Lady Godiva, Cezanne, and Renoir
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• The Lady Riding Naked: Lady Godiva
• The Story of Fay
| CHAPS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
• Many are not liberal enough
The Lady Riding Naked
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| Lady Godiva riding naked through Coventry. |
NEARLY a thousand years ago, Lady Godiva, married to Leofric, Earl of Mercia, got famous for a legendary ride through Coventry in Warwickshire wholly naked. Why would a lovely woman do such a thing? Some might ask the counter-question: Why not?" and say, "The beautiful woman doesn't need clothes [Norwegian proverb]". There are thirteen (lucky number!) nude paintings below.
Lady Godgifu flourished ca. 1040–80. She was a pretty woman.
The Tale
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| Five Bathers by Paul Cezanne. Note his use of complementary colours. |
Lady Godgifu cared greatly for the people of Coventry who were ruled over by her tyrannical husband Leofric. He imposed heavy taxes on the people and he and Godgifu often argued about it. She begged him to be more merciful.
One day Leofric got so exasperated that made the promise that if she rode naked through the streets of Coventry on Market Day, he would cancel the tax altogether. The lady took the challenge and in 1040 rode through the streets, clothed only in her long, blond hair.
Leofric kept his promise, and the people of Coventry did not have to pay taxes, except for horses. He also changed his ways. Instead of persecuting the church he mended his relationship with Godgifu and founded a Benedictine monastery with her.
One of the late version of the tale says that she asked everybody to stay indoors during her ride, with their windows and doors shut. Only one man peeped. That was Tom the tailor. He gave name to all sorts of Peeping Toms - [Link] [Fine background thoughts]
BACKGROUND INFORMATION. The earliest extant source for the story is the Chronica (under the year 1057) of Roger of Wendover (d. 1236). He recounts that her husband, in exasperation over her ceaseless imploring declared he would reduce Coventry's heavy taxes if she rode naked through the crowded marketplace. She did. Ranulf Higden (d. 1364), in his Polychronicon, says that as a result Leofric freed the town from all tolls save those on horses. An inquiry made in the reign of Edward I shows that at that time no tolls were paid in Coventry except on horses. A later chronicle asserts that Godiva required the townsmen to remain indoors at the time fixed for her ride.
Peeping Tom, a citizen who looked out his window, seems to have become a part of the legend in the 1600s. In most accounts he was struck blind or dead.
A Godiva procession, from 1678 part of Coventry Fair, is held every seven or eight years.
The Story of Fay
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| A nudist at bottom. |
ONCE ON A TIME there was a king who ruled over 127 smaller countries from his royal throne in the capital of Hunsa, which was also called Steis.
There was in Hunsa a nudist of the tribe of Ballyhoo. His name was Peinter, yet he was a nudist at bottom, and stemmed from a people that had been carried into exile some time earlier.
Peinter had a cousin named Fay, and brought her up. She was lovely to look at. Now the king ordered that many girls were to brought to the sitadel of the king and put under the care of the eunuch Noballs who had charge of the harem. Fay also was taken to the king's palace and entrusted to Noballs. She pleased him and won his favour. He provided her with her beauty treatments and special food. He assigned to her seven maids selected from the king's palace and moved her and her maids into the best place in the harem.
Fay had not revealed her nudist family background. Peinter had forbidden her to do so.
1
The story depends on a grand-looking king and his goodwill all along, with nudists as remarkable stand-ins
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| Among goblets of gold the queen displayed the splendour. |
THIS HAPPENED some time before it: In the third year of his reign, the king gave a banquet for all his nobles and officials. For a full 180 days he displayed the vast wealth of his kingdom and the splendour and glory of his majesty. Then he gave a banquet for seven days, in the garden of the king's palace, it was gorgeous to look at. Abundant wine was served in goblets of gold.
His queen also gave a banquet for the women in his royal palace. On the seventh day, when the king was in high spirits from wine, he commanded the seven sakis who served him, to bring before him his queen, clothed in her royal crown. She was to display her beauty to the people and nobles, and was all too lovely to look at. So the queen refused to come. The king became furious and asked the experts - they were the highest in the kingdom - what to do about it.
"What must be done to the queen?" he asked.
Someone said: "She has done wrong, not only against the king but also against all the nobles and the peoples of all your sub-countries. For the queen's conduct will become known to all the women, and so they will despise their husbands and say, "The king of Hunsa once commanded his queen to be brought before him, but she would not come.""
It was to be expected that other women would respond to all the king's nobles in the same way, so that there would be no end of disrespect and discord. Therefore the king was counselled to decree that his queen was never again to enter his presence again. Her royal position was to be given to someone who would obey and thus be better than she.
The king did as proposed. And he let officials proclaim that every man should be ruler over his own household. [Ch. 1]
2
Many an advice is appealing to the one who wears a royal crown
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| The queen was dropped for a ravishing beauty. |
A LITTLE LATER the king's attendants proposed,
"Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king. Let some commissioned persons bring a row of beautiful girls into the harem at the capital of Hunsa. Let them be placed under the care of Noballs, the king's eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let beauty treatments be given to them. Then let the girl who pleases the king be queen instead of the one who was dropped."
This advice appealed to the king, and he followed it. And that was the reason why the beautiful cinderella Fay was put under the care of Noballs.
Before a girl's turn came to go in to the king, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics.
When the turn came for Fay to go to the king, she did as Noballs suggested and asked for nothing over that. And she won the favour of everyone who saw her. Most important, the king was attracted to Fay more than to any of the other women. He set a royal crown on her head. He made her queen instead of the one he had dismissed for disobedience.
Fay still kept secret her family background and nationality. She continued to follow Peinter's instructions. [Ch. 2]
3
Honour in this context always derived from that of the king of Hunsa
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| All nudists had to obey the well clothed king's decrees. |
AFTER THESE events, it showed up that Peinter would not kneel down or pay honour to a certain official that the king had appointed. His name was Praud MacWicket. The royal officials at the king's gate asked Peinter, "Why do you disobey like that?" He had told them he was a nudist.
When Praud MacWicket saw that Peinter would not kneel down or pay him honour, he was enraged. He started to look for a way to destroy all Peinter's people. And one day he said to the grand king,
"There is a certain people dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose customs are different from those of all other people and who don't obey the king's laws; it is not in the king's best interest to tolerate them. Let a decree be issued to destroy them."
The king said, "Do with the people as you please."
Orders were sent to all the king's provinces to destroy, kill and annihilate all the nudists - young and old, women and little children - on a single day, and to plunder their clothes. And that's why the city of Hunsa was bewildered. [Ch. 3]
4
Many smart instructions were for winning the goodwill and favour of the king, as much subservient ones
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| Out of mercy you will be spared. |
WHEN HIDEIT learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. There was great mourning among the nudists, with fasting, weeping and wailing. There was nothing more to be expected.
Fay was told about Peinter and was severely troubled. She summoned one of her sakis and ordered him to find out. Peinter told him everything that had happened. He also gave him a copy of the order to wipe out the nudists, to show to Fay and explain it well, and he told him to urge her to go into the king's presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.
Hathach went back and reported to her. She instructed him to say to Peinter, "As it is, any nude man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king must be put to death - but with one exception. If the king extends the gold sceptre to someone, that life will be spared."
Peinter sent back this answer:
"Don't think that you will be spared just because you are in the king's house. If you remain silent at this time, you and your father's family will perish."
Fay sent this reply to him: "Gather together all the nudists who are in Hunsa, and fast for me. I'll fast too. When this is done, I'll go to the king, even if it is against the law. If I perish, I perish."
Peinter did as he was told. [Ch. 4]
5
Some sit at the kings table without understanding that their gallows are being built.
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| "Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible." Paul Klee (1879-1940). |
ON THE THIRD day the king was sitting on his royal throne. When he saw Fay standing in the court, he was pleased with her and held out to her the gold sceptre that was in his hand. Fay approached and touched the tip of the sceptre.
The king asked, "What is it, Fay? What is your request?"
"Well, come today, together with Praud MacWicket, to a banquet I have prepared for him."
The king and Praud went to the banquet Fay had prepared. As they were drinking wine, the king again asked Fay,
"Now what is your petition? It will be given you. And what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted."
Fay replied, "My petition is: Let the king and Praud come tomorrow too. Then I'll answer the king's question."
Praud went out that day happy and in high spirits. But when he saw Peinter at the king's gate and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear in his all-clothed presence, he was filled with rage against Peinter. Nevertheless, Praud restrained himself and went home, where he boasted a lot of his lot. "But all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that nudist sitting at the king's gate."
His wife and all his friends said to him, "Have a gallows built, and ask the king in the morning to have Peinter hanged on it. Then go to the dinner and be happy."
The costly clothed Praud had the gallows built. [Ch. 5]
6
Good men sold out to win favours as dependent, subservient position-riders
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"Style is the dress of thought; a modest dress, Neat, but not gaudy, will true critics please." Samuel Wesley (1662-1735). |
THAT NIGHT the king could not sleep; so he ordered the record of his reign to be brought in and read to him. It was found recorded there that Peinter had exposed two of the king's guards when they conspired to assassinate him.
"What honour and recognition has Peinter received for this?" the king asked.
"Nothing has been done for him," he was told.
The king said, "Who is in the court?"
Now Praud MacWicket had just entered the outer court of the palace to speak to the king about hanging Peinter on the gallows he had erected for him. the grand-looking king was informed, "Praud MacWicket is standing in the court."
"Bring him in," the king ordered.
When Praud entered, the king asked him,
"What should be done for the man the king delights to honour?"
Praud thought to himself, "Who is there that the king would rather honour than me?" So he answered the king,
"For that man, have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. Let them robe the man the king delights to honour, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, "This is what is done for the man the king delights to honour!'"
"Go at once," the king commanded Praud. "And do just as you have suggested for the old nudist who sits at the king's gate."
Praud had to comply. He robed Peinter, and led him on horseback through the city streets, proclaiming before him, "This is what is done for the man the king delights to honour!"
Afterward Peinter returned to the king's gate. But Praud rushed home in grief and told his wife and all his friends what had happened. They didn't said to him, "Put a smile upon your face, this is nothing wrong." No, they asserted;
"You cannot stand against a well clothed nudist, and you will surely come to ruin!" Now the king's sakis came and hurried Praud away to dine. [Ch. 6]
7
A gallows in your own backyard may not pay, just as a gun in a drawer of your night table, due to unforeseen reversals
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| An answer to a female nude: a hanging thing, a painting, and so on. |
AS THE KING and Praud were drinking wine with Fay that day, the king again asked, "Fay, what is it that you want to ask for? It should be granted."
She answered, "Grant me my life, and spare all other nudists. We have been in for destruction and slaughter and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet."
The king asked her, "Who is he? Where is the man who has dared to do such a thing?"
Fay said, "It's this vile Praud MacWicket."
Praud was terrified, the king got up in a rage, walked out and later exclaimed, "Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house?"
An eunuch attending the king, said, "A gallows stands by MacWicket's house. He had it made for Peinter, who spoke up to help the king."
The king said, "Hang him artfully on it!"
They hanged MacWicket on the gallows he had prepared for the nudist. [Ch. 7]
8
A lot good men don't bear to see disasters, and rise taller than just nudist partiality
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| Against all sorts of nude frivolity in art and play, some stretch their sulking networks. [Click to enlarge.] |
THAT SAME day the king gave Fay the estate of Praud MacWicket, and Peinter was allowed an audience, for Fay had told how he was related to her, and that he had brought her up. The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Praud, and gave it to Peinter. Fay had the honour of appointing him over Praud's whole estate.
Fay again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Praud MacWicket, the one devised against the nudists. Among tears she said,
"Let an order be written overruling the orders that he wrote to destroy the nudists. For how can I bear to see disaster and destruction fall on a single nudist family?"
The king assented, "Well, write another decree in the king's name in behalf of the nudists as seems best to you, and seal it with the king's signet ring - for no document written in the king's name and sealed with his ring can be revoked."
The royal secretaries were summoned. They wrote out all Peinter's orders to the nudists, and to the highest officials and nobles of the 127 sub-countries stretching from India to the Nile. Peinter wrote in the name of the king, and what he wrote granted the nudists in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate any armed force of any nationality or province that might attack them and their women and children; and to sack the clothes or other property of their enemies.
Now the city of Hunsa held a joyous celebration. Nudists found it to be a time fit for happiness and joy, gladness and honour, with ample feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became nudists because fear of the nudists had seized them. [Ch. 8]
9
Tables may turn so that sorrows are made into joyful feasts somehow, but how often does it happen? And in the Bible?
"Great fear of Peinter had seized them ..."
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| "Each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) |
THE ENEMIES of the nudists had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the nudists got the upper hand. They assembled in their cities to attack those seeking their destruction. The people of all the other nationalities were afraid of them. All the nobles of the provinces and the king's administrators helped the nudists, because fear of Peinter had seized them.
Peinter's reputation spread throughout the provinces, and he became more and more powerful.
The nudists struck down all their enemies with the sword, they did what they pleased to those who hated them. In the citadel of Hunsa, they killed and destroyed five hundred men. But they did not plunder clothes or anything else.
In bed, the king said to his nude queen, "The nudists have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Praud MacWicket in the capital of Hunsa. What should I do to you next? It will also be granted."
"Well, give the nudists in Hunsa permission to do as today tomorrow also."
The king commanded that this be done. The ten sons of MacWicket were hanged The nudists in Hunsa came together and in Hunsa they put to death nine hundred well clothed men. In the king's provinces nudists killed seventy-five thousand clothed men, but did not plunder their clothes or other belongings. Next day was one of feasting and joy, and a day for giving presents to each other.
Peinter sent letters to all the nudists throughout the provinces of the grand-looking king to have them celebrate annually those days as the time when the nudists got relief from their enemies and their mourning was turned into a day of celebration. He wrote them to give presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor. These days were called Prim, to be observed without fail for two days every year. These days should be remembered and observed - should never cease to be celebrated by nudists. Some think thats how the Norse Prim stave of reckoning came into being. [Ch. 9]
10
Perhaps Peinter in high esteem sold out much for it
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| This is a rather famous nude painting. Let your cursor hover over the picture to see who made it, and what it is called, as for the other pictures. |
ON TOP OF what had been conspired, Peinter the nudist rose to become second in rank to the grand-looking king, preeminent among the nudists, and held in high esteem. For he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of nudists, saying "Reason governs the wise man."* [Ch. 10]
*British proverb.
Many are not liberal enough
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| Auguste Renoir. The Bathers. 1884-87. Renoir considered it his masterwork. [Click for a larger sight] |
The more we look into the fancy-tale, the more careless we may get. There are good sides to it.
To be lovely to look at is often part of the strivings for better social class.
To appear preeminent and good-looking by such as good clothes, decor and debased servility of others - expect something far better than partiality from it.
Remain judicious as long and well as you can. Some flowers bring about poisonous honey, and that kind of honey is good to steer away from. Some kinds of honey are all righ; you can eat them. It takes time and at times hard-won experiences to find out which honey is non-poisonous.
As for nudity, this should be acknowledged: Humans are born naked, and stay naked all the time beneath their clothes, if any. Neither a foreskin nor nudity is any shame, nor is having sex. But it is possible to denude oneself for the wrong reasons, and so on. It is fit to take care and keep warm too.
It is often fit to apply what is practical and mature, but not all the neighbours around are mature either. If they keep a stiff upperlip and spread annoying rumours, they are not good neighbours. Adjust accordingly. Heeding Buddha's warm-hearted counsels can help a lot.
Noticing or observing what is wise has to be suppleanted by noting what is common too. Adjust accordingly, that is, make the best out of it.
Those who get overpowered by restrictions in the long art of living, have a need for resuscitations, and even an on-going need along such lines. If the many standardised ways of coping and living or rigmarole suffocate us, we happen to need plenty of "green politics".
One hallmark of the good friend is courage. Another can be feasible indefiniteness against taming.
Family living is based on friendship and service.
For centuries in the church person were baptized nude.
Literature
Ebu: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica 2007 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD. London: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2007.
Links
• Nudity
in the Bible
• Naturism in the Bible
• Naturism in the UK.
• Painters and Paintings of Nude Women.
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