we used to sing this at school:
As I was a walking one morning in spring,
I met with some travellers in an old country lane.
One was an old man, the second a maid,
And the third was a young boy who smiled as he said:
"With the wind in the willows and the birds in the sky,
There's a bright sun to warm us wherever we lie.
We have bread and fishes and a jug of red wine,
To share on our journey with all of Mankind."
So I asked them to tell me their name and their race,
That I may remember their kindness and grace.
"My name it is Joseph, this is Mary my wife,
And this is our young Son who is our dear life."
"We are travelling to Glaston through England's green lanes,
To hear of men's troubles, to hear of men's pains.
We travel the wide world o'er the land and the sea,
To tell all the people how they can be free."
So sadly I left them in that old country lane,
I know that I never shall see them again.
One was an old man, the second a maid,
The third was a young boy who smiled as he said:
dunno where this song comes from, presumably it's later than 'wind in the willows', i expect the youngins sing it still. the fanciful narrative is an embellishment of the earlier myth/legend: here joseph of arimathea has been replaced by joseph and mary, and 'jesus' is a bit less central than a vaguer sense of 'trinity'. the myth goes that in his missing years young jesus came over with his rich uncle joseph to pick a spot to site the new jerusalem, and they pick glastonbury because it's remote, quite lovely in summer and, erm, 'ineffably holy' i.e. the druids liked it going back a long way.
it's just a local legend, something i took as facto when i was little, due to this song mainly, but hardly something that everyone spoke about a lot. then you grow up a bit, read a book or two, maybe come up with some independent thoughts and decide, 'hey, there's no hope of (dis/)proving that at all!'
facto: there was a very early christian church in glastonbury. evidence going back that far is so sketchy that it's possible that the church could have been dated to within no more than a few years of AD28 or whenever the crucifixion was supposed to be.
legendo: the local chieftain let these christians set-up and apparently offered them both protection and independence, and it seems unlikely he would have done that without serious cash or some genuine religiose wonder being involved somewhere. one of the madder books i have read recently (an ark of the covenant/monoatomic gold one) claims that, y'know essene alchemical secrets blah blah hidden away from the empire, bit of holy bloodline in there, arthur and camelot only ten miles down the road, arthur's authority came from being the official protector of the line etc.
so basically, people have been saying crazy things about the locale for a very long time, and show few signs of slowing down. the fact so many have an impulse to make up odd things about the place is to my mind evidence that there is something a bit weird going on. what can i say? i like it there. |
