Striking Water
An Albanian shepherd plans to expand into arable farming, but he needs water and the search is close to ruining him.
1913
King George V 1910-1936
An Albanian shepherd plans to expand into arable farming, but he needs water and the search is close to ruining him.
1913
King George V 1910-1936
In 1913, Aubrey Herbert MP reluctantly agreed to take a message from Ismail Qemali to his rival as leader of Albania, Essad Pasha Toptani. Herbert’s company on the long journey to Durrës included a priest with a fondness for verses; a musician who played air-violin; a murderer; a diplomat who was a bit of a comedian; and a ‘shepherd-king.’
I WAS told of one experience of this shepherd-king such as is unusual in the lives of employers — his workmen had once struck for lower wages. This is the story.
He was a mathematician, and by abstruse calculations he had come to the conclusion that there was excellent water hidden in the depths of an unpromising mountain; water he badly required to cultivate land that was otherwise barren.
So the mountain was tunnelled to a considerable depth, and a number of men were employed without result, until it became obvious that the shepherd-king would be ruined if operations were much longer continued. It was then that the workmen, for love of him, struck for lower wages, which he gave them.
His labour in the end was crowned with success; water gushed from the mountain; the prolific earth bore corn, and all shared in his happiness and prosperity.
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.