Wenceslas
‘Good King Wenceslas’ is a popular English Christmas carol, telling the story of Saint Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia in the tenth century. He is the patron saint of the Czech Republic.
He was a good ruler and generous to his people. Every Christmas he would go with several of his pages to take food, firewood and clothing to his poorest and most needy subjects. He also encouraged the rich to give to the poor.
The ‘Feast of Stephen’ mentioned in the first verse is St Stephen’s Day, the second day of Christmas, more familiar to most as Boxing Day.
Good King Wenceslas
looked out
On the feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round
about
Deep and crisp and even
Brightly shone the moon
that night
Though the frost was
cruel
When a poor man came in sight
Gath'ring winter fuel.
It is
another of those carols that children are taught and often do not understand.
Thus ‘Wenceslas’ becomes ‘Wences last’. In similar vein, in ‘Away in a manger’ the
verse that asks
‘And
stay by my side
Until
morning is nigh’
is rendered
as
‘And
stay by my side
Until
morning is night’
. . . and who can forget that wonderful character in ‘The angel Gabriel’ – ‘Most highly-flavoured lady’ ?
Children adapt the words that are unfamiliar to them to their evident satisfaction and to the amusement of listening adults.