A Verse from The Golden Bough

Last night, as I was reading, I came across this passage in The Golden Bough under Death and Resurrection and couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the potency of the verse. And without further ado this is the lead up passage as well as the clever little verse.

In some parts of Bavaria the boys who play the parts of Winter and Summer act their little drama in every house that they visit, and engage in a war of words before they come to blows, each of them vaunting the pleasures and benefits of the season he represents and disparaging those of the other. The dialogue is in verse. A few couplets may serve as specimens:-

Summer

"Green, green are meadows wherever I pass

And the mowers are busy among the grass."

Winter

"White, white are the meadows wherever I go,

And the sledges glide hissing across the snow."

Summer

"I'll climb up the tree where the red cherries glow,

And Winter can stand by himself down below."

Winter

"With you I will climb the cherry-tree tall,

Its branches will kindle the fire in the hall."

Summer

"O Winter, you are most uncivil

to send old women to the devil."

Winter

"By that I make them warm and mellow,

So let them bawl and let them bellow."

Summer

"I am the Summer in white array,

I'm chasing the Winter far, far away."

Winter

"I am the Winter in mantle of furs,

I'm chasing the Summer o'er bushes and burs."

Summer

"Just say a word more, and I'll have you bann'd

At once and for ever from Summer Land."

Winter

"O Summer, for all your bluster and brag,

You'd not dare to carry a hen in a bag."

Summer

"O Winter, your chatter no more can I stay,

I'll kick and I'll cuff you without delay."

Here ensues a scuffle between the two little boys, in which Summer gets the best of it, and turns Winter out of the house. But soon the beaten champion of Winter peeps in at the door and says with a humbled and crestfallen air:-

"O Summer, dear Summer, I'm under your bran,

For you are the master and I am the man."

To which Summer replies:-

" 'Tis a capital notion, an excellent plan,

   If I am the master and you are the man.

   So come, my dear Winter, and give me your hand,

   We'll travel together to Summer Land."