The Elephant And Castle Analysis

“One storyteller,” the old widow continued, “told me about a great and fearful monster which had been captured by a brave prince, and held captive in the great city by the river.”

She gave some terrifying details about the “monster” and its capture, none of which was accurate in any way. It would appear she was referring to the incident in 1253 when an elephant was presented to the King which he kept in a castle, no doubt for safety reasons and to prevent panic in the population who had never seen such a large and fearful creature. The “Elephant and Castle” is a reference still used today.

The old widow continued with her many stories, and young Edmond’s lessons continued happily throughout the summer. She in turn seemed to gain some comfort

The old widow sat on her upturned log next to me and scowled, but young Edmond didn’t take much notice. The man had seen Mary in the village the previous autumn while he was working on the house over the other side. His visits became a regular occurrence.
Late spring was hot with just enough rain to plant and reap an early harvest. So much sunshine was around that a second harvest was sown. Summer became quite hot so the corn ripened quickly. Everyone available was called upon to bring in the harvest in case the weather broke and destroyed all the hard work. Plenty of grain was around that year, and Adam brought something for her to be cooked once a week, a pheasant, a grouse, or the occasional duck from the big river, and some fish too.
One of Mary’s relatives still caught a few rabbits, although fewer now. They’d been plentiful, but so were the foxes, keeping their numbers down. An eagle had taken to watching the meadow from one of my tallest branches. His heavy frame prevented him swooping quickly enough on the alert rabbits, but he would fly high in the early morning warm air rising from the river basin over the low hills. Like a dark blur of a shadow it would descend, and its saber-sharp talons would dig deep into the rabbit’s