[실비아롱 마더구스 해석] 13. Little Jack Horner / 14. Little miss Muffet

13.

Little Jack Horner

작은 Jack Honer가

Sat in a corner,

코너에 앉아있었어요

Eating a Christmas pie.

크리스마스 파이를 먹으면서요.

He put in his thumb,

Jack은 엄지손가락을 넣고는

And pulled out a plum,

자두를 꺼냈지요

And said, "What a good boy am I"

그리고 말했죠, "나 착하지 않아요?"

 

 

이 시를 읽으면 도대체 뭔소리인가? 하는 생각이 들 것이다.  찾아보니 Jack이라는 소년이 크리스마스 파이를 먹는 중 손가락으로 자두를 꺼내 먹었다는 이야기인데, 수도원을 지키기 위해 헨리 8세게 뇌물로 바친 일부 부동산을 Honor가 빼돌려서 꿀꺽 했다는 암시를 하고 있다.

 

헨리 8세가 앤불린과 결혼을 위해 첫째부인 캐터린과의 혼인성사를 무효로 하고자 영국성공회로 영국국교를 분리시켰을 때의 이야기다. 헨리 8세가 수도원을 해체시키고 있던 시기 가톨릭 신자인 Thomas Honer (여기서 Jack으로 나옴)는 영국 남부 Somerset주의 Glastonbury의 대주교(Abbot)의 집사(steward)였다. 

 

그는 대주교가 메인 수도원을 유지할 수 있도록 재산의 부동산권리증을 뇌물(bribe)로서 헨리 8세에게 가져가는 일을 담당했다. 그러나 덜 중요한 재산을 주는 것으로 되어있었다.

 

Jack이 런던으로 출발할 때 이러한 부동산권리증은 파이안에 봉해져서 이동되었다. 헨리 8세에게 뇌물을 전달하는 대신 그는 파이를 마음대로  썼다. 그의 손을 넣어 부동산의 일부(plum으로 묘사됨)였던 Mells Manor를 꺼내가졌다. 20세기까지 Mells Manor에 사는 후손들은 그의 조상의 중상모략(slander)에 분개했고, 당연히 그랬다.

Mr. ROBERTS: Little Jack Horner was actually Thomas Horner. The name Jack comes up in nursery rhymes a lot, usually to reflect a slightly knavish character, a bit of a ne'er-do-well. So I suspect that's why they changed his name to Jack from Thomas. (Reading) `Little Jack Horner sat in a corner eating his Christmas pie. He stuck in a thumb and pulled out a plum and said, "What a good boy am I."' Where to begin with this? This is talking about the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry VIII taking property from the Catholic Church. Jack, as we know, is actually called Thomas Horner. Now he was a steward to the Abbot of Glastonbury during the reign of Henry VIII. This is how the story goes: He was entrusted to take some title deeds of properties to Henry VIII as a bribe so the abbot could keep the main monastery, but was prepared to give away some of the lesser properties. Now the title deeds were held and sealed in a pie, and Jack's off to London. But instead of delivering the bribe to Henry VIII, he helps himself to the pie, puts his hand in, pulls out a plum piece of real estate--in this case, a place called Mells Manor--and thinks he's very clever for doing this. That's one version of it, that Jack is a thief and he's stealing the bribe that's intended for the king. And he...  It comes up bewilderingly often in nursery rhyme. And it's--I think the pie is used as a metaphor. I think it's not necessarily what we would think of as a pie. It's just referring to a means of concealing a document, concealing anything. It could be jewels in some cases. Now the Horner family, who incidentally lived in Mells Manor until the 20th century, are quite outraged at this slander of their ancestor and understandably so. And there are actually two rhymes that mention Mr. Horner. The first one that mentions him is: `Hopton(ph), Horner, Smith and Finn, when the abbots went out, they came in.' And a much more likely reading of what happened is that Thomas Horner, along with the other people mentioned in the previous rhyme--Hopton and Smith and Finn--were up-and-coming gentry. They were Protestant, they were local merchants doing quite well for themselves in the area around Glastonbury, and that they bought the property. You could see it as an early example of gentrification. They bought the property at the time admittedly at a knockdown rate, and admittedly the land had been stolen from the Catholic Church by Henry VIII. This seems to be what happened after the dissolution of the monasteries. The king didn't keep all the land for himself; he distributed it amongst his supporters so he then could rely on their loyalty should anything occur in the future, should there be a rebellion in the future. I suspect, though I can't prove this, that the popular `Little Jack Horner sat in a corner, eating his Christmas pie' version is actually the Catholic take on proceedings there.  출처: https://www.npr.org/2006/01/08/5135080/reason-behind-the-rhyme-little-jack-horner

 

Mells Manor was purportedly procured by Thomas Horner, who had been entrusted by Richard Whiting, the last Abbot of Glastonbury, who had concealed several deeds as a gift to King Henry VIII to curry his favour against nationalising the Church of England and seizing church lands. Prior to this, Horner found the deed for Mells Manor, which he kept for himself. This act is referenced in the popular nursery rhyme Little Jack Horner. An alternative and more likely explanation from Horner's descendants is that the manor was bought from the King's Commissioners in 1543.[5][6] 출처: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mells_Manor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14.

Little miss Muffet

작은 Muffet 씨는

Sat on a tuffet,

터펫에 앉아있었어요,

Eating some curds and whey.

커드와 위를 먹으면서요.

Along came a spider,

거미가 따라와서

Who sat down beside her,

그녀 옆에 앉았지요,

And frightened Miss Muffet away.

그리고 Muffet을 놀래켜 달아나게 했어요.

 

 

Muffet 의사는 으깨진 거미가 환자들을 치료할 수 있다고 믿고 수양딸 Patience를 포함하여 그들에게 거미를 먹였다고 한다.

Dr Thomas Muffet, who died in 1604, is believed to have crushed up spiders and fed them to patients, including step-daughter Patience, to cure their aliments.

 

 

*터펫(tuffet)은 낮은 스툴같은 동그란 의자이거나 숲에서 볼 수 있는 풀더미/언덕을 의미한다. 

* curds and whey에서 curds는 우유가 레몬과 같은 산성을 띈 것과 반응하여 응고된 것으로 whey는 우유가 응고되고 남은 액체를 말한다. 요즘으로 따지면 코타지치즈 cottage cheese를 뜻한다.