WEEK 34, 2021 BOB EASTON The reredos (a large decorative piece behind the altar) showing limewood carvings of flowers, shells, and strings of pearls, by Grinling Gibbons, pictured from below at St James’s Church, Piccadilly, London. FINE ARTS LORRAINE FERRIER “Stupendous and beyond all description … the incompara- ble carving of our Gibbons, who is without controversy the greatest master both for innovation and rareness of work The Michelangelo that the world ever had in any age,” wrote 17th-century diarist John Evelyn about Grinling Gibbons, the greatest decorative carver in British history. This year marks 300 years since Gibbons’s death, and the Grin- of Wood: ling Gibbons Society has put together a yearlong festival to mark the tercentenary: Grinling Gibbons 300. One of the events is the exhibition “Grinling Gibbons: Centuries in the Making.” Grinling Gibbons Continued on Page 4 The Grinling Gibbons Society exhibition: Gibbons’s carvings are almost the equivalent of still-life ‘Grinling Gibbons: paintings, but in wood. Centuries in the Making’ Hannah Phillip, curator B22 | ARTS & CULTURE TUESDAY, AUGUSTWeek 34,24, 2021 TUESDAY,Week 34, 2021AUGUST 24, 2021 ARTS & CULTURE |B3 3 LITERATURE this story to friends and family mem- were acquainted with this story. bers. Despite these many repetitions, We can easily equip our children this fable still sends a chill up my spine with this wisdom. Our libraries and every time I read it, amazing me by its bookshops are loaded with these col- literary precision and the knockout lections—my library has more than The Fabulous Fable: A Gift for All Agespunch at the end. 20 books of Aesop’s fables alone—and many of these books are handsomely PUBLIC DOMAIN PD A Treasure of Our Culture illustrated, adding to their appeal to JEFF MINICK Though we live in a time of cultural the young. If the children enjoy videos, SUMMERTIME STYLE storms and moral relativism, the time- you can find dozens of sites promoting n “Literature: An Introduction less wisdom of fables can act as ballast fables through cartoons and dramatic SEASONAL PIECES YOU’LL LOVE to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama,” and moorings for our children. Aesop’s readings online. the hefty volume once used by “The Wolf and the Dog,” for example, Give this gift to our children, and it my Advanced Placement English teaches a much-needed lesson in the will last them a lifetime. Literature classes, X.J. Kennedy importance of liberty. “The Lion and Iopens with a discussion of the fable. the Mouse” emphasizes the impor- Jeff Minick has four children and a Naturally, he mentions that most fa- tance of kindness, while “The Hare and growing platoon of grandchildren. mous practitioner of this genre, Aesop the Tortoise” reminds readers that “the For 20 years, he taught history, (circa 620–560 B.C.) race is not always to the swift.” literature, and Latin to seminars of Little is known of the life of Aesop Knowing some of these fables also homeschooling students in Asheville, other than he was Greek—some debate connects us more deeply to the past. N.C. He is the author of two novels, his very existence—but many of the Decades ago, a girl I knew was told by “Amanda Bell” and “Dust On Their 584 fables attributed to him remain her friend, “I’m the grasshopper, and Wings,” and two works of nonfiction, familiar to us to this day. Children you’re the ant,” a remark intended as “Learning As I Go” and “Movies Make still read or hear “The Tortoise and a putdown, though the speaker appar- The Man.” Today, he lives and writes the Hare,” “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” ently forgot that it is the grasshopper in Front Royal, Va. See JeffMinick. “The Fox and the Grapes,” and “The that starves. But at least both of them com to follow his blog. Dog and the Wolf.” PUBLIC DOMAIN As Kennedy writes, a fable is “a brief An 1857 illustration of Aesop's fable story that sets forth a pointed state- “The Ant and the Grasshopper.” ment of truth.” The characters in fables “may be talking animals (as in many in Bagdad who sent his servant to mar- of Aesop’s fables), inanimate objects, ket to buy provisions and in a little or people and supernatural beings (as while the servant came back, white and in ‘The Appointment in Samarra.’)” trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was Fables Are Universal jostled by a woman in the crowd and These qualities make the fable readily when I turned I saw it was Death that transferable cultural commodities. Ae- jostled me. She looked at me and made sop’s stories, for example, have long be- a threatening gesture; now, lend me longed to the world. The 10th century, your horse, and I will ride away from for example, produced a collection of this city and avoid my fate. I will go to the Greek’s fables in Central Asia in the Samarra and there Death will not find Uyghur language. In the 16th century, me. The merchant lent him his horse, Portuguese missionaries introduced and the servant mounted it, and he dug Aesop to the Japanese. his spurs into its flanks and as fast as Other fabulists have also found pop- the horse could gallop he went. Then ularity outside their own countries. the merchant went down to the mar- Perhaps foremost among these was ketplace and he saw me standing in Jean de La Fontaine, whose late 17th- the crowd and he came to me and said, century collections became literary Why did you make a threatening ges- classics and remain familiar not only ture to my servant when you saw him to French children but also to others this morning? That was not a threaten- around the world. ing gesture, I said, it was only a start of (Left) A facsimile of the 1489 Spanish edition of “Aesop’s Fables” (“Fabulas de Esopo) published in Madrid in 1929. The frontispiece woodcut depicts Aesop surrounded by images and events surprise. I was astonished to see him in from the “Life of Aesop” by Planudes. Bagdad, for I had an appointment with (Right) W. Somerset Maugham’s fable “The Appointment in Samarra” is not for children. “The Gentleman and Death,” 17th century, by Pedro de Camprobín. Hospital de la Caridad. ShenYunDancer.com him tonight in Samarra. The timeless wisdom Clearly, “The Appointment in Samar- ra” is not intended for children. The fa- of fables can act as bles mentioned earlier may appeal even to the preschool crowd, but Maugham’s ballast and moorings tiny gem of writing is too confusing and for our children. frightening for the little ones. A Deeper Look TH Like their characters, the moral truths Yet I chose “The Appointment in Samar- THE NTD INTERNATIONAL of these short tales also appeal to a ra” for analysis here for three reasons. 6 broad spectrum of cultures. Whether First, Maugham’s little story contains you are from the shores of the Ganges all the classic elements of a fable. It’s PIANO COMPETITION River or from the mountains of Colo- short, the language is succinct and with- rado, you understand the message in a out decoration, and Death appears in fable like “The Ant and the Grasshop- human form, in this case as a woman. per.” The ant works hard throughout Though the moral is not directly refer- Revitalizing piano music of the Baroque, the summer preparing his larder for enced, as it is in so many fables—Kenne- Classical, and Romantic eras the cruel months of winter, while the dy asks his student readers, “How would grasshopper merrily plays his fiddle you state it in your own words?”—most and laughs in derision at the toiling of us would conclude that the message Preliminary: 9/3~24 (Online) ant. When storms and snow come, as is that we cannot escape our fate, par- they always do, it is the grasshopper ticularly in regard to death. that finds himself hungry and shiver- And unlike some fables, “The Ap- Semifinal & Final: 11/4~6 (New York) ing in the cold. The moral of this story pointment in Samarra” raises some is twofold: Be responsible for yourself; important questions: What is fate? Do there’s a time to work and a time to play. we believe in destiny or in free will? Most human beings acknowledge “I am the master of my fate,” wrote such ideas as true. poet William Ernest Henley, “I am the captain of my soul.” Maugham’s fable A Fable for Grownups challenges us to consider the truth of Let’s look now at a much more modern that bold proclamation. fable, Somerset Maugham’s version of Finally, I decided to elaborate on “The an old Arabic legend, “The Appointment Appointment in Samarra” because of its in Samarra,” which Kennedy includes power. I’ve read Maugham’s words with in “Literature.” Here it is in its entirety: numerous classes, have mentioned it Death speaks: There was a merchant in some of my writing, and have told PUBLIC DOMAIN Original artworks, canvas wraps, art posters, and framed prints of Award-winning oil paintings now available for purchase at GOLD AWARD $ 10,000 InspiredOriginal.Org PIANO.NTDTV.COM An illustration of “The Hare and the Tortoise” from the 1855 edition of La Fontaine’s “Fables.” 4B4 | ARTS & CULTURE TUESDAY, AUGUSTWeek 34,24, 2021 TUESDAY,Week 34, AUGUST2021 24, 2021 ARTS & CULTURE |B5 5 ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE Grinling Gib- bons carved the coats of arms of all the bene- factors of Wren Library, Trinity College, Cam- bridge.