Father Christmas Letters: 1941 - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Estelyn Telcontar · 01-06-2012, 03:49 PM

The letter for this year is longer and has an exciting story to tell, though no picture accompanies it. The address at the top hints at something: "Cliff House, near (stump of) North Pole".

Father Christmas mentions the war as the probable cause of children not writing to him. He says that so many people have lost their homes.

There was also war at the North Pole, the goblins again, of course. There are some interesting details to the tale: a great Horn called "Windbeam", that hadn't been blown for over 400 years; Polar Bear using fire and gunpowder to defeat the goblins and being the hero of the day; and the North Pole breaking again.

Father Christmas tells Priscilla about the difficulties in getting the presents requested - apparently she asked for specific books. Lal or any other Brits reading this, are you familiar with the "Alison Uttley" books or "Moldy Warp"? I've never heard of them.

Anyone still with me?

Legate of Amon Lanc · 01-08-2012, 05:28 AM

All right, so this is the letter I have in my book titled as the "last letter". At least the Windbeam is mentioned, as well as the thing that too few children write to FC, and the battle, of course. I find it appropriate to have the battle there, but I wonder, did it have anything to do with some simultaneously occuring real World War-battle? It would make sense, but then, 1941 is rather soon still for any "decisive battles"! (I don't know how it "seemed" to British people at that point, i.e. how they felt about the war exactly at that point, if they expected it to end or not... by my "objective logic" and knowledge of what was happening back then on the global scale, I would say no, but then again, maybe people back then saw things differently. Or was it reflecting the victories in the Battle of Britain? That was there already a year ago, though. Of course, I am not saying that the battle has to have any RL analogy - of course, knowing Tolkien, I am certainly sure he won't write it as an analogy - but still, I think it would make sense for the writing to reflect in some way his mood or to reflect the happenings in the world, since apparently, the Letters do reflect the happenings in the world - after all, the War was really going on and it is mentioned in the letters.)

The letter also ends with the hope that old friends might remember their old friends when they have their own home and kids, right?

Bêthberry · 01-08-2012, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

Father Christmas tells Priscilla about the difficulties in getting the presents requested - apparently she asked for specific books. Lal or any other Brits reading this, are you familiar with the "Alison Uttley" books or "Moldy Warp"? I've never heard of them.

This is very ingenious! With the war, I would imagine that rations were limiting many things for people. (When did they start in England? I seem to recall that the Tolkiens actually raised hens in their back yard for the eggs during the war. Is this correct? Many books went out of print because of wartime limits on publishing.) Father Christmas' comment is a thoughtful and kind way of helping a child over any disappointment that their favourite wish might not be satisfied.

The Alison Uttley books are about animals. Alink to the Alison Uttley Society. And from Wiki: Alison Uttley. I would hope they are better than Enid Blyton's books as I've had a look at those and found them appalling.

From a description on Amazon:

Quote:

Little Grey Rabbit is one of the classic gems of children's literature. The series is being relaunched to tie in with a classic television adaptation, and will delight children as much today as when it was first published seventy years ago. Little Grey Rabbit lives with Squirrel and Hare in a little house on the edge of a wood. One day, Moldy Warp the Mole finds a tiny piece of stone with a golden eye painted on it. He loves nothing more than a good treasure hunt, so off he sets to find the rest of the stone picture it must come from. Along the way he is joined by all his woodland friends. They wait for him in a meadow, while Moldy Warp digs deep below the ground. He finds Badger's secret home -- and a treasure trove! AGE 4-8

If this is what Priscilla asked for, I'm impressed by her young literary tastes!

Estelyn Telcontar · 01-08-2012, 11:29 AM

Legate, that last line you mention comes from the 1943 letter, so it looks like the book/translation you have compressed several bits of the last letters into one.

Bethberry, thanks for the research! Those books sound similar to The Wind in the Willows, don't they?!

Legate of Amon Lanc · 01-08-2012, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

Legate, that last line you mention comes from the 1943 letter, so it looks like the book/translation you have compressed several bits of the last letters into one.

Hmm. I wonder why they did something like that. And okay, even if they did so for whatever "publishing purposes", I wonder why didn't they bother to at least inform the readers that they are awfully misleading them...

Guinevere · 01-26-2012, 03:07 PM

Before I put the book away until next Christmas, some very belated brief remarks.

Quote:

Luckily Goblins cannot help yelling and beating on drums when they mean to fight

foreshadows "drums in the deep!"

The whole description of the goblin hosts pouring up the reindeer-drive and surrounding the Cliff House, and especially the blasts on the great horn "Windbeam" makes me think of Helm's Deep.

The link to the Alison Uttley books was interesting. The pictures on the book covers remind me a bit of Beatrix Potter.

01-06-2012, 03:49 PM	#1
Estelyn Telcontar Princess of Skwerlz Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles) Posts: 7,535	Father Christmas Letters: 1941 The letter for this year is longer and has an exciting story to tell, though no picture accompanies it. The address at the top hints at something: "Cliff House, near (stump of) North Pole". Father Christmas mentions the war as the probable cause of children not writing to him. He says that so many people have lost their homes. There was also war at the North Pole, the goblins again, of course. There are some interesting details to the tale: a great Horn called "Windbeam", that hadn't been blown for over 400 years; Polar Bear using fire and gunpowder to defeat the goblins and being the hero of the day; and the North Pole breaking again. Father Christmas tells Priscilla about the difficulties in getting the presents requested - apparently she asked for specific books. Lal or any other Brits reading this, are you familiar with the "Alison Uttley" books or "Moldy Warp"? I've never heard of them. Anyone still with me? __________________ 'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

01-08-2012, 05:28 AM	#2
Legate of Amon Lanc A Voice That Gainsayeth Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: In that far land beyond the Sea Posts: 7,506	All right, so this is the letter I have in my book titled as the "last letter". At least the Windbeam is mentioned, as well as the thing that too few children write to FC, and the battle, of course. I find it appropriate to have the battle there, but I wonder, did it have anything to do with some simultaneously occuring real World War-battle? It would make sense, but then, 1941 is rather soon still for any "decisive battles"! (I don't know how it "seemed" to British people at that point, i.e. how they felt about the war exactly at that point, if they expected it to end or not... by my "objective logic" and knowledge of what was happening back then on the global scale, I would say no, but then again, maybe people back then saw things differently. Or was it reflecting the victories in the Battle of Britain? That was there already a year ago, though. Of course, I am not saying that the battle has to have any RL analogy - of course, knowing Tolkien, I am certainly sure he won't write it as an analogy - but still, I think it would make sense for the writing to reflect in some way his mood or to reflect the happenings in the world, since apparently, the Letters do reflect the happenings in the world - after all, the War was really going on and it is mentioned in the letters.) The letter also ends with the hope that old friends might remember their old friends when they have their own home and kids, right? __________________ "Should the story say 'he ate bread,' the dramatic producer can only show 'a piece of bread' according to his taste or fancy, but the hearer of the story will think of bread in general and picture it in some form of his own." -On Fairy-Stories

01-08-2012, 11:29 AM	#4
Estelyn Telcontar Princess of Skwerlz Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles) Posts: 7,535	Legate, that last line you mention comes from the 1943 letter, so it looks like the book/translation you have compressed several bits of the last letters into one. Bethberry, thanks for the research! Those books sound similar to The Wind in the Willows, don't they?! __________________ 'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'