How Mother Goose Gained a Gander

Once, Long, Long ago in a meadow named Runnymede they assembled, dauntless and determined. The place chosen had for generations been a favorite meeting place of kings in council. Runnymede. A meadow. In 1215 it was already a memorable spot. Here under an ancient and venerated oak, whose boughs and branches had looked down on the ceremonies of Druids, they met. This emplacement where the valley of the Thames widens out in quiet beauty, the Saxon kings had been wont to gather their people about them to discuss questions of more than usual importance.

It was a pleasant meadow where rushes grew in the clear water of the winding river and its banks were verdant with grass and trees. On the side of the knights (barons) came the marshall of their army, Robert Fitz Walter, and a great concourse of the nobility of England. With King John came in all some four-and-twenty persons of note, most of whom despised John and were merely his chosen advisers in form. In time, the Mother Goose rhyme, Four-And-Twenty-Blackbirds would be written in mockery of the King:

Four-and-twenty blackbirds baked in a pie; when the pie was opened, the birds began to sing; now wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the King?

The knights embodied their demands in the form of a Royal Grant, scrupulously respecting constitutional usage and the draft was read out to John by Stephen Langton, Cardinal Archbishop of Cantebury, a true English patriot.

King John became furious but the only alternative was the loss of his kingdom. So on that great day and in that great company, the King conceded, solemnly confirmed, and set his seal to one of the greatest documents the world has ever known-- The Magna Charta.

Now, it came to pass that one of King John's few friends, Sir Tresilian, the Dark Knight had fewer friends than John. It was said of Tresilian that what you see is what you get, and one never received much of anything from the Dark Knight. He was a Robin Hood in reverse who stole from the poor to give to the rich!

Nottingham, the county town of Nottinghamshire, was Tresilian's bread basket. During the reign of King John, Nottingham's town guild was given trading privileges and their yearly fair which traded entirely in geese was known throughout England. At the Nottingham Fair one could find the best ganders in all of the isle.