Shakespeare Appreciation Week
SUNDAY, JULY 18th: Shakespeare Day: The bard’s connection to my own country’s literature @harry-leroy
In my native country of Romania there is an ancient tale called ‘Ca Sarea în Bucate’ by Peter Ispirescu. That phrase means ‘like salt in food’. In that tale an emperor asks his three daughters to tell him how much they love him, the eldest says ‘like honey’, the middle says ‘like sugar’ whereas the youngest says ‘like salt in food’. The emperor displeased by this banishes her from court despite her being the one bearing the truest love for her father (the tale mentions her honest and bashful face)
Anyone familiar with King Lear can see the obvious parrallel. The whole plot from then on diverges but retains similar themes and messages. The significance of the salt is that it preserves the food signifying lack of fester and corruption, and it is essential in all dishes, unlike honey and sugar though signifying something sweeter and pleasanter. Now which came first? The Romanian tale is folkloric and ancient and plenty of scholars have argued that it inspired King Lear. The man who wrote it down (Petre Ispirescu) did it in 1887 though. So perhaps the fame of the Shakespeare play though not the source of this tale, was what pushed this prolific writer and printer to put it into words.
As someone brought up with both English and Romanian literature side by side, it was touching to see this synergy between Shakespeare and my own country’s folklore.
