Graham Philpot, “Wind in the Willows”
To accompany yesterday’s post I ran the wonderful Ernest Shepard illustration of the caroling field mice in Wind in the Willows, one of my favorite episodes in the novel. I revisited the story and realized that I loved it in part because it is so like our own Christmas rituals. We too sing Christmas carols at the special 4:30 Otey Parish Christmas children’s service in Sewanee, Tennessee and then return home for a sumptuous meal.
This year we attended with a very squirmy three-year-old and so only made it through half the service. Nevertheless, the spirit still flowed. Here’s the carol sung by the field mice, which contends that animals were the first to cry “Nowell.”
Carol
By Kenneth Grahame
Villagers all, this frosty tide,
Let your doors swing open wide,
Though wind may follow, and snow beside,
Yet draw us in by your fire to bide;
Joy shall be yours in the morning!
Here we stand in the cold and the sleet,
Blowing fingers and stamping feet,
Come from far away you to greet—
You by the fire and we in the street—
Bidding you joy in the morning!
For ere one half of the night was gone,
Sudden a star has led us on,
Raining bliss and benison—
Bliss to-morrow and more anon,
Joy for every morning!
Goodman Joseph toiled through the snow—
Saw the star o’er a stable low;
Mary she might not further go—
Welcome thatch, and litter below!
Joy was hers in the morning!
And then they heard the angels tell
“Who were the first to cry Nowell?
Animals all, as it befell,
In the stable where they did dwell!
Joy shall be theirs in the morning!”
