and economic changes that took place in England from 1350 onwards as a consequence of the high mortality rate caused by the Black Death. Post Black Death England was characterised by an abandonment of the countryside by agricultural workers, periods of famine, sudden growth of urban areas and the development of a new mercantile class.
Regardless of content, medieval dream visions or dream allegories shared the following three features:
1.a prologue depicting the circumstances leading up to the dream by the narrator;
2.a dream account of the events occurring in the dream itself; and
3.the appearance in the dream of a male or female authority figure who gives the dreamer guidance about some aspect of his life or teaches him some spiritual or philosophical truth.
The prologue to The Parliament of Fowls starts with Chaucer diligently reading an old book all day long. He has been told that old books bring new wisdom. The book he is reading is entitled “The Dream of Scipio” by Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero) and the story of the dream contained in the book is retold by Chaucer.
The Dream of Scipio describes a fictional dream vision of the Roman General Scipio Aemilianus and is set two years before he commanded at the destruction of Carthage in 146 BC. The dream depicts Scipio, upon his arrival in Africa, being visited by his dead grandfather who stresses his duty as a loyal Roman soldier and advises that he will be rewarded after death for his services. In the dream, however, Scipio sees that Rome is actually an insignificant part of the earth which is dwarfed by the stars. A philosophical discussion regarding the nature of the Divine, the soul and virtue ensues. The Dream of Scipio was a highly regarded text during Chaucer’s time and he featured it in his own work as homage to Cicero. According to scholars, the parallels between The Dream of Scipio and The Parliament of Fowls are not that clear other than that The Dream of Scipio deals with the nature of the universe while The Parliament of Fowls deals with a small part of that universe.
Librarius.com (http://www.librarius.com/parliamentfs...) describes the plot of The Parliament of Fowls as follows:
“The plot is about the narrator who dreams that he passes through a beautiful landscape, through the dark temple of Venus to the bright sunlight. Dame Nature sees over a large flock of birds who are gathered to choose their mates. The birds have a parliamentary debate while three male eages try to seduce a female bird. The debate is full of speeches and insults. At the end, none of the three eagles wins the female eagle. The dream ends welcoming the coming Spring.”
This post started off as an investigation into the origins of St Valentine’s Day and ended up with me investigating Chaucer’s love birds and reading the original text of the poem (with some difficulty and tenacity) and the modern translation (with much more ease and pleasure). Ain’t life grand!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Sources:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/humanitie...
http://www.gradesaver.com/the-book-of...
http://www.librarius.com/parliamentfs...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somnium...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parleme...
Find Robbie Cheadle:
https://www.amazon.com/author/robbiec...
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
The Parliament of Fowls is written as a dream vision, a literary form that became very popular during the 13th century. While Chaucer’s dream poems, of which The Parliament of Fowls is one, dealt with love, personal loss, the common profit and fame many of Chaucer’s contemporaries combined dream vision with allegory to deal with more philosophical topics in response to the massive religious, social and economic changes that took place in England from 1350 onwards as a consequence of the high mortality rate caused by the Black Death. Post Black Death England was characterised by an abandonment of the countryside by agricultural workers, periods of famine, sudden growth of urban areas and the development of a new mercantile class.
Regardless of content, medieval dream visions or dream allegories shared the following three features:
1.a prologue depicting the circumstances leading up to the dream by the narrator;
2.a dream account of the events occurring in the dream itself; and
3.the appearance in the dream of a male or female authority figure who gives the dreamer guidance about some aspect of his life or teaches him some spiritual or philosophical truth.
The prologue to The Parliament of Fowls starts with Chaucer diligently reading an old book all day long. He has been told that old books bring new wisdom. The book he is reading is entitled “The Dream of Scipio” by Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero) and the story of the dream contained in the book is retold by Chaucer.
The Dream of Scipio describes a fictional dream vision of the Roman General Scipio Aemilianus and is set two years before he commanded at the destruction of Carthage in 146 BC. The dream depicts Scipio, upon his arrival in Africa, being visited by his dead grandfather who stresses his duty as a loyal Roman soldier and advises that he will be rewarded after death for his services. In the dream, however, Scipio sees that Rome is actually an insignificant part of the earth which is dwarfed by the stars. A philosophical discussion regarding the nature of the Divine, the soul and virtue ensues. The Dream of Scipio was a highly regarded text during Chaucer’s time and he featured it in his own work as homage to Cicero. According to scholars, the parallels between The Dream of Scipio and The Parliament of Fowls are not that clear other than that The Dream of Scipio deals with the nature of the universe while The Parliament of Fowls deals with a small part of that universe.
Librarius.com (http://www.librarius.com/parliamentfs...) describes the plot of The Parliament of Fowls as follows:
“The plot is about the narrator who dreams that he passes through a beautiful landscape, through the dark temple of Venus to the bright sunlight. Dame Nature sees over a large flock of birds who are gathered to choose their mates. The birds have a parliamentary debate while three male eages try to seduce a female bird. The debate is full of speeches and insults. At the end, none of the three eagles wins the female eagle. The dream ends welcoming the coming Spring.”
This post started off as an investigation into the origins of St Valentine’s Day and ended up with me investigating Chaucer’s love birds and reading the original text of the poem (with some difficulty and tenacity) and the modern translation (with much more ease and pleasure). Ain’t life grand!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Sources:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/humanitie...
http://www.gradesaver.com/the-book-of...
http://www.librarius.com/parliamentfs...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somnium...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parleme...
Find Robbie Cheadle:
https://www.amazon.com/author/robbiec...
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
February 9, 2017
Low Tide - an extract from Silly Willy goes to Knysna
This extract has been published for Sue Vincent’s Thursday photo prompt. You can take part by clicking on this link https://scvincent.com/2017/02/02/thur....
Our little holiday house was a very short distance from the sea. Nana and Granddad were staying in their own little holiday house which was higher up the hill. They had a better view of the ocean than we did but they had to walk down the road to get to the beach. The beach was narrow with thick bushes and short, stubby trees growing on either side of it. The previous morning, the water had only been about 30 metres from our front door; that is how close we were to the sea. Today, the water was far, far away. From the doorway, I could see miles and miles of wet sand. It was still really early, the sun was just peeping over the horizon and making the sky all pink and gold. There was nobody around at this time of the day to make footprints so the sand was perfectly smooth. Dad said that it was low tide. This meant that the water had pulled back from the beach and left lots of open space for us to play in. Willy and I wanted to go for a walk across that lovely, flat sand. Mom and Dad said that they would take us walking but we had to get dressed first. I have never seen Willy get dressed that fast before. He was such a good boy, he lifted up his legs when Mom helped him to put on his underpants and shorts and he put his head through the correct hole of his T-shirt. I wonder if Mom noticed? In a very short space of time we were on the beach, slapping across the soggy sand towards the distant sea. The wind was a bit cold so I was glad I was wearing my jacket. I wasn’t wearing any shoes and the cold watery sand squeezed up between my toes. Every now and then a little hole would open in the sand and a tiny sea creature would pop up and then vanish again. Willy was completely thrilled at the appearance of these little crabs and was determined to catch one. He raced from hole to hole, digging into the wet sand with his little hands and shouting with disappointment when he didn’t manage to catch anything. I didn’t join in. I didn’t know what those funny little crab creatures were and I wasn’t going to risk my fingers being nipped. Willy’s antics slowed us down and so it took us quite a while to cross the section of the beach that was surrounded on two sides by bushes and trees. We stepped out from behind the shelter of the trees and onto the open beach. We walked straight into the icy wind. It pulled on my hair and clothes and stung my face and bare legs. Willy screamed with fright and leaped into Mom’s arms. She wrapped him up in her jacket and stopped walking. The wind was strong and cold but I wanted to walk on a bit further towards the grey sea. The sand on the beach was rippled in pretty patterns from the strong wind and the sea had lots of white, frothy sea horses. Mom and Dad spoke to each other and Dad said that he would walk on with me for a bit longer. Mom had to carry Willy back to the cottage. Willy is quite a fat little boy and I watched Mom stagger off with him still cuddled up inside her jacket. Walking back the way we had come.
Extracted from Silly Willy goes to Knysna
Find Robbie Cheadle:
https://www.amazon.com/author/robbiec...
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Our little holiday house was a very short distance from the sea. Nana and Granddad were staying in their own little holiday house which was higher up the hill. They had a better view of the ocean than we did but they had to walk down the road to get to the beach. The beach was narrow with thick bushes and short, stubby trees growing on either side of it. The previous morning, the water had only been about 30 metres from our front door; that is how close we were to the sea. Today, the water was far, far away. From the doorway, I could see miles and miles of wet sand. It was still really early, the sun was just peeping over the horizon and making the sky all pink and gold. There was nobody around at this time of the day to make footprints so the sand was perfectly smooth. Dad said that it was low tide. This meant that the water had pulled back from the beach and left lots of open space for us to play in. Willy and I wanted to go for a walk across that lovely, flat sand. Mom and Dad said that they would take us walking but we had to get dressed first. I have never seen Willy get dressed that fast before. He was such a good boy, he lifted up his legs when Mom helped him to put on his underpants and shorts and he put his head through the correct hole of his T-shirt. I wonder if Mom noticed? In a very short space of time we were on the beach, slapping across the soggy sand towards the distant sea. The wind was a bit cold so I was glad I was wearing my jacket. I wasn’t wearing any shoes and the cold watery sand squeezed up between my toes. Every now and then a little hole would open in the sand and a tiny sea creature would pop up and then vanish again. Willy was completely thrilled at the appearance of these little crabs and was determined to catch one. He raced from hole to hole, digging into the wet sand with his little hands and shouting with disappointment when he didn’t manage to catch anything. I didn’t join in. I didn’t know what those funny little crab creatures were and I wasn’t going to risk my fingers being nipped. Willy’s antics slowed us down and so it took us quite a while to cross the section of the beach that was surrounded on two sides by bushes and trees. We stepped out from behind the shelter of the trees and onto the open beach. We walked straight into the icy wind. It pulled on my hair and clothes and stung my face and bare legs. Willy screamed with fright and leaped into Mom’s arms. She wrapped him up in her jacket and stopped walking. The wind was strong and cold but I wanted to walk on a bit further towards the grey sea. The sand on the beach was rippled in pretty patterns from the strong wind and the sea had lots of white, frothy sea horses. Mom and Dad spoke to each other and Dad said that he would walk on with me for a bit longer. Mom had to carry Willy back to the cottage. Willy is quite a fat little boy and I watched Mom stagger off with him still cuddled up inside her jacket. Walking back the way we had come.
Extracted from Silly Willy goes to Knysna
Find Robbie Cheadle:
https://www.amazon.com/author/robbiec...
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
January 18, 2017
The origin of elves - not the cute little Christmas elves we know today
Christmas has passed, the feasting has ended and the decorations have been packed away for another year. Christmas, however, is notable, amongst other things, for its queue of children waiting to have photographs taken with shopping mall Santa Clauses and his elven helpers. My boys have outgrown this type of event but my nieces and nephews still love it and want their photographs taken with Santa every year. Looking at the lovely photograph of my nephews with this year’s fat and cheerful Santa and his elf, led me wondering about the origins of elves and so I did a bit of research with some interesting results.
The original concept of elves originates from Norse mythology and our modern knowledge of these early elves has been pieced together from Old Norse poetry. Norse mythology describes two types of elves, the one group lives beneath the earth and are not as attractive and the other group live in Elf Land and are “fairer than the sun”. This concept of “light” and “dark” elves appears in an Old Norse work of literature entitled Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and in the late Old Norse poem Hrafnagaldr Odins. It is interesting to note that while the “light” elves are difficult to distinguish in Norse mythology from the Vanir gods and goddesses and are described as being extremely beautiful, they also had very mixed relationships with humans. On the one hand they had the power to cause human illness and on the other hand they could heal humans, generally if the humans involved were willing to make sacrifices to them. Humans could turn into elves after death and there was an overlap between worship of ancestors and worship of elves. I am not an expert on Norse mythology by any manner of means and the purpose of this description was to introduce the idea that the original concept of elves was very different from the cute elves we see assisting Santa Clause at Christmas time.
The Danish poet and author, Hans Christian Anderson, wrote about elves in his story The Elvin Hill (The Elf Mound) which was published in 1845. This tale is about a feast held at the elf mound for the Goblin Chief of Norway and his two sons. The two sons are both expected to choose elf brides. In this tale elves are clearly aligned with goblins, merfolk, the grave pig, the death-horse and the church horse, all of which are associated with dark superstitions and myths. In the Elf Mound, the elven housekeeper is described as follows:
“…the elven hill opened and an old elfin girl, hollow at the back, came tripping out; she was the housekeeper of the old elfin king, and being distantly connected to the family; she an amber heart on her forehead. Her feet moved so nimbly -trip, trip. Good gracious! how she could trip…”
Another famous source of information on elves are the Middle-earth books written by J.R.R. Tolkien, the most well-know being The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Tolkien wrote his books between 1937 and 1949. As the title The Lord of the Rings indicates, this trilogy is mainly about the One Ring, created by the Dark Lord Sauron in a bygone age as a weapon in his campaign to defeat and rule all of Middle-earth.
Tolkien describes the elves as being very fair creatures and also as being resistant to illness, disease and other natural ailments. Tolkien’s depiction of elves also describes them as being great lovers of all beauty in nature and being very curious with an great love of learning and creating. The elves despised evil and their creations harmed evil, however, they are susceptible to greed, pride and jealousy.
The Christmas elf is a tiny creature that features in American folklore and lives with Santa Claus at the North Pole and acts as his helper. Christmas elves generally wear green or red and have large pointy ears and pointy hats. They are kind and help Santa Claus by making the Christmas toys in his workshop and looking after the reindeer. Christmas elves were apparently first introduced in literature by Louise May Alcott in her unpublished book entitled Christmas Elves.
In different countries, Santa Claus’ helpers have different names such as the Yule Lads of Iceland, Zwarte Piet from Belgium and the Netherlands, Knecht Ruprecht in Germany and Hoesecker in Luxembourg. Interestingly enough, in Nordic countries Christmas elves are considered nisse and not elves. Nisse have their origins in Scandinavian folklore and look more like garden gnomes with a long white beard, a knitted cap and usually wear red.
So next year when the decorations go up and the Christmas stories, movies and festivities begin, you can spare a thought to the origin of that cute little elf in a hat with bells and wonder if he originates from Norway or America.
Sources of information:
Norse mythology for smart people
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Treasury of Hans Christian Anderson
Tolkien Gateway; and
Wikipedia
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The original concept of elves originates from Norse mythology and our modern knowledge of these early elves has been pieced together from Old Norse poetry. Norse mythology describes two types of elves, the one group lives beneath the earth and are not as attractive and the other group live in Elf Land and are “fairer than the sun”. This concept of “light” and “dark” elves appears in an Old Norse work of literature entitled Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and in the late Old Norse poem Hrafnagaldr Odins. It is interesting to note that while the “light” elves are difficult to distinguish in Norse mythology from the Vanir gods and goddesses and are described as being extremely beautiful, they also had very mixed relationships with humans. On the one hand they had the power to cause human illness and on the other hand they could heal humans, generally if the humans involved were willing to make sacrifices to them. Humans could turn into elves after death and there was an overlap between worship of ancestors and worship of elves. I am not an expert on Norse mythology by any manner of means and the purpose of this description was to introduce the idea that the original concept of elves was very different from the cute elves we see assisting Santa Clause at Christmas time.
The Danish poet and author, Hans Christian Anderson, wrote about elves in his story The Elvin Hill (The Elf Mound) which was published in 1845. This tale is about a feast held at the elf mound for the Goblin Chief of Norway and his two sons. The two sons are both expected to choose elf brides. In this tale elves are clearly aligned with goblins, merfolk, the grave pig, the death-horse and the church horse, all of which are associated with dark superstitions and myths. In the Elf Mound, the elven housekeeper is described as follows:
“…the elven hill opened and an old elfin girl, hollow at the back, came tripping out; she was the housekeeper of the old elfin king, and being distantly connected to the family; she an amber heart on her forehead. Her feet moved so nimbly -trip, trip. Good gracious! how she could trip…”
Another famous source of information on elves are the Middle-earth books written by J.R.R. Tolkien, the most well-know being The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Tolkien wrote his books between 1937 and 1949. As the title The Lord of the Rings indicates, this trilogy is mainly about the One Ring, created by the Dark Lord Sauron in a bygone age as a weapon in his campaign to defeat and rule all of Middle-earth.
Tolkien describes the elves as being very fair creatures and also as being resistant to illness, disease and other natural ailments. Tolkien’s depiction of elves also describes them as being great lovers of all beauty in nature and being very curious with an great love of learning and creating. The elves despised evil and their creations harmed evil, however, they are susceptible to greed, pride and jealousy.
The Christmas elf is a tiny creature that features in American folklore and lives with Santa Claus at the North Pole and acts as his helper. Christmas elves generally wear green or red and have large pointy ears and pointy hats. They are kind and help Santa Claus by making the Christmas toys in his workshop and looking after the reindeer. Christmas elves were apparently first introduced in literature by Louise May Alcott in her unpublished book entitled Christmas Elves.
In different countries, Santa Claus’ helpers have different names such as the Yule Lads of Iceland, Zwarte Piet from Belgium and the Netherlands, Knecht Ruprecht in Germany and Hoesecker in Luxembourg. Interestingly enough, in Nordic countries Christmas elves are considered nisse and not elves. Nisse have their origins in Scandinavian folklore and look more like garden gnomes with a long white beard, a knitted cap and usually wear red.
So next year when the decorations go up and the Christmas stories, movies and festivities begin, you can spare a thought to the origin of that cute little elf in a hat with bells and wonder if he originates from Norway or America.
Sources of information:
Norse mythology for smart people
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Treasury of Hans Christian Anderson
Tolkien Gateway; and
Wikipedia
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January 9, 2017
Why should we appreciate Chaucer?
We have a lot to be grateful to Geoffrey Chaucer for. If it wasn’t for his amazing works we might all still be reading in French and Latin. While I love French, I really do enjoy my home language of English and love all the wonderful literature heritage that hails from England. I really can’t comment on Latin as my only slight brushings with this language occurred during the Catholic Church Services I attended while I was at school.
Who was Geoffrey Chaucer?
Chaucer was born in approximately 1343 in London. In 1357 he became a public servant to Countess Elizabeth of Ulster and continued in that capacity with the British court for the rest of his life. Chaucer died on 25 October 1400 in London, England and was the first person to be buried in Westminster Abbey’s Poet’s Corner.
Why is he relevant to us, 600 years later?
Chaucer was the first great writer and poet to write using the medium of English. By choosing to write in English, Chaucer showed the world that his vernacular English, which had survived 300 years of Norman rule, could be used in literature just as well as either French or Latin. His language choice also made his poetry accessible to all. The huge popularity of Chaucer’s works, written in Middle English, is said to have given rise to this dialect becoming increasingly widespread and its eventual status as modern English’s predecessor.
Chaucer also translated many important Continental works, for example Boccacio’s The Decameron and Boethius’s Consolidation of Philosophy into English.
Chaucer is best know in our modern world for his unfinished poem, the Canterbury Tales. Chaucer’s work took him on many journeys and introduced him to many people from all sorts of professions and walks of life and he drew on these experiences in his writing. In the 24 tales which constitute The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer introduced characters from all sectors of humanity including the learned, the religious, the romantic, the practical, the idealist and the irreverent from the middle classes as well as royalty. This was very unusual at that time when all stories dealt with heroes, kings and queens. His characterisation was ground-breaking and lead the way for future writers including Shakespeare. It is a testament to his abilities and talent that the art of story telling has remained virtually unchanged for all these years.
About The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales is one of my favourite books. It tells a story of a group of people, form a wide variety of backgrounds and with a number of different professions and skills, who set off on a religious pilgrimage from London to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas in Canterbury Cathedral. The pilgrims agree to entertain themselves along the journey by telling each other stories. Chaucer died before he could finish the tales but they are considered to be “outrageous, comic and thought-provoking”. The tales provide a lot of entertaining insight into life, love and bantering in medieval England.
The Canterbury Tales for children
Our children are very fortunate as they live in a society where all sorts of amazing classic books are available to them as either an abridged story or are retold in modern English. The Canterbury Tales is available as a “Usborne Classics Retold” version and the original verse in which it was written has been changed to modern prose with limited verse to make it easier for young modern readers. I would recommend introducing your children to this wonderful book so that they can enjoy and appreciate the works of “The Father of Modern English?”
Happy reading!
Acknowledgements:
University of Oxford - Great Writers Inspire
Braugh, C.B., and Cable, T. (2002) A History of the English Language. 5th edn. London: Routledge
Cummings Study Guide: The Canterbury Tales Usborne Classics Retold The Canterbury Tales
Follow Robbie Cheadle on:
Blog: robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com
Facebook: @SirChocolateBooks
Twitter: @bakeandwrite
Who was Geoffrey Chaucer?
Chaucer was born in approximately 1343 in London. In 1357 he became a public servant to Countess Elizabeth of Ulster and continued in that capacity with the British court for the rest of his life. Chaucer died on 25 October 1400 in London, England and was the first person to be buried in Westminster Abbey’s Poet’s Corner.
Why is he relevant to us, 600 years later?
Chaucer was the first great writer and poet to write using the medium of English. By choosing to write in English, Chaucer showed the world that his vernacular English, which had survived 300 years of Norman rule, could be used in literature just as well as either French or Latin. His language choice also made his poetry accessible to all. The huge popularity of Chaucer’s works, written in Middle English, is said to have given rise to this dialect becoming increasingly widespread and its eventual status as modern English’s predecessor.
Chaucer also translated many important Continental works, for example Boccacio’s The Decameron and Boethius’s Consolidation of Philosophy into English.
Chaucer is best know in our modern world for his unfinished poem, the Canterbury Tales. Chaucer’s work took him on many journeys and introduced him to many people from all sorts of professions and walks of life and he drew on these experiences in his writing. In the 24 tales which constitute The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer introduced characters from all sectors of humanity including the learned, the religious, the romantic, the practical, the idealist and the irreverent from the middle classes as well as royalty. This was very unusual at that time when all stories dealt with heroes, kings and queens. His characterisation was ground-breaking and lead the way for future writers including Shakespeare. It is a testament to his abilities and talent that the art of story telling has remained virtually unchanged for all these years.
About The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales is one of my favourite books. It tells a story of a group of people, form a wide variety of backgrounds and with a number of different professions and skills, who set off on a religious pilgrimage from London to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas in Canterbury Cathedral. The pilgrims agree to entertain themselves along the journey by telling each other stories. Chaucer died before he could finish the tales but they are considered to be “outrageous, comic and thought-provoking”. The tales provide a lot of entertaining insight into life, love and bantering in medieval England.
The Canterbury Tales for children
Our children are very fortunate as they live in a society where all sorts of amazing classic books are available to them as either an abridged story or are retold in modern English. The Canterbury Tales is available as a “Usborne Classics Retold” version and the original verse in which it was written has been changed to modern prose with limited verse to make it easier for young modern readers. I would recommend introducing your children to this wonderful book so that they can enjoy and appreciate the works of “The Father of Modern English?”
Happy reading!
Acknowledgements:
University of Oxford - Great Writers Inspire
Braugh, C.B., and Cable, T. (2002) A History of the English Language. 5th edn. London: Routledge
Cummings Study Guide: The Canterbury Tales Usborne Classics Retold The Canterbury Tales
Follow Robbie Cheadle on:
Blog: robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com
Facebook: @SirChocolateBooks
Twitter: @bakeandwrite
