My first encounter with Richard Barham's Ingoldsby Legends was in the pages of Rider Haggard's exciting adventure story King Solomon's Mines.
The hero Allan Quatermain says that while he is not a literary man, he is very devoted to the Old Testament and the Ingoldsby Legends. He reads these two books for the comfort of the familiar and the wisdom that they contain.
He refers to and quotes from the Legends several times, and in the sequel Allan Quatermain says that he often reads them when awake at night.
Intrigued by these references and hoping to find a new source of good reading material, I decided to get the book so that I could experience its attractions for myself. I found a very old copy in a second-hand bookshop and opened it eagerly when I got home.
There was much more material in the book than I was expecting, and I wasn't disappointed in the stories either. I found many of the Legends very amusing and enjoyable to read. I could now understand why this book always accompanied Allan Quatermain in his wanderings.
The Ingoldsby Legends, or Mirth and Marvels, to give the book its full and very appropriate title, is a collection of around 65 miscellaneous stories and poems, many with a supernatural element.
The Legends are attributed to 'Thomas Ingoldsby of Tappington Manor', but they were actually written by the Reverend Richard Harris Barham.
Much of the material in the Legends is based on traditional Kentish myths, legends and folklore.
There are many references to ghosts, witches and demons, and Old Nick i.e. the devil makes many appearances. However, as the Legends are intended to entertain the readers they are just as funny as they are frightening.
The Nurse's Story --The Hand of Glory is the first poem in the book. It is both horrifying and humorous; I liked it very much when I first read it.
This is how it starts:
"On the lone bleak moor, At the midnight hour,
Beneath the Gallows Tree,
Hand in hand The Murderers stand
By one, by two, by three!"
The Hand of Glory is used to put a household to sleep:
"Now open lock To the Dead Man's knock!
Fly bolt, and bar, and band!
Nor move, nor swerve, Joint, muscle, or nerve,
At the spell of the Dead Man's hand!
Sleep all who sleep!—Wake all who wake!—
But be as the Dead for the Dead Man's sake!"
These pictures show the murderers and the “little pug-dog with his little pug nose”:
The Jackdaw of Rheims is one of the best-known Legends. It tells of a tame jackdaw who steals the Cardinal's ring when the prelate removes it to wash his hands.
There is a chapter in King Solomon's Mines titled Water! Water! in which Allan Quatermain mentions the poem at a time when he is suffering from a torturing thirst:
“Presently it began to grow light enough to read, so I drew out a little pocket copy of the “Ingoldsby Legends” I had brought with me, and read the “Jackdaw of Rheims.” When I got to where
“A nice little boy held a golden ewer,
Embossed, and filled with water as pure
As any that flows between Rheims and Namur,”
I literally smacked my cracking lips, or rather tried to smack them. The mere thought of that pure water made me mad. If the Cardinal had been there with his bell, book, and candle, I would have whipped in and drank his water up; yes, even if he had filled it already with the suds of soap “worthy of washing the hands of the Pope”...”
It was this passage and Allan Quatermain's following words that first made me want to read The Ingoldsby Legends.
When the ring cannot be found, the Cardinal curses the thief:
"The Cardinal rose with a dignified look,
He call'd for his candle, his bell, and his book!
In holy anger, and pious grief,
He solemnly cursed that rascally thief!
He cursed him at board, he cursed him in bed;
From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head;
He cursed him in sleeping, that every night
He should dream of the devil, and wake in a fright..."
The poor little bedraggled jackdaw comes back to confess to the theft:
Some background information about Richard Barham and his Legends will appear in a future article.
A very attractive cover that shows the famous jackdaw:
