Hengist and Horsa

Hengist and Horsa

Hengist was coarser than Horsa

And Horsa was awfully coarse.

Horsa drank whiskey,

Told tales that were risqué,

But Hengist was in a divorce.

 

Horsa grew coarser and coarser,

But Hengist was coarse all his life.

That reprobate Horsa

Drank tea from a saucer,

But Hengist ate peas with his knife.

 

-Desmond Carter

 

 

Search the Internet for Hengist and Horsa and you end up with some informative article about the possibly mythical German brothers who led an army of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes to invade England in the 5th Century AD. They did what they could to bring us English. Geoffrey of Monmouth says:

"About this time there landed in certain parts of Kent three vessels of the type we call longships. They were full of armed warriors and there were two brothers named Hengist and Horsa in command of them."

They also show up in Bede. 

But did I care about that? I did not! I was looking for Desmond Carter's inspired bit of nonsense about the brothers, and it was harder to find on the Internet than it should have been. Carter was a British lyricist who worked with composers such as George Gershwin and Ivor Novello. He also wrote the English lyrics to Gloomy Sunday, covered by Billie Holiday and Paul Robeson.

 

And why did this occur to me? Well, the Other Reader and I were out for lunch, and I ordered the fish and chips, with peas, which are in season for us, and there I was pushing peas on to my fork with my knife--not, quite!, eating peas with my knife--and while I couldn't remember the rest of the poem, I did manage, "But Hengist ate peas with his knife..."