THE Pirate Story

Posted Friday morning, November 13, 2020.

Charlton Heston as Long John Silver and Christian Bale as Jim Hawkins in the 1990 TV movie adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island".

In happy memory of the teller of THE pirate story, who was born 170 years ago today...

Three of us afloat in the meadow by the swing

  Three of us aboard in the basket on the lea.

Winds are in the air, they are blowing in the spring,

  And waves are on the meadow like the waves there are at sea. 

Where shall we adventure, to-day that we’re afloat,
   Wary of the weather and steering by a star?
Shall it be to Africa, a-steering of the boat,
  To Providence, or Babylon, or off to Malabar?

Hi! but here’s a squadron a-rowing on the sea—
  Cattle on the meadow a-charging with a roar!
Quick, and we’ll escape them, they’re as mad as they can be,
  The wicket is the harbour and the garden is the shore.

---”Pirate Story” by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Comments

[Mary Ellen Sandahl]

And it's good to remember that RL's clvil engineer father was Scotland's master of lighthouses, and he traveled on inspection tours of the coastal lights with his dad during the summers. He loved traveling and the sea in spite of being sickly. The Wikipedia entry on him quotes a wonderful little poem he wrote about his father's kindly acceptance of RL's decision to forego the family profession and pursue writing.

[Batocchio]

I've been going through all my period seafaring films, and the Disney version of Treasure Island is next on my list. I remember this version as being pretty good and was thinking of picking up a copy.