Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta courtiers. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta courtiers. Mostrar todas las entradas

sábado, 23 de diciembre de 2023

ASÍ HABLÓ EL ESPEJO - FALOU O ESPELHO

 ASÍ HABLÓ EL ESPEJO - FALÒ O ESPELHO

ASÎ HABLÓ EL ESPEJO - SOFÎA DE MELLO ANDRESEN

Yo estaba en un palacio y frente a mí solo había espacio, espacio, nada más que espacio, El suelo era de mármol liso y brillante, Y yo estaba en el fondo de una galería silenciosa y solitaria. Contemplaba el paso de las horas a lo largo del día. Vi a los reyes y a las reinas, pálides en el día de su coronación, con sus coronas centelleantes y pesadas. Vi a los ministros, a los consejeros y a la gente importante con sus narices largas, sus caras de circunstancia y su aire servil. Y vi a las novias vestidas de blanco que durante las noches de baile huían por un momento a la galería solitaria. Se deslizaban rápidas y leves, negando siempre la flor que les pedían, Y vi pasar a las multitudes de las revoluciones, rompiéndolo todo, buscando justicia. Vi, vi, vi, yo soy un espejo; me he pasado toda la vida viendo. Todas las imágenes entraron dentro de mí. Vi, vi, vi, Y ahora, en esta sala, donde no hay ningún lugar en el que mis ojos de cristal puedan descansar.

Oriana, sácame de aquí y ponme frente a una pared blanca, desnuda y lisa.


Depois falou o espelho:
- Eu estava num palácio e em frente de mim havia espaço, espaço e espaço. E o chão era de mármore liso e brilhante. E eu estava no fundo de uma galeria silenciosa e solitária. E contemplava o mudar das horas do dia. Vi os reis e as rainhas pálidos no dia da coroação, com suas coroas cintilantes e pesadas. Vi os ministros, os conselheiros, e os homens importantes com seu nariz comprido, a sua cara de caso e o seu ar solicito. E vi as namoradas de vestido branco que nas noites de bailes fugiam um instante para a galeria solitária. Elas deslizavam rápidas e leves negando sempre a flor que lhes pediam. E vi as multidões das revoluções que passavam, desesperadamente, partindo tudo, à procura de justiça. Vi, vi, vi.
Eu sou um espelho; passei toda a minha vida a ver. As imagens entraram todas dentro de mim. Vi, vi, vi. E agora estou nesta sala onde não há um lugar onde os meus olhos de vidro descansem. Tira-me daqui e põe-me em frente de uma parede branca, nua e lisa.
 
Disse o espelho - peço-te que tires da minha frente aquela bailarina de Saxe. Estou farto de a ver o dia inteiro sempre com o pé no ar em posição de desequilíbrio. Os meus olhos de vidro não têm pálpebras. Só as noites são as minhas pálpebras. Mas durante o dia nunca posso fechar os olhos. E estou cansadíssimo de passar os dias a ver uma bailarina com o pé no ar.
A bailarina estava numa prateleira em frente do espelho. Pegou nela e pô-la no outro lado da sala, em cima da cômoda, de maneira a que o espelho não a visse.
- Obrigado - Disse o espelho.

Sou, como já sabes, um espelho antiqüíssimo. Há séculos que todas as meninas querem saber se haverá no mundo alguém mais bonito do que elas. Vê-te bem. És muito bonita, mas há uma coisa muito mais bonita do que tu.
Uma parede branca, nua e lisa.
Ainda bem – disse o espelho. Mais não imaginas a quantidade de meninas que pelos séculos fora se olharem nos meus olhos de vidro e disseram: “Acho-me linda”!
Ele passa o dia em frente de mim, a ver-se em mim e a dizer: “É um cabelo lindo”. E eu já não o posso olhar.


O espelho disse-me que havia uma parede branca que era ainda mais bonita do que eu.
- Os espelhos são uns sonhadores, estão sempre a imaginar o que não vêem. És muito mais bonita do que uma parede.

lunes, 23 de mayo de 2022

YOUNG CORVETTO AND THE CANOPY BED SCANDAL

THIS POST IS A SEQUEL TO "SAVED FROM ARSENIC POISONING BY THE BELL!" IN WHICH, IN THE KINGDOM OF WIDE RIVER, YOUNG MANSERVANT CORVETTO SAVED HIS KING BENEDETTO FROM, OUI, CERTAIN ARSENIC POISONING - AND THE POISONER, A MARQUIS, SWALLOWED HIS OWN FIXED DRINK. OF COURSE HIS GRACE COULD NOT LEAVE THE LAD UNREWARDED AFTER SUCH A VALUABLE SERVICE TO THE CROWN...

This is a fragment from a retelling in Parcast Tales of a Pentamerone tale, "The Trials of Young Corvetto," so to picture yourself the fashion the characters are wearing and the artwork on the walls you must think mid-seventeenth century, Thirty-Years-War-era, in a Mediterranean heavily influenced by the Baroque and the Counter-Reformation.

Giambattista Basile became a courtier late in life (Count of Torone), after being most of his life a military officer. Though he was grateful for having to rest on his laurels, and for the patronage that allowed him to publish his tales and his sister Adriana to flourish as an opera singer (she also gleaned tales that are in the Pentamerone), stories like Corvetto's criticize the intrigue and politics of the royal palaces of his day, offering a glimpse of how jaded he was (compare H.C. Andersen's satirical depictions of courtly/royal life). The original Corvetto is littered with cynical asides lambasting political corruption. The original Corvetto opens thus: "Oh hapless the one who is condemned to live in that hell that goes by the name of court, where flattery is sold by the basket, malice and bad services measured by the quintal, and deceit and betrayal weighed by the bushel!"


"Aargh... Where did you learn to use your hands like this?" King Benedetto sighed as Corvetto kneaded the muscles of his back.

Corvetto's eyes were drawn to old battle scars criss-crossing the king's olive skin. Before the servant could ask, the king chuckled.

"Ha, ha, ha! Never be afraid to ask a warrior how he got his scars...We are the world's greatest sculptors, but we work in flesh, rather than marble. Our bodies are masterpieces."

Stories and ballads have been known to exaggerate the appearance of monarchs. Not so with the King of Wide River. Even when lying down, he was striking. And Corvetto could not help but agree that his body was a work of art. Still, the young man did not flatter or agree. Instead, he said:

"Your Grace, it has been some time since you drove the ogres from this land. Does a warrior's pride fade with age?"

Benedetto rolled over, forcing Corvetto to release his back.

"You're a clever one, Corvetto. But you have much to learn about what makes a king. Time passes, but there's still singing ballads about my deeds."

The conversation came to an end moments later, when one of the king's servants announced a visitor. Benedetto stood and covered himself with a cloak. Corvetto stepped out of the chamber and passed by two figures in jewelled robes, standing in the hallway: a man and a woman. The man had a thin skull-like face, with eyes set into their sockets like dull marbles. This was Viscount Niballo, one of the most influential men in the court. Standing at his side was a tall woman with hazelnut hair; Marchesa Agnella. She stared at Corvetto the same way one might look at a brown stain on a bedspread. Without a word, the two courtiers swept into the chamber.

Corvetto stood in the empty hallway for a moment, unsure of where to go. The rest of the court at the Palace of Wide River hated him, and, at first, he didn't understand why. He hadn't said anything rude or insulted the king. It took almost a year for Corvetto to understand. They hated him not because of anything he did, but because they had spent their lives toiling to be the king's most trusted ally, a position Corvetto had earned in a fraction of the time. It wasn't long before he started to notice traps laid for him around the palace. Just the other day he'd found a woman! The wife of a nobleman, waiting in his chambers, to ravish him! A naked ploy in both senses of the term... She'd clearly been hired to seduce him and cause a scandal. He paid her twice her fee to get rid of her.  

Not all the traps were so direct. Messages to him were intercepted, his garments were cut in compromising places, his chamber pot went neglected, and these tricks may have worked on a nobleman, but they would not work on a young man who grew dodging thieves, cutpurses, and con artists.

Corvetto was summoned back to the king's chambers shortly after his brush with the two courtiers. Upon entering, he noticed a change in Benedetto's expression. The king looked... eager. The viscount and the marchesa flanked him like gargoyles, eyes glinting wickedly. The king said:

"My dear Corvetto! I've just been given the most wonderful idea!"

domingo, 22 de mayo de 2022

SAVED FROM ARSENIC POISONING BY THE BELL!

This is a fragment from a retelling in Parcast Tales of a Pentamerone tale, "The Trials of Young Corvetto," so to picture yourself the fashion the characters are wearing and the artwork on the walls you must think mid-seventeenth century, Thirty-Years-War-era, in a Mediterranean heavily influenced by the Baroque and the Counter-Reformation.

Giambattista Basile became a courtier late in life (Count of Torone), after being most of his life a military officer. Though he was grateful for having to rest on his laurels, and for the patronage that allowed him to publish his tales and his sister Adriana to flourish as an opera singer (she also gleaned tales that are in the Pentamerone), stories like Corvetto's criticize the intrigue and politics of the royal palaces of his day, offering a glimpse of how jaded he was (compare H.C. Andersen's satirical depictions of courtly/royal life). The original Corvetto is littered with cynical asides lambasting political corruption. The original Corvetto opens thus: "Oh hapless the one who is condemned to live in that hell that goes by the name of court, where flattery is sold by the basket, malice and bad services measured by the quintal, and deceit and betrayal weighed by the bushel!"


There was no greater honour than a banquet invitation from the King of Wide River. Minor nobles sold their family heirlooms to afford the most expensive jewels and gowns. Commoners trained their sons to be the best cupbearers, in the hope that they would find themselves even serving at such an occasion! This pleased King Benedetto to no end. The members of his court bustled to and fro before him, a shifting rainbow of priceless fabric. Compliments poured in his ear from every angle, praising his kingdom as a vast improvement from the ogre tyrants that once ruled over this land.

Benedetto called out for another glass of wine. Before the servants could stir, the nobles tripped over themselves to fulfil the king's request. A goblet reached him, filled to the brim. He grinned, and raised his hand to drink... but someone seized his wrist. (GASPS FROM EVERYONE)

The chamber fell silent. Benedetto looked up in shock. It was a young servant! A tangle of dark brown hair poked from beneath his cap. His amber eyes were locked on the king, but not in fear... Before Benedetto could have him reprimanded, the young man said:

"Your Majesty, do not drink from this cup. The wine has been poisoned."

Benedetto snorted.

"Ha! Is that so? What makes you, a common boy, so certain of this?"

The young man replied:

"With all due respect, Your Grace, noble men and women grow up learning the intricacies of court life. Table manners, proper honorifics... So too does a common boy learn how to spot deadly intent in a crowd."

The youth pointed to a man, a red-faced marquis, keeping to the edge of the crowd. At the king's command, guards dragged the sweating nobleman forward. Without a word, the king handed him the cup. The man drank... and vomited blood all over the king's shoes. He dropped to the floor, convulsing and uttering half-choked curses. When he fell still, the king raised his eyes back to the young man.

"What is your name, clever servant?"

A wry grin spread across the young man's face.

"They call me... Corvetto."

domingo, 13 de abril de 2014

LEIBNIZ IN SHORT

Gottfried von Leibniz: orphan of war, child prodigy, courtier, mathematician, computer science pioneer, and Enlightened philosopher. 

Gottfried von Leibniz, a Baroque-era courtier, mathematician, and philosopher, clearly told physical evil (pain, death, grief, the blues, violent deaths caused by accidents and natural disaster), founded on the laws of nature; from moral evil (oppression, warfare, persecution, murders...), caused by humans' wrong use of their free will.  Leibniz, born in Leipzig in 1646, lost both his parents to the Thirty Years' War, and he had to study pretty hard for getting the Law degree he wanted. Yet he entered the local university (had I ever told you that Leipzig has been "the Oxford of the Continent" for decades?) in his early teens, and then served at several electoral courts, before appearing in the entourage of Kaiser Charles VI himself.  He is also considered "the father of calculus", id est, he discovered the derivatives and functions that made me pass Maths. To crown the list of his achievements, Leibniz created the binary system: the zeroes and ones that make up every single word or picture in this blog (or any other site in the Net), and the cornerstone of our modern Information Age (whether social networks or space explorations)!
 Perchance his justified success story is the reason why he said that "we live in the best of all possible worlds".