THE TWELVE WORDS OF TRUTH.1
Reading edition
THE TWELVE WORDS OF TRUTH.1
This is a ‘ritornella,’ the whole being repeated over as each new sentence is added. I remember, years ago, meeting the same in Wiltshire, and then there was this additional refrain to be repeated:
‘When want is all the go;
And it evermore shall be so.’
Then it went on:
‘I’ll sing you three O;
Three O are rivo.’
If I remember right, there were no numbers before three-o. Four, were the four Evangelists, and nine, the nine orders of angels, as in the text; but the seventh line was ‘seven are the seven bright stars in the sky,’ and this, taken in connexion with the text, establishes a curious link in popular mythology between the mysterious Seven-branch Candlestick and the Pleïades. Subjoined is a translation of the text.
Notes in this chapter
Note 1 · Le dodici Parole della Verità. ↑Note 2 · ‘Uno e primo è Domeniddio, che sempre c’aiuta.’ ↑Note 3 · ‘Due sono le chiavi del cielo, c’è l’oro.’ ↑Note 4 · ‘Tre sono tre Patriarchi Abramine, Giacobbe, e Isaache.’ ↑Note 5 · ‘Quattro sono le quattro colonne che il mondo mantiene; Luca, Giovanni, Marco, e Matteo.’ ↑Note 6 · ‘Cinque sono le piaghe de Gesù Cristo.’ ↑Note 7 · ‘Sei sono i sei galli che cantorno in Galilea.’ ↑Note 8 · ‘Sette sono i sette cerini ch’ ardorno in Gerusalemme.’ ↑Note 9 · ‘Otto è l’ottava di Cristo.’ ↑Note 10 · ‘Nove sono i nove cori degli angeli.’ ↑Note 11 · ‘Dieci è la diecenna di Cristo.’ ↑Note 12 · ‘Undici è la coronazione di spine.’ ↑Note 13 · ‘Dodici sono i dodici Apostoli.’ ↑Note 14 · ‘One, and first, is the Lord God, ever ready to help us.’ (‘Domeniddio’ is a popular way of naming God, like the French ‘le bon Dieu,’ identNote 15 · ‘Two stands for the keys of heaven. There is gold.’ (This would be the literal rendering of this line, but it has manifestly been lamed by bNote 16 · ‘Three stands for three patriarchs, &c.’4Note 17 · ‘Four stands for the four columns which support the world, &c.’5Note 18 · ‘Five stands for the five wounds of Jesus Christ.’6Note 19 · ‘Six stands for the six cocks which crowed in Galilee.’7Note 20 · ‘Seven are the seven tapers that burnt in Jerusalem.’ (‘Cantorno’ for cantarono, a vulgar transposition, like ‘hunderd,’ and ‘childern,’ in Note 21 · ‘Eight’ stands for the octave of Christ. (Probably in allusion to the ‘octave,’ or eight days’ festival, of Christmas.)9Note 22 · ‘Nine’ stands for the nine quires of angels.10Note 23 · ‘Ten’ stands for the ten years of Christ. (What ‘ten years’ it is not easy to see.)11Note 24 · ‘Eleven’ stands for the crowning with thorns. (St. Bridget or Sœur Emmerich, in their minute meditations or ‘Revelations’ on the Passion, haNote 25 · ‘Twelve’ stands for the Twelve Apostles.13