Marshall - The Battle of Bannockburn - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

 

The first Saturday in August is always the St. Andrew's Society of Detroit's Annual Highland Games and this year is the 177th! 

Scots have a long memory! 

On this blog in 2025 I told the story of the Battle of Bannockburn and look forward to sharing it again at the Games. I will be telling at the Wee Bairns area. That name is slightly misleading for the Wee Bairns is actually aimed at sharing Scottish culture for all ages.

The version I used here in 2025 was difficult to read online. I suggest going to its source The history of England by Arnold-Foster where it's slightly larger than was able to be produced here. As I mentioned then, it's an English version of the battle, but "one of the easiest Public Domain summaries of the major facts." 

I also mentioned  Scotland's Story: A history of Scotland for Boys and Girls by H. E. (Henrietta Elizabeth) Marshall. At that time giving a picture from the chapter on "The Bruce killing de Bohun at the Battle of Bannockburn." That picture was from Marshall's chapter on the day before the battle. Here is her description of the actual battle. 

 

I think both the Arnold-Foster and Marshall versions are worth knowing as they point out different things, including looking at the results from both perspectives. Arnold -Foster looking at the "unfortunate" reign of Edward II and its end. Marshall points to the way the Scots treated the English, both the dead and their prisoners in what was "more kind to these prisoners than was usually the case in those wild days." At the same time she points to Bruce getting back "his wife, daughter, and sisters, and the other noble ladies who had been kept in English prisons for eight years." Both point out that from then on Scotland was never ruled by a foreign king.

Personally I wish Marshall had said more about the schiltrons the Scots used. That use of spears and sabotaging the terrain permitted the smaller Scottish force of 6,000 to defeat the roughly 30,000 of the invading English. 

A Wikipedia overview of the Battle of Bannockburn is not as engrossing as actual visiting the Bannockburn Visitor Centre where they do an outstanding job of putting you in the experience.

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This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, “Keeping the Public in Public Domain.” The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated. I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20^th century. My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them. I hope you enjoy discovering them.

At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it.

See the sidebar for other Public Domain story resources I recommend on the page “Public Domain Story Resources."

 

Jacobs - The Tiger, The Brahmin and the Jackal - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Next week on July 29 is World Tiger Day. This beautiful but dangerous creature has a long history with people. World Wildlife Fund has an interesting quiz worth taking to learn more about them. There also are many stories about them including today's tale said to have more than a hundred variants! If you start with what is probably the oldest, the Panchatantra, it would be about 28 or 29 THOUSAND! years old. 

Obviously it is a story worth telling. The question becomes where to start?

Joseph Jacobs is excellent at handling something with such a varied history. (He's the one noting more than a hundred variants when he discussed it in Europa's Fairy Book.) There's no room here to give a hundred versions for comparison, but I do want to mention Sara Cone Bryant's version in Stories to Tell Children because she can always be depended on to offer a tellable story. In it she explains, " Do you know what a Brahmin is? A Brahmin is a very good and gentle kind of man who lives in India, and who treats all the beasts as if they were his brothers. There is a great deal more to know about Brahmins, but that is enough for the story." Later in the story she uses the Banyan Tree for the tree in the story, saying "(A banyan tree is a kind of fruit tree.)" Jacobs uses a "pipal tree" which is probably more accurate given its religious importance to India, but in telling the story I find Bryant's use and explanation of the banyan tree easier to keep the flow of the story. Since the banyan is also considered a Hindu sacred plant, that is what I would use.

One further reason why I chose to post the Jacobs version is, once again in Indian Fairy Tales he has John D. Batten's illustrations. The two worked together on almost all of the Jacobs' folktale anthologies. Batten's work always adds to the enjoyment and understanding. Bryant lets stories stand on their own merits without illustrations. I do have one complaint with Batten's illustration, the jackal is not easy to picture. Neither Jacobs nor Bryant tell anything about jackals, keeping his words and actions the focus.

The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal

nce upon a time, a tiger was caught in a trap. He tried in vain to get out through the bars, and rolled and bit with rage and grief when he failed.

By chance a poor Brahman came by. "Let me out of this cage, oh pious one!" cried the tiger.

"Nay, my friend," replied the Brahman mildly, "you would probably eat me if I did."

"Not at all!" swore the tiger with many oaths; "on the contrary, I should be for ever grateful, and serve you as a slave!"

Now when the tiger sobbed and sighed and wept and swore, the pious Brahman's heart softened, and at last he consented to open the door of the cage. Out popped the tiger, and, seizing the poor man, cried, "What a fool you[67] are! What is to prevent my eating you now, for after being cooped up so long I am just terribly hungry!"

In vain the Brahman pleaded for his life; the most he could gain was a promise to abide by the decision of the first three things he chose to question as to the justice of the tiger's action.

So the Brahman first asked a pipal tree what it thought of the matter, but the pipal tree replied coldly, "What have you to complain about? Don't I give shade and shelter to every one who passes by, and don't they in return tear down my branches to feed their cattle? Don't whimper—be a man!"

Then the Brahman, sad at heart, went further afield till he saw a buffalo turning a well-wheel; but he fared no better from it, for it answered, "You are a fool to expect gratitude! Look at me! Whilst I gave milk they fed me on cotton-seed and oil-cake, but now I am dry they yoke me here, and give me refuse as fodder!"

The Brahman, still more sad, asked the road to give him its opinion.

"My dear sir," said the road, "how foolish you are to expect anything else! Here am I, useful to everybody, yet all, rich and poor, great and small, trample on me as they go past, giving me nothing but the ashes of their pipes and the husks of their grain!"

On this the Brahman turned back sorrowfully, and on the way he met a jackal, who called out, "Why, what's the matter, Mr. Brahman? You look as miserable as a fish out of water!"

The Brahman told him all that had occurred. "How very confusing!" said the jackal, when the recital[68] was ended; "would you mind telling me over again, for everything has got so mixed up?"

The Brahman told it all over again, but the jackal shook his head in a distracted sort of way, and still could not understand.

"It's very odd," said he, sadly, "but it all seems to go in at one ear and out at the other! I will go to the place where it all happened, and then perhaps I shall be able to give a judgment."

So they returned to the cage, by which the tiger was waiting for the Brahman, and sharpening his teeth and claws.

"You've been away a long time!" growled the savage beast, "but now let us begin our dinner."

"Our dinner!" thought the wretched Brahman, as his knees knocked together with fright; "what a remarkably delicate way of putting it!"

"Give me five minutes, my lord!" he pleaded, "in order that I may explain matters to the jackal here, who is somewhat slow in his wits."

The tiger consented, and the Brahman began the whole story over again, not missing a single detail, and spinning as long a yarn as possible.

"Oh, my poor brain! oh, my poor brain!" cried the jackal, wringing its paws. "Let me see! how did it all begin? You were in the cage, and the tiger came walking by——"

"Pooh!" interrupted the tiger, "what a fool you are! I was in the cage."

"Of course!" cried the jackal, pretending to tremble with fright; "yes! I was in the cage—no I wasn't—dear![69] dear! where are my wits? Let me see—the tiger was in the Brahman, and the cage came walking by——no, that's not it, either! Well, don't mind me, but begin your dinner, for I shall never understand!"

"Yes, you shall!" returned the tiger, in a rage at the jackal's stupidity; "I'll make you understand! Look here—I am the tiger——"

"Yes, my lord!"

"And that is the Brahman——"

"Yes, my lord!"

"And that is the cage——"

"Yes, my lord!"

"And I was in the cage—do you understand?"

"Yes—no—— Please, my lord——"

"Well?" cried the tiger impatiently.

"Please, my lord!—how did you get in?"

"How!—why in the usual way, of course!"

"Oh, dear me!—my head is beginning to whirl again! Please don't be angry, my lord, but what is the usual way?"

At this the tiger lost patience, and, jumping into the cage, cried, "This way! Now do you understand how it was?"

"Perfectly!" grinned the jackal, as he dexterously shut the door, "and if you will permit me to say so, I think matters will remain as they were!"

***

The endangered status of Tigers is part of the quiz mentioned at the start. Here are several World Wildlife Fund articles about them. I particularly want to recommend their Teaching Tools About Wildlife and Forests.

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This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, “Keeping the Public in Public Domain.” The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated. I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20^th century. My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them. I hope you enjoy discovering them.

At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it.

See the sidebar for other Public Domain story resources I recommend on the page “Public Domain Story Resources."

Reineck - The Cloud - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

https://unsplash.com/photos/rainbow-on-sky-t02XukS9dUU?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink

Looking up into the sky for more summer stories turned up a brief tale by Robert Reineck translated from the German by Eleanor Skinner.

THE CLOUD
 
Robert Reineck

One hot summer morning a little cloud rose out of the sea, and floated playfully across the blue sky. The dreary brown earth, parched with a long drouth, lay far below. The little cloud looked down and saw the poor people toiling away with heavy hearts, while she, carefree and happy, floated along on the fresh morning breeze.

She said to herself, "Oh, how much I wish I could help the poor people down there. If I could but lighten their work, or refresh them with food and drink!"

As the day passed and the cloud grew larger, the wish to help the suffering people filled her heart.

On earth it grew hotter and hotter, and the people were fainting with heat, but they could not stop their work, for they were very poor. Sometimes they looked pleadingly up into the sky. It seemed as if they were saying to the cloud: "Oh, if you could but help us!"

"I will help you! I will, indeed!" said the cloud, and she began immediately to sink softly toward the earth.

As she floated down she suddenly remembered something which she had heard when she was a tiny child, rocked in the lap of Mother Ocean. Someone had told her that clouds die if they float too near the earth.

For a moment she wavered in her thought and drifted to and fro. But at last she stood still and spoke bravely and cheerfully, "Men of the earth, I will help you, come what may."

Suddenly she grew large, and strong and powerful. Never before had she dreamed herself capable of such strength. Like an angel of blessing she stood above the earth, lifted her head, and spread her wings far over the broad fields.

So great and mighty she appeared that men and beasts marvelled at the sight; the trees, grass, and flowers bowed their heads before her, but in their hearts they knew she would help them.

"Yes, I will help you," cried the cloud once more. "Take me to yourselves! I die for you!"

A mighty purpose filled the cloud's heart, and a holy light shone from her face. She sank nearer to the earth. The next moment a blessed shower of rain refreshed the hills and valleys.

The rain was the cloud's deed; the rain was the cloud's death; but through her death she was glorified.

After the shower was over, a lovely rainbow, made of the purest rays of heavenly light, arched across the sky. It was the last greeting of a love so great that it could serve.

Soon the rainbow, too, disappeared, but the memory of the blessing which the shower had brought to the earth was kept in the hearts of men for many years to come.

***

Like the rainbow, any information about the author disappeared. May the beauty of the rainbow and possibly a cooling shower come your way when telling this story.

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This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, “Keeping the Public in Public Domain.” The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated. I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20^th century. My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them. I hope you enjoy discovering them.

At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it.

See the sidebar for other Public Domain story resources I recommend on the page “Public Domain Story Resources."

 

Skinner - How the Sun Was Caught and Freed - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

We are squarely in mid-summer, complete with strong sun UV rays. There was a time when children played all a summer day without a hint of sunscreen, maybe even using something like Coppertone to get a tan. I remember every summer started out with one sunburn and then all others became a tan. 

Eleanor Skinner in The Turquoise Story Book retold a story of attempted control of the sun. She only calls it an "Indian legend", but the housing in it is a "wigwam." Since that is an Algonquian word used by the Anishinaabe, it is probably a story from either Canada's First Nations or here in the north central part of the U.S. 

https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthy-aging-and-longevity/the-science-of-sunscreen

I can easily picture this story here in Michigan. It also fits summer so well. Right about now people might indeed wish they could control the sun. Here is a legend about trying that.

HOW THE SUN WAS CAUGHT AND
FREED

Once upon a time there lived a little Indian boy who was very proud of his beautiful coat. His sister had made it for him out of the skins of ten snow-birds. Carefully she had dried these skins, stretched them, and pieced them into a soft, warm garment. The lad was so fond of his coat that he wore it whenever he left the wigwam, no matter how warm the sun shone.

One morning the Indian lad took a long walk and becoming very tired he threw himself down on a grassy hillside to rest, and fell sound asleep.

"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the Sun when he saw the boy wrapped in a bird-skin coat in summer time. "I must give this lad a hint that the snow and ice are gone and it is time to lay aside winter coverings."

With all his warm might the Sun shone on the sleeping lad. Gradually the feathers of his coat curled up and became singed and brown, and the garment shrank to a very small size.

"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the Sun.

When the Indian lad awoke he wondered what had happened to him for he felt as if he were caught in a trap. He sprang to his feet and discovered that his beautiful coat had shrunk until it was entirely too small for him.

"It is ruined," he cried aloud. "Ruined by that monster Sun. He shall not play such tricks on me and escape without punishment." Then, shaking his fist in the Sun's face, he shouted, "I'll make you pay for ruining my beautiful bird-skin coat."

"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the Sun.

The Indian lad ran back to the wigwam as fast as he could, carrying the garment in his hands.

"See what has happened!" he cried to his sister. "That vicious Sun shrank my beautiful coat while I was asleep on the hillside. I can never wear it again."

"Perhaps I can stretch it for you," said his sister.

"No, no! See, the feathers are singed and brown. It is ruined!"

He was so sorely vexed that he could neither eat nor sleep. For twenty days he fasted in the wigwam and wondered how he could call the mischievous Sun to account for spoiling the bird-skin coat.

One morning he sprang up and said to his sister, "I have thought out a way to punish the Sun. In his high path across the sky he thinks he is safe from a little lad like me, but I'll show him what I can do if you will help me."

"Tell me your plan," said the sister, wondering how any mortal could punish the mighty Sun.

"I'll set a snare for him and catch him!" cried her brother excitedly. "I want the strongest cord you can find."

"I've plenty of dried moose-hide; will that be strong enough?" she asked.

"No, no! That would never hold the Sun," said the boy.

His sister thought a while and then said, "I have dried sinew of deer."

But still her brother shook his head. "The Sun is a mighty quarry. I must have something stronger than the sinew of the deer."

"Then I must search in the deep woods," said his sister.

She left the wigwam and for nine days she searched through the forest. At last she returned with a twisted cord which she had made from the strongest wood fiber. As soon as her brother saw it he knew what to do. He drew the twisted fiber through his lips and immediately it became so fine and strong that he believed nothing could break it. Round and round his body the lad wound this cord; at one end of it he fashioned a noose.

Confident that he was now prepared to snare the Sun, the lad left the wigwam long before daybreak. He walked to the spot where the Sun first peeps over the rim of the earth, and there he securely fixed the noose. Then as he walked back to the lodge he unwound from his body the cord, and held fast to the end of it.

The Sun was caught in this snare! His shining head was held tight in the noose and he could not travel across his Sky-Path. A strange dull light filled the air.

In his wigwam the Indian lad was delighted. He danced about joyously and said, "The mighty Sun will learn that he cannot play a trick on me and escape without punishment."

But while the Indian lad laughed and sang because he had caught the Sun in his noose the Animals were in deep trouble for there was no daylight in the world. They walked cautiously about, filled with fear and wonder.

"What has happened to the Sun? Has he strayed from his Sky-Path?" they whispered to each other.

After a while they discovered that the Sun was caught in a great noose and they called a Council in order to decide what to do.

"Of course we must free the Sun," said all the Animals, but when one of them asked how this could be done there was silence in the Council for a long time, because all the Animals knew about the Sun's great heat and feared to go near enough to break the cord.

At last the mole said, "I'll free the Sun. I'm not afraid. My teeth are very sharp and I'm sure they can gnaw through the cord of the noose."

Accordingly she crept near to the edge of the earth where the Sun was held fast. The heat was intense but the mole was determined not to give up her undertaking. She gnawed and gnawed, until the cord was cut in two. Then up into the sky sprang the Sun with a mighty bound. Before the Mole could run away, however, the Sun's white light shone full in her eyes, and from that day she has not been able to see very well. Her eyes are extremely small and are almost hidden by fur. That is why she lives in dark places and seldom comes out into the sunlight. But the Animals are all grateful to her and they often say, "It was the brave Mole who cut the Indian boy's noose which held the Sun."

***

Surely people have a very different view of the mole from most animals. The picture of a mole comes from Havahart.com mole-facts. Havahart goes back to 1940 in offering humane traps of a wide variety of animals. The mole facts page opens by talking about how "Their digging habits notoriously destroy lawns, gardens and golf courses, frustrating home and business owners."

It is only when you get to their diet does it begin to acknowledge a bit of the value of moles. "Moles are insectivores, eating 70-100% of their weight in worms, grubs and insects each day." Talking about their tunneling, an explanation is given, "In order to hunt down their ground-dwelling prey, moles constantly excavate, leaving behind a series of tunnels. This digging requires a tremendous amount of energy, which may explain the mole's voracious appetite."

Wolves and dogs certainly don't agree with the story's conclusion that  "the Animals are all grateful to her" and love to dig them up and eat them. 

 

Guess we must accept both the sun and the mole!

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This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, “Keeping the Public in Public Domain.” The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated. I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20^th century. My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them. I hope you enjoy discovering them.

At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it.

See the sidebar for other Public Domain story resources I recommend on the page “Public Domain Story Resources."

 

Borrow - "Cogia Efendi one day went into a garden" - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

 

17th-century miniature of Nasruddin

Even as we celebrate our own 4th of July, I can't help noting an international celebration at the same time. Current online references to the Annual 67th International Nasreddin Hodja Festival are in Turkish, so AI explains it this way:

The 2026 International Nasreddin Hodja Culture and Art Festival in Sivrihisar, Eskişehir, takes place from June 29 to July 5, with the main events and concerts running from July 3 to 5. This annual celebration features the iconic "göle maya çalma" (making the lake ferment) ceremony, folk dances, art exhibitions, and free nightly concerts. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Key Festival Highlights

• Core Event Dates: June 29 – July 5
• Main Concerts: July 3 – 5 at the Open-Air Sculpture Museum (Açık Hava Heykel Bahçesi)
• Göl’e Maya Çalma (Yeast in the Lake): Traditionally held on July 1 in Nasreddin Hodja Neighborhood to kick off the cultural celebrations.
• Free Nightly Performances: Artists taking the stage include Resul Dindar, Uğur Işılak, Derya Bedavacı, and Ebru Yaşar. [1, 2, 3, 4]

I'm surprised that the last time I featured the Hodja wasn't at last year's festival time, but earlier back in March of that year looking ahead to April Fool's Day. The Hodja is often called a "wise fool." At that time I mentioned two Public Domain books found at Project Gutenberg:   Allan Ramsay's Tales from Turkey , which only has a few Hodja tales and George Borrow, trans. [1884]. The Turkish Jester or, The Pleasantries of Cogia Nasr Eddin Effendi . 

At that time I complained "Borrow's text is formatted poorly, but the brief stories are in paragraphs that often begins 'One day the Cogia...' "  I still regret the way he handles the stories, but know it has a wealth of stories. 

Since gardens are now beginning to have the first signs of produce, I enjoyed this story translated by Borrow of the Hodja in a garden. 

Cogia Efendi one day went into a garden, pulled up some carrots and turnips and other kinds of vegetables, which he found, putting some into a sack and some into his bosom; suddenly the gardener coming up, laid hold of him, and said, ‘What are you seeking here?’  The Cogia, being in great consternation, not finding any other reply, answered, ‘For some days past a great wind has been blowing, and that wind blew me hither.’  ‘But who pulled up these vegetables?’ said the gardener.  ‘As the wind blew very violently,’ replied the Cogia, ‘it cast me here and there, and whatever I laid hold of in the hope of saving myself remained in my hands.’  ‘Ah,’ said the gardener, ‘but who filled the sack with them?’  ‘Well,’ said the Cogia, ‘that is the very question I was about to ask myself when you came up.’ 

Of course a Wikipedia article about Nasreddin Hodja is available. I also recommend an excellent overview from last year's "800 years on, Türkiye celebrates the wit and wisdom of its own Nasreddin Hodja." 

The Hodja's name is given in many ways and his location spreads through many countries in the Middle East, but surely the central Anatolian town called Akşehir or Eskişehir, in the country nowadays being called Türkiye, is THE place where he most notably lives on. His tales are enjoyable no matter what your language.

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This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, “Keeping the Public in Public Domain.” The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated. I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20^th century. My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them. I hope you enjoy discovering them.

At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it.

See the sidebar for other Public Domain story resources I recommend on the page “Public Domain Story Resources."

 

 

Happy Treason Day?

Here's an Update I'm now adding: 

If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future.

– Winston Churchill –

That is so appropriate for what today's post considers that I'm putting it at the very beginning!

I really don't want any post about the Fourth of July to get political. I'm well aware that current public  polling about the holiday is gloomy:

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll out this month, a plurality of Democrats – 42 percent – say that Independence Day is about “friends and family time,” compared to only 24 percent who say that the holiday is about “celebrating America.” Among Republicans, meanwhile, 65 percent say the holiday is about celebrating America, while 23 percent say it’s about friends and family.

The same poll also asked whether respondents would display an American Flag this July 4. Just 27 percent of Democrats said yes, compared to 64 percent of Republicans. When that same question was asked in July 2001, 68 percent of Republicans and 65 percent of Democrats said they would display the flag.

But perhaps the most astonishing finding on the left’s patriotic collapse is that more than half of Democrats don’t even want to live in America.

 or to put it another way:

or as Homework.Study.com explains: 

"Happy Treason Day" is a hilarious, tongue-in-cheek nod to U.S. Independence Day! It’s all about playfully reminding our British friends that the Founding Fathers technically committed treason when they signed the Declaration of Independence.  

That got me thinking back to the Bicentennial in 1976. History.com looked back to see how it differs from today. I especially enjoyed this section: 

 International Recognition

Two official state visits took place during the Bicentennial celebrations, according to the Ford Presidential Museum. French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and his wife, Anne-Aymone, visited in May. In July, Great Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II toured several states, including attending a formal state dinner in Philadelphia.

“We are deeply grateful for having been invited to visit the United States in the main week of your bicentennial,” the queen said during the event. “After all, nobody can say that what happened on the Fourth of July 1776 was not very much a bilateral affair between us.”

During the visit, she presented the country with the Bicentennial Bell on behalf of Britain.

While I have seen tee shirts with Queen Elizabeth and the "Happy Treason Day" meme, this updating will probably soon appear on a shirt.

Made by AlexBrodsky 3 years ago

For a look further back to 1912, Project Gutenberg has preserved several of the books in the series by Robert Haven Schauffler called Our American Holidays.  At the start of the anthology, Independence Day; its celebration, spirit and significance as related in prose and verse readers are presented with a preface that emphasizes the importance of Independence Day as America's national holiday and critiques how it has been traditionally celebrated with meaningless noise and injury. Schauffler advocates for a more meaningful observance that honors the holiday's true historical significance. While no source other than the author's name is given, I appreciate the book's opening by Viscount James Bryce to the section called "Spirit and Significance."  (He was the British ambassador to the United States from 1907 to 1913. Wikipedia notes he "was very efficient in strengthening Anglo-American ties and friendship.")

---

ENGLAND AND AMERICA

BY JAMES BRYCE

This is a memorable day to Englishmen as well as to Americans. It is to us a day both of regret and of rejoicing: of regret at the severance of the political connection which bound the two branches of our race together, and of regret even more for the unhappy errors which brought that severance about, and the unhappy strife by which the memory of it was embittered. But it is also a day of rejoicing, for it is the birthday of the eldest daughter of England—the day when a new nation, sprung from our own, first took its independent place in the world. And now with the progress of time, rejoicing has prevailed over regret, and we in England can at length join heartily with you in celebrating the beginning of your national life. All sense of bitterness has passed away, and been replaced by sympathy with all which this anniversary means to an American heart.

England and America now understand one another far better than they ever did before. In 1776 there was on one side a monarch and a small ruling caste, on the other side a people. Now our government can no longer misrepresent the nation, and across the ocean a people speaks to a people. We have both come, and that most notably within recent months, to perceive that all over the world the interests of America and of England are substantially the same.

The sense of our underlying unity over against the other races and forms of civilization has been a potent force in drawing us together. It is said that the Fourth of July is a day of happy augury for mankind. This is true because on that day America entered on a course and proclaimed principles of government which have been of profound significance for mankind. Many nations have had a career of conquest and of civilizing dominion: but to make an immense people prosperous, happy, and free is a nobler and grander achievement than the most brilliant conquests and the widest dominion.

***

I'm sure that both Schauffler and Bryce would be appalled with the present opinions found in the Reuters/Ipsos poll opening today's look at the Fourth of July during America 250.

 

The Royal Fireworks by Handel and Beyond

Even before the Fourth of July, fireworks are beginning. Here in the Detroit metro area there will be many including on the Detroit riverfront on Monday the 22d. To find even more, the local Oakland County Moms newsletter has listed still more places where they will appear.

I'm a lover of classical music, so I expect to hear Music for the Royal Fireworks played on local classical music stations. I knew George Frideric Handel had composed it for a celebration for England's king George II, but I had no idea there was much more to the story. 

Hand colored etching of the fireworks and illuminations at his Grace, the Duke of Richmond's, at Whitehall and on the River Thames on Monday 15 May 1749. The occasion for which George Frideric Handel composed his Music for the Royal Fireworks.  

The actual story is a tale of difficulty satisfying the king's musical taste and fireworks that seem almost cursed. 

The firework display was for the benefit of King George II of Great Britain to celebrate the signing of the treaty at Aix la Chapelle in 1748 marking the end of the War of Austrian Succession. 

During the preparations, Handel and Duke John Montagu, the Master-General of the Ordnance and the officer responsible for the Royal Fireworks, had an argument about adding violins. The duke made clear to Handel that King George had a preference for only martial instruments (winds and percussion), and hoped there would be "no fiddles." Handel omitted the string instruments against his will. 

Also, against Handel's will, there was a full rehearsal of the music in Vauxhall Gardens and not in Green Park, where he wanted it. On April 21, 1749 an audience estimated to be over twelve thousand people, each paying two shillings and six pence (half a crown), rushed to attend the rehearsal, causing a three-hour traffic jam of carriages on London Bridge, the only vehicular route to the area south of the river.

The fireworks themselves were devised and controlled by Gaetano Ruggieri and Giuseppe Sarti, both from Bologna. The Ruggieri family was one of the longest surviving dynasties in the pyrotechnical trade, later firing the celebrations for the French Revolution and were still around to supervise the display in New York harbor when the Statue of Liberty was rededicated in 1986. Charles Frederick was the controller, captain Thomas Desaguliers was the chief fire master. Unfortunately the display was not as successful as the music itself. The weather was rainy, causing many misfires, and in the middle of the show one of the fireworks landed on the pavilion of the Temple of Peace, igniting the several thousand fireworks inside, killing three spectators. Also, a woman's clothes were set on fire by a stray rocket and other fireworks burned two soldiers and blinded a third. (Even before the performance another soldier, at an earlier rehearsal for the 101 cannon used during the event, had his hand blown off.)

Certainly the official fireworks part of the performance for the king seems ill-fated, but Handel re-scored the suite for full orchestra for a performance on May 27 in the Foundling Hospital. From the very first in both the original and later full orchestral version, the music has always proven very popular. . . just don't add actual fireworks!