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The British Parliament and the rights of labourers.

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The British Parliament and the rights of labourers.

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Eveline and The Dead

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Kahoot Oscar Wilde & The Picture of Dorian Gray

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Kahoot Oscar Wilde & The Picture of Dorian Gray

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Leggere attentamente

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Linking Words & Key Phrases | ESSAY WRITING | Cambridge English: First (FCE) PAPER 2 (WRITING)

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How to write a good essay for the Cambridge English: First (FCE) Paper 2 (Writing) Part 1

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The history and workings of the UK Parliament

About-Britain.com - A thematic guide to the UK

The British parliament

Update : 2020 - The Johnson government
In the December 2019 General Election, Boris Johnson's Conservative Party won a clear victory, with a majority of 80 seats in the House of Commons. It was the fourth successive defeat for the Labour Party, whose leader, Jeremy corbyn, announced that he would be standing down in 2020.
Johnson, who had campaigned on the simple catch-phrase of "Get Brexit Done" immediately announced that the UK would leave the European Union on 31st January.
Although the Conservatives won a comfortable majority in the House of commons, thanks to toe UK's "first-past-the-post" voting system, they only secured 43.6% of the national vote, less than the combined score of the Labour and Liberal-Democrat parties (43.7%) and considerably less than the total share of votes that went to all opposition parties (50.8% - excluding Northern Ireland).

23 July 2019 Boris takes control

Arch-Brexiteer Boris Johnson, generally just talked about by his first name "Boris", takes over as British Prime Minister, having been chosen by 170,000 members of the Conservative Party. He promises to deliver Brexit by 31st October "do or die"... and to deliver a "no-deal" Brexit if he cannot get a new deal. But Johnson is famed for making promises that he does not keep, and Parliament seems determined to block a no-deal Brexit. Britain's future seems very uncertain.

24 May 2019 Theresa May resigns as Prime minister
For more on this see Political parties in BritainIn a move that caught everyone, including her own party, by surprise, Theresa May called a snap general election in the UK for 8th June.
May's aim was to increase the Conservatives' absolute majority in the House of Commons. In the event, things did not go according to plan. Instead of the "strong and stable" government she had been hoping for, May emerged "weak and wobbly" as the Conservatives lost their absolute majority, and had to go into an alliance witht the right-wing Democratic Unionist Party, of Northern Ireland, in order to remain in government.
► British general election 2017

Origins of the British parliament

The "Palace of Westminster", London, home of the British Parliament

Nicknamed the "Mother of Parliaments" , the British parliament is respected as the most ancient parliament in today's world. Apart from a few brief interruptions , it has carried out its business on the same spot, called the Pal ace of Westminster, since the year 1265. It was in this year that the Simon de Montfort - an Anglo-Norman baron - convened the first elected parliament of England: the men met at Westminster, which was at the time a village outside the medieval city of London. These elected officials were, of course, lords and barons, not ordinary people, and they were elected by their peers, not by universal suffrage; but each one was there to represent one of the counties or cities in the kingdom of England.
The idea of a "parliament" was not totally new. Before the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Anglo-Saxon kings ruled their kingdom with the help of a council of elders called the Witan or Witenagemot ; like other early parliaments, the Witan was made up of nobles and men of the church. They chose the next king , and advised the sovereign, but had no real power in terms of government. After the Norman Conquest , William the Conqueror and his successors relied on their system of barons and territorial councils to govern the country; this was the basis of the Anglo-Norman feudal system.
The English Parliament operated fairly steadily for four centuries, acting as a counterweight to the power of the king, and it did so until the seventeenth century. From the 14th century, Parliament consisted of two chambers, the House of Lords (the "upper" house) and the House of Commons (the "lower" house) . But in the middle of the 17th century , King Charles 1st precipitated the English Civil War - the English Revolution - by trying to rule without Parliament. The Civil War opposed the Royalist forces and the Parliamentary forces, under the command of Oliver Cromwell; it ended in the victory of the Parliamentarians . From then on, the English Parliament was firmly established as an essential force in the running of the country.
In 1660 Parliament declared the restoration of the monarchy and established a system of parliamentary monarchy. Parliament's power was however quickly put to the test, and in 1688 Parliament deposed King James II and invited Dutch prince William of Orange to take the crown of England. The success of the "Glorious Revolution" confirmed the role of the English Parliament, a role that was constitutionally defined the following year by the signing of the Deed of Rights or Bill of Rights , one of the major constitutional acts of the United Kingdom. This Bill (new law) formally established the role of parliament and the limits of royal power.
This was the beginning of the modern parliament, with its system of political parties. In 1707 , following the Act of Union between England and Scotland, the English Parliament, based in London, became the British Parliament.
During the 19th century, parliamentary power became increasingly concentrated in the hands of the House of Commons; at the beginning of the century, most Prime Ministers came from the House of Lords (Lords North and Liverpool, the Duke of Wellington); but by the end of the century, the British government was largely in the hands of Prime Ministers chosen from elected members of the House of Commons; these included Gladstone and Disraeli. The last Government led by a Lord was that of the Marquis of Salisbury from 1898 to 1902. Since then (1), all Prime Ministers have sat in the House of Commons .
In 1911, the Parliament formally confirmed the supremacy of the House of Commons; from then on, the Lords could not block bills made ​​by the Government in the House of Commons , and could not even delay budget and tax measures. The 1911 Act was amended in 1949.

Structure and Functioning of the British Parliament today

Britain is a parliamentary monarchy . The British Parliament is a bicameral parliament , that is to say that it is made up of two chambers, or two "Houses"; above the two Houses, but in an essentially formal role , there is the Sovereign - king or queen - also known as "the crown."

Role of the Sovereign

The state opening of Parliament

The British monarch has all authority, but no power. The Sovereign appoints the Prime Minister, and every year opens the sessions of parliament, in a historical and ritual ceremony called the State Opening of Parliament . Historically, this ceremony used to take place in the Autumn; but since 2012, it has been brought forward to May. This is the only regular time when the members of both Houses come together. During the ceremony, the Sovereign reads out the government's intended programme. The "Queen 's Speech" is a summary of the programme "his" or "her" government intends to implement in the next twelve months; but the speech is prepared and written by the Prime Minister's office, not by the Queen.
The second major function of the sovereign is to sign new laws passed by Parliament. A bill does not become law, or an Act of Parliament, until it has " received royal assent ", meaning that it has been been signed by the Sovereign.
The last major function of the sovereign - in the parliamentary context - is his or her weekly meeting with the Prime Minister. By tradition, the latter informs the Sovereign, who is head of state, about important affairs of state and government business, and asks the sovereign for his or her opinion. With over 60 years of experience, the current Queen Elizabeth II has acquired great experience in managing affairs of state, and an unparalleled experience of international relations, and now acts as an experienced adviser, well liked by her Prime Ministers, of all political persuasions .

The House of Lords

This is the "Upper House" of the British Parliament . It consists of about 750 members (a variable number ) most of whom are Life Peers (i.e. not hereditary lords), or people who have been ennobled for services rendered to the nation. These Life Peers are mostly former members of the House of Commons, or former senior officials, judges, or former business leaders or trade union leaders: each government and opposition party has the right, each year, to propose new Life peers .
The other members of the House of Lords are 96 hereditary Lords from the "nobility" of the United Kingdom, and 26 Bishops of the Anglican Church.
As mentioned above, the House of Lords can not block bills proposed by the Government in the House of Commons, and can only delay some bills . It is rare that the House of Lords use of this prerogative, other than in exceptional cases; for the Lords to act against the wishes of an elected government would be constitutionally unacceptable. Thus, almost all the bills from the House of Commons are approved quickly by the Lords, and returned for a "second reading" with some proposals for modifications or improvements. It is up to the House of Commons to accept or reject these proposals.
The essential role of the House of Lords is to discuss non controversial subjects, or examine in detail projects for which the House of Commons does not have time. Given the experience of the Life Peers who sit in the House of Lords, the Upper House is an assembly of well experienced former politicians , and is well suited to its parliamentary duties, even if its members are not elected representatives.
In 2012, the Cameron Government proposed to change the status of the House of Lords, making it into a largely elected chamber : but the proposal does not terribly interest the British public, and this change is unlikely to happen in the near future.

The House of Commons

The House of Commons is the main House of the British Parliament in terms of legislative power. It is a chamber composed of 650 members (Members of Parliament or MPs ) elected by universal suffrage. The life of a Parliament is five years.
According to an ancient tradition, MPs are elected by universal suffrage under a system of relative majority, in one round of voting. This means that the candidate with the most votes in an election is elected, whether or not he or she has an absolute majority of votes. This system favors the major political parties, and stable governments - at the expense of smaller parties.
Elected Members of Parliament do not have a deputy, so in the event of the death, resignation or removal of an MP, a "by-election" must be called in order to elect a new MP. Each MP represents a territory, or constituency: the link between an MP and his or her constituency is symbolically and historically very important , and in the House of Commons, Members are not called by their name, but by the name of the constituency from which they have been elected ( or, if they are government ministers, by their function) .

Since 1902 , the British Prime Minister has always been a serving Member of Parliament, elected to the House of Commons; and most ministers - often all ministers - are members of the House of Commons too. The Government is formed by the party (or from 2010 to 2015, for example, by the coalition of parties) that has a majority of seats in the House of Commons. Members of the Government sit in the front row of benches in the House of Commons (called the Front Bench ), directly opposite the leaders of the Opposition .
The chairman of the House of Commons is known as the "Speaker", and he or she presides over each parliamentary session, deciding who can speak.
A significant aspect of the House of Commons is the importance given to the Parliamentary Opposition . It is structured with an official Leader (The Leader of the Opposition ) and a "shadow cabinet ", consisting of spokesmen for the Opposition each with an official portfolio corresponding to that of a government minister.
Most of the time the debates in the House of Commons are devoted to projects of government legislation . Most bills are put formard by the government ministers. However, some time is given to bills tabled by individual MPs (known as Private Members' bills), or to bills tabled by the opposition (known as Opposition motions) . In each session of Parliament, the opposition has 20 days during which it may propose legislation and determine the agenda of the House.
Private Members Bills Bills and Opposition motions may be adopted by the House of Commons, but they must also be approved by the Government, given that the Government has a majority of votes. Thus, new laws can effectively be proposed by the Opposition, and can be accepted by Parliament. This can happen especially if the motion concerns a consensual or non-controversial political project, or even a question for which MPs' will vote according to their "moral convictions", rather than the politics of their party. In such cases, governments traditionally allows members the freedom to vote according to their conscience. Two important examples of Private Members Bills have been passed by Parliament are the law to abolish the death penalty (Murder Act of 1965 ), and the law authorizing abortion (1967).

Territoriality

The British Parliament is both Parliament of England and Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is sovereign (see Constitution). Parliament has delegated some of its powers to the regional parliaments or assemblies of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales .

Note:
1. In 1963, the Conservatives appointed to the post of Prime Minister a member of the House of Lords, Earl Home. Home immediately renounced his title, and was elected in a by-election to the House of Commons.

Copyright : Website and texts © About-Britain.com 2009-2016 except where otherwise indicated

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About-Britain.com - A thematic guide to the UK Update : 2020 - The Johnson government In the December 2019 General Election, Boris Johnson's Conservative Party won a clear victory, with a majority of 80 seats in the House of Commons.

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WRITING ESSAYS

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Charles Dickens's London

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Dickens' London Map
Learn more about the London locations Dickens wrote about.

The Railroad in London

Dickens' genius was thrust upon the world stage at a time of intense change in London and probably none more dramatic than that of the coming of the railroad. This change can be seen in the progress of Dickens' novels.

The quaint coaching inns of Pickwick Papers gave way, in later novels, to reports of railway travel, particularly in Dombey and Son (serialized Oct 1846 to April 1848) where the intrusion of the railroad, and its effects on the city, are described in some detail.

Starting in the late 1830s, competing railway companies burrowed into London as far as possible, displacing the poor, and then building a terminus. The result was a ring of railway stations such as London Bridge Station (1836), Euston Station (1837), and Paddington Station (1838) with no central connection. This increased congestion in the city, as connections had to be made by coach.

Railway Stations were considered modern day cathedrals and contained elegant hotels. As railway travel became more affordable, and traffic increased, cheaper and seedier hotels grew up around the stations and the elegant hotels lost business.

Dickens lamented the changes wrought by the railroads but, like most Victorians, accepted the change as a necessity in his travels. His faith in the railways was severely shaken when he was involved in a serious accident at Staplehurst in 1865.

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Food and Drink

Throughout his work Charles Dickens relishes in the description of food and drink in such a way as to make the most meager meal seem a feast. From Pip and Joe comparing slices of bread in Great Expectations to the Ghost of Christmas Present's magnificent spread, Dickens celebrates the culinary delights of his day. There is much roast fowl and joint of mutton, plum pudding and boiled beef.

Drinking is ubiquitous in Dickens. From the peasants in Paris soaking up the spilled wine in the street in A Tale of Two Cities to Mr Micawber's famous punch, everyone seems to have a drink in their hand. This partly reflects the fact that, in Dickens' London, alcohol was safer to drink than the water.

Dickens, by all indications, was a moderate drinker himself. While diligently pointing out the evils of overindulgence, he also had no patience with the Temperance Movement, which he lampooned in Pickwick Papers. Indeed Dickens had a falling out with his friend and illustrator George Cruikshank when Cruikshank, formerly a heavy drinker, became a zealous supporter of abstinence.

In reply to a letter from an irate advocate of abstinence in 1847 Dickens answered:

"I have no doubt whatever that the warm stuff in the jug at Bob Cratchit's Christmas dinner, had a very pleasant effect on the simple party. I am certain that if I had been at Mr Fezziwig's ball, I should have taken a little negus -- and possibly not a little beer -- and been none the worse for it, in heart or head. I am very sure that the working people of this country have not too many household enjoyments, and I could not, in my fancy or in actual deed, deprive them of this one when it is so innocently shared."

An article written by Dickens and printed in the Examiner on October 27, 1849, rebuking a call for total abstinence to combat drunkeness.

Shillings? Farthings? Ha'pennies?? What the heck was Dickens talking about?
Pictures of coins of the period

Whatever happened to the London Bridge of Dickens' time? - It's in...Arizona?

The Crystal Palace - The 1851 Great Exhibition was the first World's Fair

London 1865 - The Dickens Project's Our Mutual Friend Site

Charles Dickens Museum - Dickens' home at 48 Doughty Street, London (1837-1839)
History of the Workhouse
1859 London Map - From UCLA with annotations and links to an 1827 map, an 1889 map, as well as a current map of London
The Victorian Dictionary - Lee Jackson Dickens Dictionary 1879 Ragged School Museum
London Ancestor - Great Stuff!

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Dickens: London into Kent
by Peter Clark
I received an advance copy of this book and found it amazing! Mr Clark has truly done his homework including recreating Dickens' middle-of-the-night walk from London to Gad's Hill. I plan to put the book to practical use on my next visit to London and Kent!

The Ghost Map
by Steven Johnson
The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World

The Great Stink
by Clare Clark
A novel of corruption and murder beneath the streets of Victorian London

The Great Stink of London
by Stephen Halliday, Adam Hart-Davis (2001) Sir Joseph Bazalgette and the Cleansing of the Victorian Metropolis.

London - The Biography
by Peter Ackroyd (2001)
Huge, enthralling "biography" of the city of London from pre-history through today.

A favorite public house of Dickens was Ye Old Cheshire Cheese in Fleet Street, an ancient inn rebuilt after the great fire of 1666.

Dickens references Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese in A Tale of Two Cities when Charles Darnay is acquitted of treason and accompanies Sydney Carton "down Ludgate hill to Fleet Street, and so, up a covered way, into a tavern. Here, they were shown into a little room, where Charles Darnay was soon recruiting his strength with a good plain dinner and good wine."

Read about a visit Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese by Joseph Pennell for Harper's Weekly in November 1887.

David Perdue with author Dr Ruth Richardson at the Cheshire Cheese in 2014

Charles Dickens applied his unique power of observation to the city in which he spent most of his life. He routinely walked the city streets, 10 or 20 miles at a time, and his descriptions of nineteenth century London allow readers to experience the sights, sounds, and smells of the old city.

Fleet Street then...and now

This ability to immerse the reader into time and place sets the perfect stage for Dickens to weave his fiction.

Victorian London was the largest, most spectacular city in the world. While Britain was experiencing the Industrial Revolution, its capital was both reaping the benefits and suffering the consequences. In 1800 the population of London was around a million souls. That number would swell to 4.5 million by 1880. While fashionable areas like Regent and Oxford streets were growing in the west, new docks supporting the city's place as the world's trade center were being built in the east. Perhaps the biggest impact on the growth of London was the coming of the railroad in the 1830s which displaced thousands and accelerated the expansion of the city.

The price of this explosive growth and domination of world trade was untold squalor and filth. In his excellent biography, Dickens, Peter Ackroyd notes that "If a late twentieth-century person were suddenly to find himself in a tavern or house of the period, he would be literally sick - sick with the smells, sick with the food, sick with the atmosphere around him."

Imagine yourself in the London of the early 19th century. The homes of the upper and middle class exist in close proximity to areas of unbelievable poverty and filth. Rich and poor alike are thrown together in the crowded city streets. Street sweepers attempt to keep the streets clean of manure, the result of thousands of horse-drawn vehicles. The city's thousands of chimney pots are belching coal smoke, resulting in soot which seems to settle everywhere. In many parts of the city raw sewage flows in gutters that empty into the Thames. Street vendors hawking their wares add to the cacophony of street noises. Pick-pockets, prostitutes, drunks, beggars, and vagabonds of every description add to the colorful multitude.

Personal cleanliness is not a big priority, nor is clean laundry. In close, crowded rooms the smell of unwashed bodies is stifling. It is unbearably hot by the fire, numbingly cold away from it.

At night the major streets are lit with feeble gas lamps. Side and secondary streets may not be lit at all and link bearers are hired to guide the traveler to his destination. Inside, a candle or oil lamp struggles against the darkness and blacken the ceilings.

In Little Dorrit Dickens describes a London rain storm:

In the country, the rain would have developed a thousand fresh scents, and every drop would have had its bright association with some beautiful form of growth or life. In the city, it developed only foul stale smells, and was a sickly, lukewarm, dirt-stained, wretched addition to the gutters.

Until the second half of the 19th century London residents were still drinking water from the very same portions of the Thames that the open sewers were discharging into. Several outbreaks of Cholera in the mid 19th century, along with The Great Stink of 1858, when the stench of the Thames caused Parliament to recess, brought a cry for action. Until 1854 it was widely thought that disease was spread through foul air or miasma. It seemed obvious to the Victorians, even the learned ones, that if it stinks, it must be causing disease.

When cholera broke out in the Soho area in 1854 Dr. John Snow teamed with Rev. Henry Whitehead to prove that the disease was spread, not through foul odors and bad air, but by contaminated water. Cholera is spread simply by one human digesting the bacteria in the excrement of other infected humans. Snow and Whitehead solved this riddle, not by direct study of the bacteria, but by spatially projecting pedestrian patterns of where residents got their drinking water. By this method they were able to show that all of the cholera victims in the area drank from the same Broad Street pump. The well had been contaminated with raw sewage coming from the homes of cholera sufferers. The pump handle was removed, and the epidemic ended. Read more about this fascinating story in Steven Johnson's The Ghost Map.

Sir Joseph Bazalgette, chief engineer of the new Metropolitan Board of Works (1855), put into effect a plan, completed in 1875, which finally provided adequate sewers to serve the city. In addition, laws were put in effect which prevented companies supplying drinking water from drawing water from the most heavily tainted parts of the Thames and required them to provide some type of filtration.

This film (credit BFI) made 33 years after Dickens' death still gives a good idea of what the London streets of Dickens' times would look like.

After the Stage Carriages Act of 1832 the hackney cab was gradually replaced by the omnibus as a means of moving about the city. By 1900, 3000 horse-drawn buses were carrying 500 million passengers a year. A traffic count in Cheapside and London Bridge in 1850 showed a thousand vehicles an hour passing through these areas during the day. All of this added up to an incredible amount of manure which had to be removed from the streets. In wet weather straw was scattered in walkways, storefronts, and in carriages to try to soak up the mud and wet.

Cattle were driven through the streets until the mid 19th century. In an article for Household Words in March 1851 Dickens, with characteristic sarcasm, describes the environmental impact of having live cattle markets and slaughterhouses in the city:

"In half a quarter of a mile's length of Whitechapel, at one time, there shall be six hundred newly slaughtered oxen hanging up, and seven hundred sheep but, the more the merrier proof of prosperity. Hard by Snow Hill and Warwick Lane, you shall see the little children, inured to sights of brutality from their birth, trotting along the alleys, mingled with troops of horribly busy pigs, up to their ankles in blood but it makes the young rascals hardy. Into the imperfect sewers of this overgrown city, you shall have the immense mass of corruption, engendered by these practices, lazily thrown out of sight, to rise, in poisonous gases, into your house at night, when your sleeping children will most readily absorb them, and to find its languid way, at last, into the river that you drink."

In "It was market-morning. The ground was covered, nearly ankle-deep, with filth and mire; a thick steam, perpetually rising from the reeking bodies of the cattle, and mingling with the fog, which seemed to rest upon the chimney-tops, hung heavily above. All the pens in the centre of the large area, and as many temporary pens as could be crowded into the vacant space, were filled with sheep; tied up to posts by the gutter side were long Oliver Twist, Dickens describes the scene as Oliver and Bill Sikes travel through the Smithfield live-cattle market on their way to burglarize the Maylie home: lines of beasts and oxen, three or four deep. Countrymen, butchers, drovers, hawkers, boys, thieves, idlers, and vagabonds of every low grade, were mingled together in a mass; the whistling of drovers, the barking dogs, the bellowing and plunging of the oxen, the bleating of sheep, the grunting and squeaking of pigs, the cries of hawkers, the shouts, oaths, and quarrelling on all sides; the ringing of bells and roar of voices, that issued from every public-house; the crowding, pushing, driving, beating, whooping and yelling; the hideous and discordant dim that resounded from every corner of the market; and the unwashed, unshaven, squalid, and dirty figures constantly running to and fro, and bursting in and out of the throng; rendered it a stunning and bewildering scene, which quite confounded the senses."

The Smithfield live-cattle market was finally moved out of the city to slaughterhouses in Islington in 1855.

Henry Mayhew estimated that in the 1850s there were 12,000 costermongers (street sellers) making their living in the London streets. These sellers sold fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, pies, muffins, and a variety of other goods. Generally the costers would go out early in the morning and buy their goods from the London markets such as Billingsgate fish market, Covent Garden, or Borough Market, bartering for the cheapest price with what they called their "stock money". These goods were then pushed through the streets in rented barrows. Mayhew detailed the lives of these street sellers in his London Labour and the London Poor (1851). Read Mayhew's description of Covent Garden Market.

The Metropolitan Police, London's first police force, was created by Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel (hence the name Peelers and, eventually, Bobbies) in 1829 with headquarters in what would become known as Scotland Yard. The old London watch system, in effect since Elizabethan times, was eventually abolished.

The Victorian answer to dealing with the poor and indigent was the New Poor Law, enacted in 1834. Previously it had been the burden of the parishes to take care of the poor. The new law required parishes to band together and create regional workhouses where aid could be applied for. The workhouse was little more than a prison for the poor. Civil liberties were denied, families were separated, and human dignity was destroyed. The true poor often went to great lengths to avoid this relief.

Charles Dickens, because of the childhood trauma caused by his father's imprisonment for debt and his consignment to Warren's Blacking Factory to help support his family, was a true champion to the poor. He repeatedly pointed out the atrocities of the system through his novels.

Journalist Henry Mayhew chronicled the plight of the London poor in articles originally written for the Morning Chronicle and later collected in London Labour and the London Poor (1851).

With the turn of the century and Queen Victoria's death in 1901 the Victorian period came to a close. Many of the ills of the 19th century were remedied through education, technology and social reform... and by the social consciousness raised by the immensely popular novels of Charles Dickens.

Ever wonder why the subjects of all those portraits taken in the early days of photography sport such grim expressions? It had more to do with the limits of the technology than of the somber nature of the subject. Smiles are more spontaneous, and harder to hold naturally for the long exposure times required by the photographic equipment of the day.
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Charles Dickens: Details what it was like to live in Victorian London

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Theme of THE DOUBLE in the Victorian age-1

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Urban Slums - Timelines.tv History of Britain A12

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THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND URBANIZATION

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THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND URBANIZATION

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PP.448-449 PERFORMER 3 ZANICHELLI

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WORLD WAR I THE ORIGINS - Мыслительная карта

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Created by Letizia Cofone. Make your own mind maps at www.mindomo.com

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Ti racconto una fiaba - La grande raccolta di fiabe e favole

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Il gigante egoista
Fiaba pubblicata da: Redazione
Tutti i pomeriggi, quando uscivano dalla scuola, i bambini avevano l'abitudine di andare a giocare nel giardino del Gigante.

Era un giardino spazioso e bello, con morbida erba verde. Qua e là sull'erba si trovavano bei fiori come stelle, e vi erano dodici peschi che a primavera si aprivano in delicate infiorescenze rosa e perla, e in autunno portavano ricchi frutti. Gli uccelli posati sugli alberi cantavano in così dolci suoni che i bambini solevano interrompere i loro giochi per ascoltarli. - Come siamo felici qui! - gridavano l'un l'altro.

Un giorno il Gigante fece ritorno. Era stato a far visita al suo amico orco di Cornovaglia, e si era fermato da lui per sette anni. Una volta trascorsi i sette anni aveva detto tutto quello che aveva da dire, dato che la sua conversazione era limitata, e così decise di rientrare al proprio castello. Quando tornò vide i bambini che giocavano nel giardino.

- Che cosa state facendo qui? - urlò con voce molto altera e i bambini fuggirono.

- Il giardino mio è il giardino mio, - disse il Gigante; - chiunque può capirlo, e io non permetterò che nessuno ci giochi al di fuori di me -. Così vi costruì intorno un alto muro ed espose un cartello: I TRASGRESSORI SARANNO PERSEGUITI PER LEGGE

Era un Gigante molto egoista.

I poveri bambini ora non avevano dove giocare. Provarono a giocare sulla strada, ma la strada era piena di polvere e di duri sassi, e a loro non piaceva. Solevano girovagare attorno all'alto muro quando le lezioni erano finite e parlare di quel bel giardino là dentro. - Come eravamo felici là, - dicevano l'un l'altro.

***

Poi venne la Primavera e il paese fu pieno di uccellini e boccioli. Solo nel giardino del Gigante Egoista era ancora inverno. Là gli uccelli non avevano voglia di cantare perché non c'erano bambini e le piante si dimenticavano di fiorire.

Una volta un bel fiore mise la testa fuori dal prato, ma quando vide il cartello fu così addolorato per i bambini che si immerse di nuovo nel terreno e si rimise a dormire. Gli unici a essere contenti erano Neve e Gelo. - La primavera ha dimenticato questo giardino, - esclamarono, - e così noi vivremo qui per l'intero anno -. La Neve coprì il prato con il suo grande manto bianco e il Gelo dipinse d'argento tutti gli alberi. Poi invitarono il Vento del Nord a stare con loro e lui accettò. Era impellicciato e ululava tutto il giorno per il giardino e soffiando buttava giù i comignoli. - Questo è un ottimo posto, - diceva. - Bisogna chiedere alla Grandine di farci visita.

Così venne la Grandine. Tutti i giorni per tre ore tamburellava sul tetto del castello, tanto da rompere la maggior parte delle tegole, e poi correva tutto intorno per il giardino quanto più forte poteva. Era vestita di grigio e il suo respiro pareva ghiaccio.

- Io non riesco a capire perché la primavera stia arrivando così tardi, - diceva il Gigante Egoista mentre sedeva alla finestra a guardare il freddo giardino bianco. - Spero che ci sia un cambiamento del tempo.

Ma la Primavera non arrivò mai e nemmeno l'Estate. L'Autunno portò frutti d'oro a ogni giardino, ma al giardino del Gigante non ne portò. - È troppo egoista, - disse. Per questo motivo, là era sempre Inverno e il Vento del Nord e la Grandine e il Gelo e la Neve ballavano tra gli alberi.

***

Un mattino il Gigante se ne stava a letto sveglio, quando udì una piacevole musica. Quel suono era tanto dolce per le sue orecchie che pensò fossero i musici del Re che passavano di là. In realtà era solo un fanello che cantava davanti alla sua finestra, ma da così tanto tempo non sentiva cantare un uccello nel suo giardino che gli sembrò fosse la musica più bella del mondo. Allora la Grandine smise di danzargli sulla testa e il Vento del Nord cessò di ululare, e un delizioso profumo lo raggiunse attraverso gli scuri aperti. - Penso che alla fine sia arrivata la Primavera, - disse il Gigante; e saltò giù dal letto a guardar fuori.

Che cosa vide?

C'era una vista meravigliosa. Da un piccolo buco nel muro erano scivolati dentro i bambini, e stavano seduti sui rami degli alberi. Su ciascuno degli alberi che riusciva a vedere c'era un bambino. E ad avere di nuovo dei bambini, gli alberi erano così felici che si erano coperti di germogli e muovevano gentilmente le braccia sopra il loro capo. Gli uccelli volavano là intorno e gorgheggiavano gioiosi e i fiori occhieggiavano dal verde dei prati e ridevano. Era una bella scena, solo in un angolo era ancora inverno. Era l'angolo più lontano del giardino e là se ne stava in piedi un bimbetto. Era così piccolo che non arrivava ai rami dell'albero e gli stava girando intorno piangendo amaramente. La povera pianta era ancora coperta di gelo e neve, e il Vento del Nord le soffiava e ululava addosso. - Arràmpicati, piccino! - diceva l'Albero, e curvava i rami quanto poteva; ma il ragazzino era troppo piccolo.

E il cuore del Gigante si sciolse quando guardò fuori. - Come sono stato egoista! - disse. - Ora so perché qui non veniva la Primavera. Metterò quel povero ragazzino in alto sull'albero e poi abbatterò il muro, e il mio giardino sarà per sempre il campo di gioco dei bambini. Per sempre -. Era realmente molto dispiaciuto per quello che aveva fatto.

Così scese di nascosto le scale e aprì in silenzio la porta principale, e uscì nel giardino. Ma quando lo videro, i bambini ne furono così spaventati che scapparono via e nel giardino ritornò inverno. Solo il bambinetto non scappò, perché aveva gli occhi così pieni di lacrime che non vide il Gigante avvicinarsi. E il Gigante gli girò dietro pian piano, lo prese in mano delicatamente e lo posò sull'albero. E l'albero si mise di colpo a fiorire, e gli uccelli vennero a cantare là sopra e il bambinetto distese le braccia e cinse il collo del Gigante e lo baciò. E gli altri bambini, quando videro che il Gigante non era più cattivo, ritornarono di corsa, e con loro arrivò la Primavera. - Ora è il vostro giardino, bambini, - disse il Gigante, e prese una grande scure e buttò giù il muro. E a mezzogiorno, quando stava andando al mercato, la gente trovò il Gigante che giocava con i bambini nel giardino più bello che avessero mai visto.

Giocarono per tutto il giorno e alla sera ritornarono dal Gigante per salutarlo.

- Ma dov'è il vostro piccolo compagno? - egli disse. - Il bambino che ho messo sull'albero -. Il Gigante voleva bene più a lui perché l'aveva baciato.

- Non lo sappiamo, - risposero i bambini. - È andato via.

- Dovete dirgli di stare tranquillo e venire domani, - disse il Gigante. Ma i bambini dissero che non sapevano dove abitasse e prima non l'avevano mai visto; e il Gigante si sentì molto triste.

Tutti i pomeriggi, finita la scuola, i bambini venivano a giocare con il Gigante. Ma il bambinetto a cui il Gigante voleva bene non fu mai più rivisto. Il Gigante era molto cortese con tutti i bambini, ma desiderava quel suo primo piccolo amico e spesso parlava di lui. - Come mi piacerebbe vederlo! - soleva dire.

***

Passarono gli anni e il Gigante diventò molto vecchio e debole. Non poteva più giocare e così stava su un seggiolone a guardare i bambini che giocavano, e ammirava il suo giardino. - Ho molti bei fiori, - diceva, - ma i bambini sono i fiori più belli.

Una mattina d'inverno guardò fuori dalla sua finestra mentre si stava vestendo. Ora non odiava più l'Inverno perché sapeva che era solo la Primavera addormentata e che i fiori stavano riposando.

All'improvviso si strofinò gli occhi per lo stupore e rimase a guardare... a guardare... Era certo una visione meravigliosa. Nell'angolo più lontano del giardino c'era un albero tutto coperto di belle gemme bianche. I suoi rami erano tutti d'oro e ne pendevano frutti d'argento, e là sotto c'era il ragazzino a cui aveva voluto bene.

Il Gigante scese con grande gioia per le scale e uscì nel giardino. Si affrettò ad attraversare il prato e si accostò al fanciullo. E quando gli fu vicino, diventò rosso in volto per l'ira e disse: - Chi ha osato ferirti? -. Perché sulle palme delle mani del fanciullo c'erano i segni di due chiodi, e i segni di due chiodi erano pure sui piccoli piedi.

- Chi ha osato ferirti? - gridò il Gigante. - Dimmelo, che io possa sguainare la spada e ucciderlo.

- Ma no! - rispose il fanciullo. - Queste sono le ferite d'Amore.

- Chi sei tu? - chiese il Gigante. Una strana paura lo invase ed egli cadde in ginocchio davanti al fanciullo.

E il fanciullo sorrise al Gigante e gli disse: - Tu mi hai fatto giocare una volta nel tuo giardino, oggi verrai tu con me nel mio, che è il Paradiso.

E quando quel giorno i bambini corsero là, trovarono sotto l'albero il Gigante che giaceva morto, tutto coperto di petali bianchi.

-
La fiaba fa parte della raccolta "Il principe felice e altri racconti" di Oscar Wilde.
-
Tratto da: Oscar Wilde. Fiabe. The Happy Prince (Il principe felice), The Selfish Giant (Il gigante egoista). Testo in inglese con traduzione italiana a fronte. Traduzione di Piero Malvano. Illustrazioni di Leonardo Ríos. Edizioni Angolo Manzoni, Collana Junior D - EasyReading®, Torino 2011. www.angolomanzoni.it
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