{"id":2143,"date":"2013-11-04T14:33:08","date_gmt":"2013-11-04T14:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.geraldgarcia.com\/wordpress\/?p=2143"},"modified":"2013-10-30T14:47:34","modified_gmt":"2013-10-30T14:47:34","slug":"the-fleas-that-tease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/geraldgarcia.com\/?p=2143","title":{"rendered":"The fleas that tease"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Do you remember an Inn,<\/em><\/p>\n

Miranda?<\/em>
\nDo you remember an Inn?<\/em>
\nAnd the tedding and the spreading<\/em>
\nOf the straw for a bedding,<\/em>
\nAnd the fleas that tease in the High Pyrenees,<\/em>
\nAnd the wine that tasted of tar?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So begins Hilaire Belloc’s<\/a><\/strong> mysterious mini-epic, Tarantella<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This is a justifiably famous poem from the person who penned Cautionary Tales for Children<\/a><\/strong>. He was\u00a0known as a writer, orator, poet, sailor, satirist, man of letters, soldier and political activist. Originally French, he became a naturalised British subject in 1922, and was\u00a0President of the\u00a0Oxford Union<\/a>\u00a0and later\u00a0MP<\/a>\u00a0for Salford from 1906 to 1910.<\/p>\n

He was famous for his vigorously disputative nature and running feuds with various other strong minded personalities. H.G.Wells remarked that “Debating Mr. Belloc is like arguing with a hailstorm<\/strong>“.<\/p>\n

What is less well known is that he actually wrote a bit of music and sang to his poems<\/strong>, including Tarantella.<\/p>\n