Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

  

I can speak English, lord, as well as you;

For I was train’d up in the English court,

Where, being but young, I framed to the harp

Many an English ditty lovely well,

And gave the tongue a helpful ornament,--

A virtue that was never seen in you.

 

Glendower

King Henry the Fourth Part I   Act III, Scene i,  Line 119

  

This is part of an argument over a map that the rebels are using to divide up the kingdom. Hotspur has decided that he’s not been allocated enough land so he’s going to change the course of the Trent river to increase the size of his allotment. Glendower is telling him he can’t do that, and Hotspur doesn’t like being told that he can’t do it, so he says to Glendower,

                                    Let me not understand you, then;
Speak it in Welsh.

I guess he’s mocking Glendower here. Glendower is a Welshman. Anyway, Glendower answers him with today’s lines.

Taken alone, today’s lines are quite understandable. Taken in context they have a bit of a defiant meaning.

But defiance aside, Glendower says he wrote a song that gave the tongue a helpful ornament. 

That's some interesting phraseology, isn't it.

Now I'll bet you think that I couldn't possibly find a picture relevant to the phrase gave the tongue a helpful ornament. Well, believe it or not, here it is.

This is an ornament that we bought at Katie Wolfart's in Rothenburg, Germany in 1999. 

It's a helpful ornament because it gives me a reason to use my tongue to say Katie Wolfart, which is a fun name to say. 

Try it - Katie Wolfart.

See! What did I tell you!