Classics Retold

A week passed and there was no tidings of Bathsheba. Nor was there any explanation of her  Gilpin's Rig .  Then a note came for Maryann, stating that the business which had called her mistress to Bath still detained her there; but she hoped to return in the course of another week.  Another week passed.  The oat-harvest began, and all the men were in the field under monochromatic  Lammas  sky amid the trembling air and short shadows of noon.  Indoors nothing was to be heard save the droning of blue-bottle flies; out of doors the whetting of scythes and the hiss of tressy oat-ears rubbing together as their perpendicular stalks of amber-yellow fell heavily to each swath. Every drop of moisture in the form of cider was raining as perspiration from their heads and cheeks. Drought was everywhere else.  They withdrew for a while into the shade of a tree in the fence.  Coggan saw a figure in blue coat and brass buttons running to them across the fiel...

Whit Tuesday or WitsunTuesday is a Christian holiday observed on Tuesday after Pentecost Sunday, 51 days after Easter, and the day following whit Monday.  It is traditionally celebrated in various European countries, including parts of Germany, with church services and historical traditions. In England this time is associated with wakes week and fairs. 

Scythe is a traditional agricultural hand tool used for mowing grass or harvesting crops like grains. It consists of a long, often curved wooden handle called snath and a curved steel blade attached at right angle.  Scythe was not common in Indian subcontinent.  Sickle was the tool for  harvesting of grains in Indian subcontinent. Scythe was widely used in Europe from 8th century, primarily for haymaking, hay being the winter fodder for livestock. In Indian subcontinent's tropical climate livestocks were driven freely for grazing.  Harvesting in Indian subcontinent involved grabbing a handful of stalks and cutting them precisely with sickle to avoid wasting grains, whereas scythe uses a broad sweeping motion.  Interestingly, scythes are currently being promoted in states like Uttarakhand and Assam through government schemes to help farmers to stand upright and increasing harvesting speed.  Scythe was largely unsuitable for wetland paddy cultivation, which i...

Lammas sky refers to the atmosphere and celestial events surrounding the festival of Lammas which marks the first grain harvest on  1st August in the Northern Hemisphere.  It is characterized by the twilight of summer featuring high summer heat and the begining of the Sun's slow descent as days start to shorten.  The sky often displays golden yellow, orange and amber light reflecting the ripening wheat fields. The atmosphere is hazy with the scent of dust and hay, and shadows stretching longer across the hills as the light grows softer. It is a threshold between the fire of summer and the cooling of Autumn.  This time is highlighted by the presence of Spica, the star of abundance and Arcturus, the bright star.  It is an occasion to perform rituals of gratitude for the harvest. Lammas may also bring heavy and unpredictable rain causing flood, and becomes a distress for harvest. The rituals include setting up of harvest altars decorated with sunflowers and wheat s...

"Running a rig"  or "running such rig" is a phrase often associated with the 18th century poem The Diverting History of John Gilpin by William Cowper, meaning to play a trick, engage in a frolic, or suffer a ridiculous, chaotic, or unexpected adventure.  In the poem, John Gilpin is a linen draper, who goes on a disastrous horse ride, of which the narrator says, "He little dreamt, when he set out, of running such a rig. A rig here means a sportive trick, a frolic, or a rowdy mocking or deceptive act.  It describes someone experiencing an, unexpected, messy, or embarassing situation. A young person, an urchin etc.  In Far From The Madding Crowd the situation that Bathsheba Everdene faces when he went in search of Sergeant Francis Troy to inform him of Boldwood's Fury and warn him of some untoward incidents to Gilpin's Rig.

Cracked and mouldy halls of Bathsheba's house.  Maryann was was the lone occupier of the halls.  The church clock struck eleven. The village of Weatherbury was quiet as a graveyard.  Maryann turned in her bed with a sense of being distributed. She was in the midst of sleep.  A dream was the cause of her awakening: something had happened. She sat up in the bed, and walked towards the window and looked out.  The paddock touched this end of the building.  She could just discern the uncertain gray moving figure approaching the horse that was feeding there.  The figure seized the horse by the forelock, and led it to the corner of the field.  Here stood a vehicle.  Minutes later, which she thought was spent in harnessing, she heard the trot of horse mingled with the sound of light wheels.  Maryann feared it were robbers.  She hastily slipped on clothes, stumped down the disjointed staircase with its hundred creaks, ran to Coggan's the nea...