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The Mahabharata of Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 by or: Kisari Mohan Ganguli

o >> or: Kisari Mohan Ganguli >> The Mahabharata of Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3




"Those, O Yudhishthira, those men on earth who desire prosperity should
first elect and crown a king for the protection of all. Like disciples
humbling themselves in the presence of the preceptors or the gods in the
presence of Indra, all men should humble themselves before the king. One
that is honoured by his own people becomes an object of regard with his
foes also, while one that is disregarded by his own is overridden by
foes. If the king be overridden by his foes, all his subjects become
unhappy. Therefore, umbrellas and vehicles and outward ornaments, and
viands, and drinks, and mansions, and seats, and beds, and all utensils
for use and show, should be assigned to the king. By such means the king
will succeed in discharging his duties of protection (the better) and
become irresistible. He should speak with smiles. Addressed sweetly by
others, he should address others sweetly. Grateful (to those that serve
him), firmly devoted (to those that deserve his respect), and with
passions under control, he should give unto others their due. Looked upon
by others he should look at them mildly, sweetly, and handsomely.'



SECTION LXVIII

"Yudhishthira said, 'Why, O bull of Bharata's race, have the Brahmanas
said that the king, that ruler of men, is a god?'

"Bhishma said, 'In this connection, is cited the old story, O Bharata, of
the discourse of Vrihaspati unto Vasumanas. There was a king of Kosala
possessed of great intelligence, named Vasumanas. On a certain occasion
he questioned the great sage Vrihaspati of much wisdom. Conversant with
the requirements of humility, king Vasumanas, ever devoted to the welfare
of all, having observed the proper humilities and having circumambulated
the great sage and bowed unto him duly, enquired of the virtuous
Vrihaspati about the ordinances in respect of a kingdom, moved by the
desire of securing the happiness of men.'

"Vasumanas said, 'By what means do creatures grow and by what are they
destroyed? O thou of great wisdom, by adoring whom do they succeed in
obtaining eternal happiness?' Thus questioned by the Kosala king of
immeasurable energy, Vrihaspati of great wisdom discoursed unto him
coolly about the respect that should be paid to kings.

"Vrihaspati said, 'The duties of all men, O thou of great wisdom, may be
seen to have their root in the king. It is through fear of the king only
that men do not devour one another. It is the king that brings peace on
earth, through due observance of duties, by checking all disregard for
wholesome restraints and all kinds of lust. Achieving this, he shines in
glory. As, O king, all creatures become unable to see one another and
sink in utter darkness if the sun and the moon do not rise, as fishes in
shallow water and birds in a spot safe from danger dart and rove as they
please (for a time) and repeatedly attack and grind one another with
force and then meet with certain destruction even so men sink in utter
darkness and meet with destruction if they have no king to protect them,
like a herd of cattle without the herdsman to look after them. If the
king did not exercise the duty of protection, the strong would forcibly
appropriate the possessions of the weak, and if the latter refused to
surrender them with ease, their very lives would be taken. Nobody then,
with reference to any article in his possession, would be able to say
'This is mine.' Wives, sons, food, and other kinds of property, would not
then exist. Ruin would overtake everything if the king did not exercise
the duty of protection. Wicked men would forcibly appropriate the
vehicles and robes and ornaments and precious stones and other kinds of
property belonging to others, if the king did not protect. In the absence
of protection by the king, diverse kinds of weapons would fall upon those
that are righteous in their practices, and unrighteousness would be
adopted by all. In the absence of royal protection men would disregard or
even injure their very mothers and fathers if aged, their very preceptors
and guests and seniors. If the king did not protect, all persons
possessed of wealth would have to encounter death, confinement, and
persecution, and the very idea of property would disappear. If the king
did not protect, everything would be exterminated prematurely, and every
part of the country would be overrun by robbers, and everybody would fall
into terrible hell. If the king did not protect, all restrictions about
marriage and intercourse (due to consanguinity and other kinds of
relationship) would cease; all affairs relating to agricultures and trade
would fall into confusion, morality would sink and be lost; and the three
Vedas would disappear. Sacrifices, duly completed with presents according
to the ordinance, would no longer be performed; no marriage would take
place; society itself would cease to exist, if the king did not exercise
the duty of protection. The very bulls would not cover cows and milk-jars
would not be churned, and men living by rearing kine would meet with
destruction, if the king did not exercise the duty of protection. In the
absence of royal protection, all things, inspired with fear and anxiety
and becoming senseless and uttering cries of woe, would meet with
destruction in no time. No sacrifices extending for a year and completed
with presents according to the ordinances would occur if the king did not
exercise the duty of protection. In the absence of royal protection
Brahmanas would never study the four Vedas or undergo austerities or be
cleansed by knowledge and rigid vows. In the absence of royal protection,
the slayer of a person guilty of the slaughter of a Brahmana would not
obtain any reward; on the other hand the person guilty of Brahmanicide
would enjoy perfect immunity. In the absence of royal protection, men
would snatch other people's wealth from their very hands, and all
wholesome barriers would be swept away, and everybody, inspired with
fear, would seek safety in flight. In the absence of royal protection,
all kinds of injustice would set in; an intermixture of castes would take
place; and famine would ravage the kingdom. In consequence again of royal
protection, men can everywhere sleep fearlessly and at their case without
shutting their houses and doors with bolts and bars. Nobody would hear
the evil speeches of others, far less actual assaults, if the king did
not righteously protect the earth.[213] If the king exercises the duty of
protection, women decked with ornament may fearlessly wander everywhere
without male relatives to attend upon them. Men become righteous and
without injuring serve one another because the king exercises the duty of
protection. In consequence of royal protection the members of the three
orders are enabled to perform high sacrifices and devote themselves to
the acquisition of learning with attention, The world depends upon
agriculture and trade and is protected by the Vedas. All these again are
duly protected by the king exercising his principal duty. Since the king,
taking a heavy load upon himself, protects his subjects with the aid of a
mighty force, it is for this that the people are able to live in
happiness. Who is there that will not worship him in whose existence the
people exist and in whose destruction the people are destroyed? That
person who does what is agreeable and beneficial to the king and who
bears (a share of) the burden of kingly duties that strike every caste
with fear, conquers both this and the other world.[214] That man who even
thinks of doing an injury to the king, without doubt meets with grief
here and goes to hell hereafter. No one should disregard the king by
taking him for a man, for he is really a high divinity in human form. The
king assumes five different forms according to five different occasions.
He becomes Agni, Aditya, Mrityu, Vaisravana, and Yama. When the king,
deceived by falsehood, burns with his fierce energy the sinful offenders
before him, he is then said to assume the form of Agni. When he observes
through his spies the acts of all persons and does what is for the
general good, he is then said to assume the form of Aditya. When he
destroys in wrath hundreds of wicked men with their sons, grandsons, and
relatives, he is then said to assume the form of the Destroyer. When he
restrains the wicked by inflicting upon them severe punishments and
favours the righteous by bestowing rewards upon them, he is then said to
assume the form of Yama. When he gratifies with profuse gifts of wealth
those that have rendered him valuable services, and snatches away the
wealth and precious stones of those that have offended him, indeed, when
he bestows prosperity upon some and takes it away from others, he is
then, O king, said to assume the form of Kuvera on earth. No person who
is possessed of cleverness, who is capable of work, who desires the
acquisition of virtue, and who is free from malice, should ever spread
evil reports about the king. No man, by acting against the king, can ever
make himself happy, even if he happens to be the king's son or brother or
companion or one whom the king regards as his second self. Fire, having
the wind for his urger, blazing forth (among articles that are
inflammable), may leave a remnant.[215] The wrath of the king, however,
leaves not anything to the person that incurs it. Whatever belongs to the
king should be avoided from distance.[216] One should turn away from what
belongs to the king as he would from death itself. A person by
appropriating what belongs to the king speedily meets with destruction
like a deer upon touching poison. The man of intelligence should protect
as his own what belongs to the kin.. They that appropriate wealth
belonging to the king sink senseless into a deep hell of eternal gloom
and infamy. Who is there that will not worship the king who is adored by
such terms as delighter of the people, giver of happiness, possessor of
prosperity, the foremost of all, healer of injuries, lord of earth, and
protector of men? That man, therefore, who desires his own prosperity,
who observes all wholesome restraints, who has his soul under control,
who is the master of his passions, who is possessed of intelligence and
memory, and who is clever (in the transaction of business), should always
be attached to the king. The king should duly honour the minister who is
grateful, endued with wisdom, large-hearted, loyal, possessed of mastery
over his senses, virtuous, and observant of the dictates of policy. The
king should entertain the man who is loyal, grateful, virtuous, possessed
of self-control, brave, magnanimous in his acts, and competent to
accomplish tasks without the assistance of others. Knowledge makes men
proud. The king makes men humble. The man who is afflicted by the king
can never obtain happiness. On the other hand, the man who is favoured by
the king becomes happy. The king is the heart of his people; he is their
great refuge; he is their glory; and he is their highest happiness. Those
men, O monarch, who are attached to the king, succeed in conquering both
this and the other world. Having governed the earth with the aid of the
qualities of self-restraint, truth, and friendship, and having adored the
gods by great sacrifices, the king, earning great glory, obtains an
eternal abode in heaven.' That best of monarchs, viz., the heroic
Vasumanas, ruler of Kosala, thus instructed by Vrihaspati the son of
Angiras, began thenceforth to protect his subjects."



SECTION LXIX

"Yudhishthira said, 'What other special duties remain for the king to
discharge? How should he protect his kingdom and how subdue his foes? How
should he employ his spies? How should he inspire confidence in the four
orders of his subjects, his own servants, wives, and sons, O Bharata?'

"Bhishma said, 'Listen, O monarch, with attention to the diverse duties
of kings,--to those acts which the king or one that is in the position of
a king should first do. The king should first subdue himself and then
seek to subdue his foes. How should a king who has not been able to
conquer his own self be able to conquer his foes? The conquest of these,
viz., the aggregate of five, is regarded as the conquest of self. The
king that has succeeded in subduing his senses is competent to resist his
foes. He should place bodies of foot-soldiers in his forts, frontiers,
towns, parks, and pleasure gardens, O delighter of the Kurus, as also in
all places where he himself goes, and within his own palace, O tiger
among men! He should employ as spies men looking like idiots or like
those that are blind and deaf. Those should all be persons who have been
thoroughly examined (in respect of their ability), who are possessed of
wisdom, and who are able to endure hunger and thirst. With proper
attention, the king should set his spies upon all his counsellors and
friends and sons, in his city and the provinces, and in dominions of the
chiefs under him. His spies should be so employed that they may not know
one another. He should also, O bull of Bharata's race, know the spies of
his foes by himself setting spies in shops and places of amusement, and
concourses of people, among beggars, in his pleasure gardens and parks,
in meetings and conclaves of the learned, in the country, in public
places, in places where he holds his own court, and in the houses of the
citizens. The king possessed of intelligence may thus ascertain the spies
despatched by his foes. If these be known, the king may derive much
benefit, O son of Pandu! When the king, by a survey of his own, finds
himself weak, he should then, consulting with his counsellors make peace
with a foe that is stronger. The king that is wise should speedily make
peace with a foe, even when he knows that he is not weak, if any
advantage is to be derived from it. Engaged in protecting his kingdom
with righteousness, the king should make peace with those that are
possessed of every accomplishment, capable of great exertion, virtuous,
and honest. When the king finds himself threatened with danger and about
to be overtaken by ruin, he should slay all offenders whom he had
overlooked before and all such persons as are pointed at by the people. A
king should have nothing to do with that person who can neither benefit
nor injure him, or with one who cannot rescue himself from distress. As
regards military operations a king who is confident of his own strength,
should, at the head of a large force, cheerfully and with courage give
the order to march, without proclaiming his destination against one
destitute of allies and friends or already at war with another and
(therefore) heedless (of danger from other quarters), or one weaker than
himself, having first made arrangements for the protection of his own
capital.[217] A king should not for ever live in subjection to another
possessed of greater prowess. Though weak, he should seek to afflict the
stronger, and resolved upon this, continue to rule his own.[218] He
should afflict the kingdom of the stronger one by means of weapons, fire
and application of poison. He should also cause dissensions amongst his
counsellors and servants. Vrihaspati has said that a king possessed of
intelligence should always avoid war for acquisition of territory. The
acquisition of dominion should be made by the three well-known means (of
conciliation, gift, and disunion). The king that is possessed of wisdom
should be gratified with those acquisition that are made by means of
conciliation, gift, and disunion. The king, O delighter of the Kurus,
should take a sixth of the incomes of his subjects as tribute for meeting
the expenses of protecting them. He should also forcibly take away
wealth, much or little (as the case may require), from the ten kinds of
offenders mentioned in the scriptures, for the protection of his
subjects. A king should, without doubt, look upon his subjects as his own
children. In determining their disputes, however, he should not show
compassion. For hearing the complaints and answers of disputants in
judicial suits, the king should always appoint persons possessed of
wisdom and a knowledge of the affairs of the world, for the state really
rests upon a proper administration of justice. The king should set honest
and trustworthy men over his mines, salt, grain, ferries, and elephant
corps. The king who always wields with propriety the rod of chastisement
earns great merit. The proper regulation of chastisement is the high duty
of kings and deserves great applause. The king should be conversant with
the Vedas and their branches, possessed of wisdom, engaged in penances,
charitable, and devoted to the performance of sacrifices. All these
qualities should permanently reside in a king. If the king fails to
administer justice, he can neither have heaven nor fame. If a king be
afflicted by a stronger one, the former, if possessed of intelligence,
should seek refuge in a fort. Assembling his friends for consultation, he
should devise proper means. Adopting the policy of conciliation and of
producing dissensions, he should devise means for waging war with the
assailant. He should set the inhabitants of the woods on the high roads,
and, if necessary, cause whole villages to be removed, transplanting all
the inhabitants to minor towns or the outskirts of great cities.
Repeatedly assuring his wealthy subjects and the principal officers of
the army, he should cause the inhabitants of the open country to take
refuge in such forts as are well-protected. He should himself withdraw
all stores of grain (from the open country into his forts). If that
becomes impossible, he should destroy them completely by fire. He should
set men for destroying the crops on the fields of the enemy (by producing
disunion among the enemy's subjects). Failing to do this, he should
destroy those crops by means of his own troops. He should destroy all the
bridges over the rivers in his kingdom. He should bale out the waters of
all the tanks in his dominions, or, if incapable of baling them out,
cause them to be poisoned. Disregarding the duty of protecting his
friends, he should, in view of both present and future circumstances,
seek the protection of the ruler of another kingdom who may happen to be
the foe of his foe and who may be competent to deal with his foe on the
field of battle.[219] He should destroy all the smaller forts in his
kingdom. He should also cut down all the smaller trees excepting those
that are called Chaitya.[220] He should cause the branches of all the
larger trees to be lopped off, but he should not touch the very leaves of
those called Chaitya. He should raise outer ramparts round his forts,
with enclosures in them, and fill his trenches with water, driving
pointed stakes at their bottom and filling them with crocodiles and
sharks. He should keep small openings in his walls for making sallies
from his fort, and carefully make arrangements for their defence like
that of the greater gates.[221] In all his gates he should plant
destructive engines. He should plant on the ramparts (of his forts)
Sataghnis and other weapons. He should store wood for fuel and dig and
repair wells for supply of water to the garrison. He should cause all
houses made of grass and straw to be plastered over with mud, and if it
is the summer month, he should, from fear of fire, withdraw (into a place
of safety) all the stores of grass and straw. He should order all food to
be cooked at night. No fire should be ignited during the day, except for
the daily homa. Particular care should be taken of the fires in smithies
and lying-in rooms. Fires kept within the houses of the inhabitants
should be well covered. For the effectual protection of the city, it
should be proclaimed that condign punishment will overtake the person who
lights fires by the day time. During such times, all beggars, eunuchs,
lunatics, and mimes, should, O foremost of men, be driven out of the
town, for if they are permitted to remain, evil will follow. In places of
public resort, in tirthas, in assemblies, and in the houses of the
citizens, the king should set competent spies.[222] The king should cause
wide roads to be constructed and order shops, and places for the
distribution of water, to be opened at proper stations. Depots (of
diverse necessaries), arsenals, camps and quarters for soldiers, stations
for the keeping of horses and elephants, encampments of soldiers,
trenches, streets and bypaths, houses and gardens for retirement and
pleasure, should be so ordered that their sites may not be known to
others, O Yudhishthira. A king who is afflicted by a hostile army should
gather wealth, and store oil and fat and honey, and clarified butter, and
medicines of all kinds, and charcoal and munja grass, leaves, arrows,
scribes and draftsmen, grass, fuel, poisoned arrows, weapons of every
kind such as darts, swords, lances, and others. The king should store
such articles. He should especially keep ready drugs of every kind, roots
and fruits, the four kinds of physicians, actors and dancers, athletes,
and persons capable of assuming diverse disguises. He should decorate his
capital and gladden all his subjects. The king should lose no time in
bringing under his control such persons as may happen to inspire him with
fear, be they his servants or counsellors or citizens or neighbouring
monarchs. After any task of the king has been accomplished, he should
reward that those that have aided in its accomplishment with wealth and
other proportionate gifts and thankful speeches. It has been laid down in
the scriptures, O delighter of the Kurus, that a king pays off his debt
when he discomfits his foe or slays him outright.[223] A king should take
care of seven things. Listen to me as I recite them. They are his own
self, his counsellors, his treasury, his machinery for awarding
punishments, his friends, his provinces, and his capital. He should with
care protect his kingdom which consists of these seven limbs. That king,
O tiger among men, who is conversant with the aggregate of six, the
triple aggregate, and the high aggregate of three, succeeds in winning
the sovereignty of the whole earth. Listen, O Yudhishthira, to what has
been called the aggregate of six. These are ruling in peace after
concluding a treaty (with the foe), marching to battle, producing
disunion among the foe, concentration of forces, for inspiring the foe
with fear, preparedness for war with readiness for peace, and alliance
with others. Listen now with attention to what has been called the triple
aggregate. They are decrease, maintenance of what is, and growth. The
high aggregate of three consists of Virtue, Profit and Pleasure. These
should be pursued judiciously. By the aid of virtue, a king succeeds in
ruling the earth for ever. Touching this matter, Angirasa's son:
Vrihaspati himself has sung two verses. Blessed be thou, O son of Devaki,
it behoveth thee to hear them. 'Having discharged all his duties and
having protected the earth, and having also protected his cities, a king
attains to great happiness in heaven. What are penances to that king, and
what need has he of sacrifices who protects his people properly? Such a
king should be regarded as one conversant with every virtue!'

Yudhishthira said, 'There is the science of chastisement, there is the
king, and there are the subjects. Tell me, O grandsire, what advantage is
derived by one of these from the others.'

Bhishma said, 'Listen to me, O king, as I describe, O Bharata, the great
blessedness of the science of chastisement, in sacred words of grave
import. The science of chastisement forces all men to the observance of
the duties of their respective orders. Duly administered, it forces
people to virtuous acts.[224] When the four orders attend to their
respective duties, when all wholesome barriers are maintained, when peace
and happiness are made to flow from the science of chastisement, when the
people become freed from all fear, and the three higher orders endeavour,
according to their respective duties, to maintain harmony, know that men
become truly happy at such times. Whether it is the king that makes the
age, or, it is the age that makes the king, is a question about which
thou shouldst not entertain any doubt. The truth is that the king makes
the age. When, the king rules with a complete and strict reliance on the
science of chastisement, the foremost of ages called Krita is then said
to set in.[225] Righteousness sets in the Krita age. Nothing of
unrighteousness exists then. The hearts of men belonging to all the four
orders do not take any pleasure in unrighteousness. Without doubt, all
men succeed in acquiring the objects they desire and preserving those
that have been acquired. All the Vedic rites become productive of merit.
All the seasons become delightful and free from evil. The voice,
pronunciation, and minds of all men become clear and cheerful. Diseases
disappear and all men become long-lived. Wives do not become widows, and
no person becomes a miser. The earth yields crops without being tilled,
and herbs and plants grow in luxuriance. Barks, leaves, fruits, and
roots, become vigorous and abundant. No unrighteousness is seen. Nothing
but righteousness exists. Know these to be the characteristics, O
Yudhishthira, of the Krita age. When the king relies upon only three of
the four parts of the science of chastisement leaving out a fourth, the
age called Treta sets in. A fourth part of unrighteousness follows in the
train of such observance (of the great science) by three-fourths. The
earth yields crops but waits for tillage. The herbs and plants grow
(depending upon tillage). When the king observes the great science by
only a half, leaving out the other half, then the age that sets in is
called Dwapara. A moiety of unrighteousness follows in the train of such
observance of the great science by half. The earth requires tillage and
yields crops by half. When the king, abandoning the great science
totally, oppresses his subjects by evil means of diverse kinds, the age
that sets in is called Kali. During the age called Kali, unrighteousness
becomes full and nothing of righteousness is seen. The hearts of men, of
all the orders, fall away from their respective duties. Sudras live by
adopting lives of mendicancy, and Brahmanas live by serving others. Men
fail to acquire the objects they desire and preserve those already
acquired. Intermixture of the four orders takes place. Vedic rites fail
to produce fruits. All the seasons cease to be delightful and become
fraught with evil. The voice, pronunciation, and minds of men lose
vigour. Diseases appear, and men die prematurely. Wives become widows,
and many cruel men are seen. The clouds do not pour seasonably, and crops
fail. All kinds of moisture also fail, when the king does not, with
proper attention to the great science, protect the subjects. The king is
the creator of the Krita age, of the Treta, and of the Dwapara. The king
is the cause of the fourth age (called Kali). If he causes the Krita age,
he attains to everlasting heaven. If he causes the Treta age, he acquires
heaven for a period that is limited. If he causes the Dwapara, he attains
to blessedness in heaven according to the measure of his merits. By
causing the Kali age, the king incurs a heavy load of sin. Stained by
wickedness, he rots in hell for innumerable years, for sinking in the
sins of his subjects, he incurs great sin and infamy himself. Keeping the
great science in his view, the Kshatriya possessed of learning should
strive to acquire those objects which he desires and protect those that
have been already acquired. The science of chastisement, which
establishes all men in the observance of their respective duties, which
is the groundwork of all wholesome distinctions, and which truly upholds
the world and sets it agoing, if properly administered, protects all men
like the mother and the father protecting their children. Know, O bull
among men, that the very lives of creatures depend upon it. The highest
merit a king can acquire is acquaintance with the science of chastisement
and administering it properly. Therefore, O thou of Kuru's race, protect
thy subjects righteously, with the aid of that great science. By
protecting the subjects and adopting such a conduct, thou wilt surely
attain to such blessedness in heaven as is difficult of acquisition."

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Poster poems: Ballads
Articles published by guardian.co.uk Books

Fidel and Che: a revolutionary friendship

After last week's fairly open theme, I thought I'd go with something a bit more structured this time. As I type this, I'm listening to Steeleye Span and thinking about the great ballad traditions of Britain and Ireland. What is a ballad? I suppose the most inclusive definition would be that it's a singable narrative poem: that covers a multitude but will do for the moment.

Ballads in English stretch back to the middle ages, with fine examples to be found among the Scottish border ballads and the English Robin Hood poems. These early ballads are among the best-known poems and stories in the language, and form part of the common heritage of English speakers everywhere. They gave rise to a tradition of ballad-making that endures down to the present day.

In fact, most poets since have tried their hand at the ballad at one time or another, and the result has been to deny any definition more specific than the one I ventured in my first paragraph. If you look around the internet, you'll come up with a wide selection of poems that are called ballads but have little in common formally. Stanza length varies from two to 10 or more lines, and all sorts of metrical and rhyming patterns are used. A good number will be singable in only the loosest possible sense, and at times the narrative tends to get lost in a mesh of more-or-less successful verbal embroidery.

So, what should a ballad be? Well, "proper" ballad stanzas are quatrains in which the first and third lines have four stresses and the second and third have three. The lines will rhyme A-B-C-B or A-B-A-B. It's as simple, and as difficult, as that. Here's an example, from Robert Burns's extremely singable Comin Thro' the Rye:

Gin a body meet a body
          Comin thro' the rye,
Gin a body kiss a body –
          Need a body cry.

Burns wrote a good number of ballads, and his lead was followed by many 19th-century poets. Two examples that I particularly like are Robert Browning's Confessions and Christina Rossetti's Up-Hill, but you can find ballads by just about any Romantic or Victorian poet if you look for them.

There is a long, strong tradition of ballads and ballad singers in Ireland, too. It is hardly surprising, then, that the great appropriator of tradition, WB Yeats, tried his hand at the form. At least four of his poems have the word "ballad" in the title; the pick of the bunch, for my money, is The Ballad of Father Gilligan, which may have benefited from having been written with a specific tune in mind.

Ballads continued to be written in the 20th century; perhaps the most unexpected exponents were Ezra Pound, with his Ballad of the Goodly Fere, and WH Auden. In fact, the ballad The Quarry is probably my favourite Auden poem.

And so, this week I invite a chorus of balladeering. You may choose to go the whole hog and write in ballad stanzas or you might prefer to take a more liberal view of the formal requirements. Either way, sing up and – as they say at all the best Irish sessions when calling for a bit of hush for the singer – one voice please.

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Despite red faces over its fictional content, the Holocaust memoir that impressed Oprah Winfrey is still to be published
When Argentinian doctor Che Guevara and Cuban lawyer Fidel Castro met in Mexico City, it was the beginning of a friendship that would change the world. Simon Reid-Henry talks about the contrasting personalities of the leading men in his groundbreaking dual biography, Fidel and Che