The Green Man Lives

Today we talked about how the medieval mindset conferred a lot of animistic power on nature, and the Green Man (Herne, Cuernunnos, Pan, whoever) had great power in the Forest domain. I neglected to mention in class, that our "English" word "Forest" does not come from the latin for woods (silva) but from "Forestis" meaning "outside", also where we get the word "foreign" and "foreigner". Thus, the forest was the mysterious and unknown "outside", the beyond, "lo mas alla" of magical realism. Interestingly enough, "wood" is an Old High German word "wudu" that just means tree, what a tree is made of, and a bunch of trees all together. No symbolic judgement for them. A fairly old and generic term. The Forest was where the grail knights had to go and enter only where there was no path so they could be tested for the purity of heart required by the quest. Robin Hood has alternately been identified as the trickster forest god, Herne of the Wild Hunt, a guy from Huntington, or a guy from Locklsey who really did beat people up in the woods. But, like Arthur before him, he has become a conglomeration of what we need to help us make sense of our world when we tell stories about him.

In class, we read the Howard Pyle version of the medieval songs. There were very medieval parts of the stories, but Pyle has offered them through a romantic lense. We get the medieval forest trickster god who makes a mockery of the powers of Town. We get the romantic hero who uses his individual sense of personal justice to guide his actions in giving succor to those in need and avenging injustice against the wronged. We get the medieval timeless trackless forest where social rules are lifted, and the romantic notion that every individual is free and equal to express hs talent. There are also some oddly homophobic parts like where Robin and Little John criticize Will Scarlett for his clothing, but then they shut up when he rips a tree out by the roots and kicks Robin's butt. In general I love the Howard Pyle version, and I enjoy the humor he injects, but the mysogynistic ending where the Prioress of Kirklees bleeds Robing to death because she is afraid of losing her position really irritates me. Howard, we didn't need that. You should have stuck to the trickster forest god. It's kind of like the American remake of Godzilla where they actually kill the monster. Hey, you don't kill forces of nature: they just continue on. Robin shouldn't be killed off: he should keep living happily in the Greenwood for as long as we need him.