| <trailer><p> <Westralian Worker,> <28 September 1917> 
| <pb n="5"> </p></trailer>
| <headline><p> <Our Bookshelf The Blacksmith. In Legend> 
| <and History.(By "Vigilant.")> </p></headline>
| <p> As George Borrow says in 
| <title rend="PRE lsquo POST rsquo">
| "Lavengro," </title> <q> </q> He was 
| thinking, 'tis true, only of the forge of 
| Longfellow's <title rend="PRE lsquo POST rsquo">
| "Village Blacksmith," </title> but nevertheless 
| he knew of the forge of the Sagos, which was presided 
| over by Volundar, a magical blacksmith, who 
| manufactured, besides other wonderful machines, the 
| chariot and hammer of Thor, the thunderer and War God 
| of Northern Myths. His Grecian counterpart was 
| Vulcan, who carried on his work beneath the 
| volcanoes. That this gentleman should live in so 
| gloomy an abode, rather than on the heights of 
| Olympus, requires some explanation. Jupiter was the 
| son of Saturn, a pleasant old gentleman who ate his 
| children. Jupiter, who fortunately escaped his 
| father, grew up to inherit some of his unnatural 
| characteristics. He did not, indeed, eat his sons, 
| but he married his sister, Juno, and things went 
| smoothly until their daughter Hebe became old enough 
| to attract the old scamp's attention. Mrs Jupiter 
| objected to the old gentleman's vagaries, and was 
| rewarded for her interference by being suspended in 
| chains from the firmament. Vulcan, whose sympathies 
| were aroused by the sufferings of the disgraced 
| Queen, set her free, and for punishment he was kicked 
| out of Olympus by the irate Jupiter. He struck the 
| ground rather hard, and ever after walked lame. This, 
| no doubt, explains the significance of the Forge as 
| an altar of Revolt. As Bernard O'Dowd puts it in his 
| poem <title rend="PRE lsquo POST rsquo">
| "Vulcan" </title> <mdash>-</mdash> </p> 
| <p><q> 
| </q></p>
| <p> To myth again must we go for our earliest 
| Blacksmith rebel. Zohak was son of an usurping King 
| of Persia. Early in his manhood he came under the 
| spell of Eblis, the Evil One, who persuaded him to 
| murder his father, and so succeed to the throne. This 
| Zohak did, and during his reign Eblis devised daily 
| new tyrannies, which the king imposed on the people. 
| Now, Eblis was the inventor of the art of cookery, 
| and constantly delighted the king's palate with new 
| dishes. One day he excelled himself, with no less a 
| dish than a boiled egg. So delighted was Zohak that 
| he promised Eblis any boon he might ask. The Evil One 
| replied with a request to be allowed to kiss the bare 
| shoulders of the King; and in response to the caress 
| of the lips of the fiend two vipers grew up from the 
| monarch's shoulders. The creatures twined and hissed, 
| demanding food. Eblis assured the King that nothing 
| would satisfy the monsters save the brains of men, 
| and advised him to draw up a census of his subjects. 
| This the King did, and as no National Volunteers were 
| forthcoming, conscription was immediately introduced, 
| and each day saw the brain pans of two citizens of 
| Iran spilt of their precious content to satisfy the 
| hell-gotten monsters that had sprang from the corrupt 
| carcass of royalty. </p>
| <p> So things went on, until one day the lots were 
| drawn against the two sons of Gavah, the Blacksmith. 
| But rather than submit tamely the Blacksmith prepared 
| to meet tyranny with insurrection; and Gavah's forge 
| became the Altar of Liberty. A great army gathered, 
| and was armed by Gavah and his sons. All was ready to 
| march against the tyrant, when Gavah bethought him 
| that a flag was necessary. So he nailed his leathern 
| apron to a pike, and held it aloft. But at this 
| moment another army appeared. It was Feridum, the 
| rightful king, who joined his forces with those of 
| Govah, and together they overthrew Zohak. The 
| vanquished tyrant escaped to the mountains, where he 
| took refuge in a cave, only, however, to be eaten 
| alive by the vipers, that still writhed and hissed 
| about his head. And whoever does not believe this 
| story is referred to the flag of Persia, which, to 
| the present day takes the form of a blacksmith's 
| leathern apron, adorned with the jewels of 
| Feridun. </p>
| <p> If the moral needs pointing, it is this; Let Labor 
| beware when its erstwhile champions bare their 
| shoulders to the kiss of Mammon; let Labor never rest 
| until such are hurled from power, for out of their 
| hearts grow the vipers of Anarchy. </p>
| <p> Coming down to more recent times we find the 
| banner of Labor again raised aloft by a blacksmith in 
| England in the latter half of the fourteenth century. 
| Men were not free at that time, but bound to the soil 
| as serfs, or villeins. Numbers, however, had gained a 
| qualified freedom by paying a quit rent, or 
| blackmail, instead of personal service, but after the 
| terrible plague, known as the Black Death, which 
| swept over England towards the middle of the century, 
| even this meagre privilege was curtailed, and when 
| Richard II, imposed a poll-tax of one shilling upon 
| rich and poor alike the rising discontent reached 
| fever heat, and Wat Tyler, a Kentish blacksmith, 
| placed himself at the head of an armed host, and 
| marched on London. There his men sacked a portion of 
| the city, and hanged a goodly number of lawyers, but 
| Tyler himself was struck down by a treacherous blow 
| while parleying with the King. The young monarch 
| stemmed the anger of the peasants by promising 
| himself to replace their fallen leader, and the army 
| of liberty dispersed. At the same time the army of 
| John Ball, a travelling friar, was advancing from the 
| Eastern Counties. This man's teaching was summed up 
| in the couplet: </p>
| <p><q>  
| </q></p>
| <p> He further held that <q> 
| </q></p>
| <p> Now, John Ball's army was not to be dispersed with 
| the idle promises, but it was overthrown by force of 
| arms, and it's resistance served as an excuse to the 
| rulers to break the promise the king had made that 
| bondage would be abolished. Nevertheless the 
| landlords had learned their lesson, and villeinage 
| gradually died a natural death. </p>
| <p> Such are a few of the delightful episodes in the 
| tale of the craft of Tubal Cain. 'Tis true, we have 
| neglected the ploughshare for the sword, but the 
| sword we have followed is the brand of freedom, not 
| the dagger of tyranny. </p>
| <p> NOTES ON BOOKS </p>
| <p> The <title rend="PRE lsquo POST rsquo"> "Shah 
| Nemeh" </title> (Book of Kings) contains the legendary 
| history of Persia, including the story of 
| <title rend="PRE lsquo POST rsquo"> Gavah the 
| Blacksmith. </title> It is obtainable in a moderately 
| cheap edition. </p>
| <p> For the condition of the people in Mediaeval 
| England the best work is Thorold Rogers' 
| <title rend="PRE lsquo POST rsquo"> "Six Centuries of Work 
| and Wages," </title> but any economic history, like 
| Warner's <title rend="PRE lsquo POST rsquo"> "Trade, 
| Tillage and Invention," </title> will give a fair 
| idea. <title rend="PRE lsquo POST rsquo"> "Piers the 
| Plowman," </title> by Langland, a poet of the time, 
| should be read at leisure. </p>