[Sca-cooks] something about Gourds
Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise
jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
Thu Feb 8 12:19:47 PST 2007
We talked about gourds at one point, and I think it was on one of these
lists I said that I would try to get the stuff about them from the 9th
century text. Here it is:
Gourds, from Walafrid Strabo's _Hortulus_
The gourd too aspires to grow high from a humble beginning...
... Even so my gourd, rising on brittle stems,
Welcomes the props that are put there for it, hugging the alder
in the grip of its curly tentacles. It's so determined
Not to be wrenched away by even the wildest storm
That it thrusts out a cable at every joint and, each
Extending two strands, siezes support on this side and that.
It reminds me too of girls spinning, when they draw
The soft heaps of wool to their spindles, and in great twists
Measure off the endless thread into trim balls-- Just so
The wandering thongs of my gourd twist and cling; quick
To wrap their coils round the smooth sticks set as ladders for them
They learn to use borrowed strength and, with a swimmer's thrust,
Climb the steep rooms of the covered cloister. Oh, who now
Can praise as he ought the fruits that hang from its branches
Everywhere? They are as perfectly formed from every angle
As a piece of wood that is turned and shaved on a lathe.
They hang on a slender stalk and swell from a long, thin neck
Into huge bodies, their great mass broadening at the flanks.
They are all belly, all pauch. Inside
That cavernous prison are nourished, each in its place, the many
Seeds that promise another harvest as good as this one.
At the approach of tardy autumn, while yet they are tender
And before the hidden moisture that is sealed inside them dries
To leave but the withered shells, we often see the fruit
Handed round among the good things of the dinner-table
and soaking up the rich fat in a piping-dish;
For often these juicy slices, served as dessert,
Delight the palate. But if you let the gourd stay
Enjoying the summer sun on its parent tree and only
Set your blade to it late in the year, then after scooping
The flesh from its ponderous belly and shaving the sides
On a nimble lathe, you can put it to practical use as a vessel.
A pint this mighty paunch will sometimes hold, sometimes
Half a gallon or more; and if you seal your jar
With gummy pitch it will keep wine good for many a day.
Translated by Raef Payne. (Pittsurgh, PA: Hunt Botanical Library, 1966)
--
-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
"History doesn't always repeat itself. Sometimes it screams
'Why don't you ever listen to me?' and lets fly with a club."
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