The Legend
For such an iconic figure, there is surprisingly little written evidence for Herne the Hunter before the 1840s.
Shakespeare as the earliest source merely describes Herne the Hunter as “a spirit” and “sometime a keeper … in Windsor forest” who is seen to “walk round about an oak, with great ragg’d horns” at midnight during winter-time.
Two hundred years later in 1792 Samuel Ireland slightly expands on Shakespeare as follows: “The story of this Herne, who was keeper in the forest in the time of Elizabeth, runs thus: - That having committed some great offence, for which he feared to lose his situation and fall into disgrace, he was induced to hang himself on this tree.”
William Ainsworth’s romantic novel Windsor Castle which began serialisation in 1842 contains a fictionalised account of the origins of Herne the Hunter set during the reign of Richard II. This fabrication was popular with the Victorians, and has come down to the present day as being the legend.
Read more about this topic: Herne The Hunter
Famous quotes containing the word legend:
“This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”
—Willis Goldbeck (1900–1979)
“The legend of Felix is ended, the toiling of Felix is done;
The Master has paid him his wages, the goal of his journey is won;
He rests, but he never is idle; a thousand years pass like a day,
In the glad surprise of Paradise where work is sweeter than play.”
—Henry Van Dyke (1852–1933)