Eddi’s Service, by Rudyard Kipling

“The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider” (Isaiah 1:3). An English longhorn ox on Hanworth Common near Cromer in Norfolk.

Eddi’s Service

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‘HOW do I know what is greatest,
How do I know what is least?
That is My Father’s business,’
Said Eddi, Wilfrid’s priest.

‘But — three are gathered together —
Listen to me and attend.*
I bring good news, my brethren!’
Said Eddi of Manhood End.

And he told the Ox of a Manger
And a Stall in Bethlehem,
And he spoke to the Ass of a Rider,
That rode to Jerusalem.*

They steamed and dripped in the chancel,
They listened and never stirred,
While, just as though they were Bishops,
Eddi preached them The Word,

Till the gale blew off on the marshes
And the windows showed the day,
And the Ox and the Ass together
Wheeled and clattered away.

And when the Saxons mocked him,
Said Eddi of Manhood End,
‘I dare not shut His chapel
On such as care to attend.’*

by Rudyard Kipling 1865-1936

From ‘Rewards and Fairies’, by Rudyard Kipling.

See Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

The tradition of an ox and an ass at Jesus’s crib reflects Isaiah 1:3: “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.” Kipling also picks up on the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, in Matthew 21:1-9.

Kipling’s Eddi preached the gospel to animals; according to Mediaeval legend, Eddi’s contemporary St Bede went one better. See St Bede and the Singing Stones.

Précis

Eddi reasons that even if his congregation is only an ox and an ass, there could be no more appropriate one for the birth of Jesus Christ, so he tells the spellbound creatures of that night in Bethlehem. The Saxons mocked him, but he countered that he had kept his promise of a service for any who cared to attend.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

What form did Eddi’s Christmas service take?

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

No people came to church. A donkey and a bullock came. Eddi went on with the service.

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