Viime aikoina, pitkälti lastenkirjallisuudenkurssin takia, olen paljonkin kuunnellut Cats-musikaalia ja lukenut T.S.Eliotin runoja. T.S.Eliothan kirjoitti kirjan nimeltä Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (julkaistu 1939), jossa on hänen kummilapsilleen kirjoittamat kissarunot. Runot tosiaan siis ovat lapsille tarkoitettuja, mutta ovat yhäkin loistavia myös aikuisille. Ehkä se onkin yksi syy siihen minkä takia se on kirjana niin hyvä: siinä käsitellään paljonkin yhteiskuntaan liittyviä asioita, mutta kissaperspektiivistä, jolloin se on ymmärettävissä ja yhä kiinnostava lapsille, muttei tunnu alentuvalta tai tyhmältä aikuisesta. Se on paljon älykkäämpi (ja hauskempi) kuin monet lapsille suunnatut kirjat. Tietenkin täytyy muistaa, että tätä kirjoitettiin tietynlaisena aikana, jolloin tietynlaiset mentaliteet olivat valloillaan, joten ongelmiakin löytyy ihan riittämiin.
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| Cover illustrations by Edward Gorey |
Koska nämä runot ovat oikeastaan lähes identtiset Andrew Lloyd Webberin (ihan tarkoituksellakin siis) toteuttamiin Cats-musikaalin biisin sanoituksiin, voin tässä hyvillä mielin kopioida teille alle muutamat runot (jotka löytyvät myös youtubesta laulettuina). ALW siis tosiaan kirjoitti musikaalinsa näiden runojen pohjalta, eikä näitä ollut edes tarkoituskaan muokata, vaan säilyttää alkuperäisinä, siihen ohelle hän vain sävelsi sopivat laulut (jotka muuten sopivatkin aivan loistavasti).
Tässä siis muutamat pätkät omista lemppareistani:
The Old Gumbie Cat (tai Jennyanydots)
I have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots;
Her coat is of the tabby kind, with tiger stripes and leopard spots.
All day she sits upon the stair or on the steps or on the mat;
She sits and sits and sits and sits--and that's what makes a Gumbie Cat!
But when the day's hustle and bustle is done,
Then the Gumbie Cat's work is but hardly begun.
And when all the family's in bed and asleep,
She tucks up her skirts to the basement to creep.
She is deeply concerned with the ways of the mice--
Their behaviour's not good and their manners not nice;
So when she has got them lined up on the matting,
She teachs them music, crocheting and tatting.
I have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots;
Her equal would be hard to find, she likes the warm and sunny spots.
All day she sits beside the hearth or on the bed or on my hat:
She sits and sits and sits and sits--and that's what makes a Gumbie Cat!
But when the day's hustle and bustle is done,
Then the Gumbie Cat's work is but hardly begun.
As she finds that the mice will not ever keep quiet,
She is sure it is due to irregular diet;
And believing that nothing is done without trying,
She sets right to work with her baking and frying.
She makes them a mouse--cake of bread and dried peas,
And a beautiful fry of lean bacon and cheese.
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| Growltiger's Last Stand by Errol Le Cain |
Growtiger's Last Stand
In fact he was the roughest cat that ever roamed at large
From Gravesend up to Oxford he pursued his evil aims
Rejoicing in his title of The Terror of the Thames
His manners and appearance did not calculate to please
His coat was torn and seedy, he was baggy at the knees
One ear was somewhat missing, no need to tell you why
And he scowled upon a hostile world from one forbidding eye
The cottagers of Rotherhithe knew something of his fame
At Hammersmith and Putney people shuddered at his name
They would fortify the henhouse, lock up the silly goose
When the rumour ran along the shore: Growltiger's on the loose!
Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer
Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer
were a very notorious couple of cats.
As knockabout clown, quick-change comedians,
tight-rope walkers and acrobats
They had extensive reputation.
They made their home in Victoria Grove--
That was merely their centre of operation,
for they were incurably given to rove.
They were very well know in Cornwall Gardens,
in Launceston Place and in Kensington Square.
They had really a little more reputation
than a couple of cats can very well bear.
If the area window was found ajar
And the basement looked like a field of war,
If a tile or two came loose on the roof,
Which presently ceased to be waterproof,
If the drawers were pulled out from the bedroom chests,
And you couldn't find one of your winter vests,
Or after supper one of the girls
Suddenly missed her Woolworth pearls:
Then the family would say: "It's that horrible cat!
It was Mungojerrie--or Rumpelteazer!"
And most of the time they left it at that.
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| Mr. Mistoffelees by Errol Le Cain |
Bustopher Jones: The Cat about Town
Bustopher Jones is not skin and bones--
In fact, he's remarkably fat.
He doesn't haunt pubs--he has eight or nine clubs,
For he's the St. James's Street Cat!
He's the Cat we all greet as he walks down the street
In his coat of fastidious black:
No commonplace mousers have such well-cut trousers
Or such an impreccable back.
In the whole of St. James's the smartest of names is
The name of this Brummell of Cats;
And we're all of us proud to be nodded or bowed to
By Bustopher Jones in white spats!
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| keepcalmandmusicals.tumblr.com |
Poems originally written by T.S.Eliot and published originally 1939, London: Faber and Faber.
Pictures from Tumblr. Illustrations to Growtiger's Last Stand and Mr. Mistoffelees by Errol Le Cain, also from Tumblr.
