The Tale of Hawthorn House (38 page)

The badger nodded regretfully. Eggs were a taste that he and his friend had in common, and had he found these in the right condition, he would likely have made quick work of them. “However,” he added, “I understand that the infant tortoises are doing quite well under the care of their mother. And I just heard this afternoon that Hawthorn House is to be sold, so there is some hope that it will be refurbished and lived in once again.”

“I wonder,” said the owl thoughtfully, “how the Thorn Folk will view that outcome.”

“Perhaps the new owners will plant some hawthorns and the Folk will return,” the badger remarked. “Anyway, all’s well that ends well.”

“I suppooose,” the owl echoed. “Although I am amazed by the quantity of strange things that gooo on while I am not here.”

“It has been an interesting few weeks,” Bosworth agreed. “Will you have another macaroon, Owl?”

“I believe I shall,” said the owl thoughtfully. “Macaroooons are among my favorites.”

And with that, I believe we must conclude.

HISTORICAL NOTE

By 1908, the year this story takes place, Beatrix Potter must have been feeling pleased with all she had been able to accomplish. Already, fourteen of her little books had been published, including
The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck,
which came out in August of that year. (Our Jemima presumably saw or heard of it while Miss Potter was still working on it.)

But while her books were selling well, there were frustrations. As Beatrix tells Bertram in Chapter Nine, she had been pursuing various licensing possibilities for character toys and dolls, games (she designed a board game herself ), and china. She had an entrepreneurial instinct and seems to have had a great many merchandising ideas. But she was frequently disappointed, for Harold Warne (who had taken over the administration of her work after Norman’s death) does not seem to have shared her merchandising enthusiasms. The French and German translations dragged on (neither was actually published until well after the war), the Puddle-duck doll took so long to get into the stores that Beatrix worried about imitations, and she was not happy with the licensing of the china. It was not the first time there had been difficulties. The publisher had failed to obtain a timely American copyright for
The Tale of Peter Rabbit,
and the book entered the public domain—an error that Carol Halebian has called “one of the most costly errors in publishing history.” This mistake allowed for the unauthorized appearance of Beatrix’s work, beginning in 1904, when Henry Altemus published the first pirated
Peter
, with non-Potter illustrations. This was only the beginning, as many such copies and imitations were to follow.

Progress at Hill Top was perhaps more to Beatrix’s liking, and certainly more under her control. By the summer of 1908, her flock of Herdwick sheep had expanded to more than thirty, there were nearly a dozen cows and some fourteen pigs, as well as chickens and ducks (including the irrepressible Jemima). Beatrix came as often as she could and stayed as long as possible, busying herself with the livestock, attending estate sales and buying furniture for the farmhouse, and trying to catch up with her sketching. We don’t know for certain when Bertram told her about his secret marriage, but the conversation may indeed have taken place as I have fictionalized it here, when Bertram had come for the holiday and they were both away from their parents.

I have also fictionalized Beatrix’s visit to her former governess, Annie Moore, whom Beatrix visited on many occasions, often taking her animals with her. When the Moore children were ill or when she was away on holiday, Beatrix wrote them newsy letters, some of which she turned into books—most notably,
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
, written to Noel, and
The Tale of Jeremy Fisher
, to Eric. To Freda, Beatrix gave the original exercise book containing
The Tailor of Gloucester
. Two of the girls, Norah and Joan, visited Beatrix’s farm in 1912, and after Beatrix moved to the Lake District, she always sent a warm Christmas greeting and a fine, fat turkey for the Moore table. You will find photographs of the Moores and reproductions of Beatrix’s letters to the children in Judy Taylor’s fine collection,
Letters to Children from Beatrix Potter.

And so we come to
The Fairy in the Oak
, mentioned in Chapter Twenty. Beatrix wrote this fairy tale in 1911 for two New Zealand children. (It is included in Leslie Linder’s
A History of the Writings of Beatrix Potter
, pp. 351-56, and in Beatrix’s
Fairy Caravan
.) The story, she writes, was told to her by the man who built the stone wall in her orchard (if you have visited Hill Top, you have walked past this wall). This same man had helped to take down the oak, “the finest tree for miles around—and that oak did not want to leave the place where it had grown.” But eventually, the evicted Oak Fairy found herself a new role in life, when she went to live in the bridge that her oak had been used to build. She is content, Beatrix says, because her strong oaken bridge is used by the children on their way to school or play and by the farm wives with their baskets. And sometimes, the Oak Fairy herself comes out to lend a helping hand:

Resources

Halabian, Carol. “Peter Rabbit Piracies in America,” In
Beatrix Potter in America
, edited by Libby Joy, Judy Taylor, and Ivy Trent. Beatrix Potter US Studies I. Papers presented at the Beatrix Potter Society US International Study Conference. The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, MA, November 2005.

Lear, Linda.
A Life in Nature: The Story of Beatrix Potter.
London: Allen Lane (Penguin UK), and New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007.

Linder, Leslie.
A History of the Writings of Beatrix Potter.
London: Frederick Warne, 1971.

Potter, Beatrix.
Beatrix Potter’s Letters.
Selected and edited by Judy Taylor. London: Frederick Warne, 1989.

Potter, Beatrix.
The Journal of Beatrix Potter, 1881-1897.
New edition, transcribed by Leslie Linder. London: Frederick Warne, 1966.

Potter, Beatrix.
Letters to Children from Beatrix Potter
. Selected and edited, with introductory material, by Judy Taylor. London: Frederick Warne, 1992.

Rollinson, William.
The Cumbrian Dictionary of Dialect, Tradition and Folklore.
West Yorkshire: Smith Settle Ltd., 1997.

Taylor, Judy.
Beatrix Potter: Artist, Storyteller and Country-woman.
Revised edition. London: Frederick Warne, 2005.

Recipes from the Land Between the Lakes

Jemima Puddle-duck is not alone in her love for Turkish Delight, a candy that was often presented by Victorian gentlemen to the ladies they were courting. It is probably best known as the seductive confection offered by the White Witch to Edmund Pevensie in C. S. Lewis’
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
. There are several versions of this recipe; this is Jemima’s favorite.

 
Peel the lemon and orange. Scrape the pith from the peel and cut it into strips. Squeeze the juice and strain it. Dissolve the sugar in half of the water over medium heat. Add the strips of lemon and orange peel and the juices. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir the gelatin into the hot liquid and allow to set for 5-10 minutes. Strain the mixture into a bowl and add nuts or fruit. Pour into a shallow pan and let it set for 24 hours. Cut into 1-inch squares. Sift the confectioner’s sugar and cornstarch together onto a plate. Roll the candy squares in the mixture. Store the squares, layered and dusted with confectioners’ sugar and cornstarch, in closed containers.

 
 
 
Parsley’s Potato Pancakes
with Mushroom Filling

Potatoes were a staple food in the Land Between the Lakes. Everyone grew them, everyone ate them at every meal, and every cook had a repertoire of family favorites. Parsley’s rich pancakes are made frittata-style, with leftover mashed potatoes, and filled with mushrooms. The quantities given are for one large pancake. Double or triple as necessary.

 
To make the pancake, beat the eggs into the potatoes and add grated onion, salt, and pepper. Set aside.

To make the filling, heat the butter in a small skillet and sauté the onions and garlic until soft. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, then stir in the parsley, thyme, and salt and pepper.

To cook, heat butter in an 8-10‘ skillet, and pour in the potato mixture. Cook until nicely browned on bottom, then turn and cook. Spoon on the mushroom mixture, fold, and serve. Garnish with parsley sprig. Serve with sausage and Jane’s currant buns.

 
 
 
Jane Crosfield’s Glazed Currant Buns

 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To make the sponge, dissolve the yeast in ¼ cup milk. Add to the rest of the milk, and pour into a large bowl. Mix in 2 cups flour, beating until the sponge is smooth. Cover and let rise in a warm place. When light, stir in the egg, sugar, salt, shortening, currants, and 1¾ cups flour and mix to a soft dough. Knead until elastic, cover, and let rise. When doubled in bulk, turn onto a board, roll out ½‘ thick, and cut into rounds. In a greased baking pan, set close together or separated, depending on whether you’d like a soft or a crusty bun. Cover and let rise. When doubled in bulk, bake about 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

To make the glaze, make a paste of the cornstarch and cold water. Add to the boiling water in a small pan and simmer 10 minutes. About 5-10 minutes before the buns are done, brush the cornstarch mixture over the tops and dust thickly with sugar and cinnamon. Return to the oven until done.

This traditional teatime favorite comes from the Borrowdale area and is served throughout the Lake District. Anvil Cottage, where our fictional Sarah Barwick lives and operates her bakery, really did house a bakery. From 1911 on, it was operated by Mrs. Green and then by her daughter Mollie. Until recently, Mollie Green had a tearoom in the front parlor.

 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, soak the raisins and currants in the tea for 6-8 hours. Stir in the sugar, egg, and margarine or butter. Sift together the flour, soda, cinnamon, and cloves and mix into the sugar-egg mixture. Pour into a lightly greased and lined loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 60-75 minutes, until top springs back from a touch. Cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack. Slice.

Traditionally, lemon curd is spread on scones at afternoon tea, but you can also use it as a tart filling or spread it between the layers of trifles or cakes. Dimity used caster sugar (so called because the grains are fine enough to pass through a sugar “caster” or shaker). If superfine sugar is available, use it—otherwise, plain sugar will do. Do remember to stir.

 
Beat together the egg yolks and the eggs in a medium bowl. Put the sugar and lemon juice into a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir in the eggs. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a metal spoon, about 8-10 minutes. Pour the curd through a fine strainer to remove any lumps. Cut the butter into four pieces and add a piece at a time, stirring until smooth. Stir in the zest. Cover the surface with plastic wrap so a skin doesn’t form. Cool completely before using, or refrigerate for up to 4 days. Makes 1½ cups.

Glossary

Some of the words included in this glossary are dialect forms; others are sufficiently uncommon that a definition may be helpful. My main source for dialect is William Rollinson’s
The Cumbrian Dictionary of Dialect, Tradition and Folklore.
For other definitions, I have consulted the
Oxford English Dictionary
, second edition (London: Oxford University, Press, 1989).

 
Awt.
Something, anything.

Betimes.
Sometimes.

Bodder.
bodderment, boddering. Trouble.

Character.
Recommendation from an employer.

Dusta.
Doest thou, do you?

Ga, gaen, gang.
Go, going.

Gammy.
Lame, injured. “Laid up wi’ a gammy leg.”