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“Thou cream-faced loon!” exclaimed Claudia [as Ted vomited]. “Where gotst thou that goose-look?”
Chapter 3, The Hidden Land
An insult used in Macbeth to berate a servant, Act V Scene 3:
The devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon! Where got'st thou that goose look?
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“But if you’re right about something working to make the story come out, then there’s really nothing to be afraid of, is there?” […] “Only killing Lord Randolph,” said Patrick, with a nasty grin. “In for a penny, in for a pound.”
Chapter 18, The Secret Country
“In for a penny, in for a pound” is an English idiom that dates back to at least the 1600s. The original meaning was an admonition against debt – advising that owing a penny was just as bad as owing a whole pound, or perhaps that it would inevitably lead to owing a whole pound. The expression was cautionary.
Nowadays, the meaning has shifted some and is more often used to encourage someone to take a larger step or more drastic course of action. Another saying frequently invoked in the same or similar circumstances is “Might as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb.”
Here, Patrick is being a bit cruel by deliberately naming the action Ted and the others most want to avoid.
“And thou, my apprentice,” said Fence to Randolph, “shalt tell me all strange wonders that befell thee.” “And swear,” said Laura and Ellen, looking at each other and taking the dare, “nowhere lives a woman true, and fair.”
Chapter 12, The Secret Country
Fence’s words are an exact echo of a line late in John Donne’s poem Song (sometimes called Go and Catch a Falling Star, after the first line), where the speaker tells the listener to – when they return from their long journey – tell the speaker all they have seen and done, and then asserts that the listener will have learned that there is no such thing as a faithful woman.
Laura and Ellen, knowing the poem in its entirety, can’t help but finish out the famous line:
If thou be’st born to strange sights, Things invisible go see, Ride ten thousand days and nights, Till age snow white hairs on thee. Thou at thy return wilt tell me All strange wonders that befell thee, And swear, Nowhere Lives a woman true and fair.
Laura came with her, hugging her elbows. Mother, mother, make my bed/Make for me a winding sheet/Wrap me up in a cloak of gold/See if I can sleep. They didn’t play that when they thought she could hear it, and they didn’t sing it at all. But she had heard. Patrick tagged along with them. They sat in the dry brown grass a few feet from the Well, and examined it. “Still looks wrong,” said Ellen. “I can’t get over that pink.” Laura looked up the hill she had rolled down, and then squinted sideways at the house. In case they were not going home, she had better see just what Claudia was up to. She set him in a golden chair/She gave him sugar sweet. Laura stared at the mullioned windows, the odd sprouting round towers with their drapes of ivy, the red-tile roof going in humps like somebody’s drawing of the ocean, until her eyes watered. But she saw nothing except what was there. She laid him on a dressing-board / And stabbed him like a sheep.
Chapter 9, The Hidden Land
Dean is very specifically quoting the lyrics of Steeleye Span’s version of the ballad, which does not quite match verbatim any of the versions compiled by Child under Child 155 but keeps the same story and uses various phrasings from different versions throughout the lyrics. The most notable change in Steeleye Span’s version is the removal of the blood libel endemic to most versions of the ballad; in this version, little Sir Hugh’s murderer is only described as a lady dressed in green and no references to Judaism are made whatsoever:
Mother mother make my bed Make for me a winding sheet Wrap me up in a cloak of gold See if I can sleep Four and twenty bonny bonny boys playing at the hall Along came little Sir Hugh, he played with them all He kicked the ball very high, he kicked the ball so low, He kicked it over a castle wall where no one dared to go Out came a lady gay, she was dressed in green "Come in, come in little Sir Hugh, fetch your ball again" "I won't come in, I can't come in without my play mates all For if I should I know you would cause my blood to fall" She took him by the milk white hand, led him to the hall Till they came to a stone chamber where no one could hear him call She sat him on a golden chair, she gave him sugar sweet She lay him on a dressing board and stabbed him like a sheep Out came the thick thick blood, out came the thin Out came the bonny heart's blood till there was none within She threw him in the old draw well fifty fathoms deep
See the Sacred Texts page to compare all Child 155 variants.
See Sir Hugh or the Jew’s Daughter / Little Sir Hugh / The Jews’s Garden for more info on contemporary recordings and some analysis of the song itself, including multiple excerpts of commentary on the blood libel.
“The bright day is done,” said Benjamin, as if Fence were personally responsible, “and we are for the dark.” “See to thy torches, then,” said Fence. Benjamin seemed a little taken aback; then, shocking Ted, he laughed. “Aye,” he said. “Fire is the test of gold.”
Chapter 4, The Hidden Land
Here, Benjamin is quoting the first part of a (translated) well-known saying by Seneca:
Latin: Ignis aurum probat, miseria fortes viros. Translation: Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of brave men.
This is clearly meant to reference the second half of the saying and give them all encouragement, while still playing off of Fence's original play on words.
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“The bright day is done,” said Benjamin, as if Fence were personally responsible, “and we are for the dark.”
Chapter 4, The Hidden Land
This is a verbatim echo of Iras to Cleopatra in Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra, Act V Scene ii:
CLEOPATRA. He words me, girls, he words me, that I should not Be noble to myself: but, hark thee, Charmian. [Whispers CHARMIAN] IRAS. Finish, good lady; the bright day is done, And we are for the dark. CLEOPATRA. Hie thee again: I have spoke already, and it is provided; Go put it to the haste. CHARMIAN. Madam, I will.
“‘Subtle, fair, and wise?’” demanded Ted of Patrick.
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair,” said Patrick, gloomily.
“Hover through the fog and filthy air,” said Ted, completing the quotation.
They stared at one another, and the gaze of the lion did not stop them this time.
Chapter 20, The Secret Country
Patrick begins and Ted completes the ending lines shared by the three witches in the very first scene of Macbeth:
FIRST WITCH When shall we three meet again In thunder, lightning, or in rain? SECOND WITCH When the hurlyburly's done, When the battle's lost and won. THIRD WITCH That will be ere the set of sun. FIRST WITCH Where the place? SECOND WITCH Upon the heath. THIRD WITCH There to meet with Macbeth. FIRST WITCH I come, Graymalkin! SECOND WITCH Paddock calls. THIRD WITCH Anon. ALL Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air.
Ruth crashed her way out onto the other side of the brambles and looked back at them. She was covered with scratches and her hair was coming down, but she looked as pleased as Matthew.
“A little water clears us of this deed,” she said gaily, and plunged on into the underbrush.
Chapter 20, The Secret Country
Ruth is quoting Lady Macbeth's response to Macbeth's immediate remorse in the wake of having committed murder, assuring him that the literal blood on his hands is easily removed (and implying that the metaphorical blood can as easily be put aside). This might be a silly way of saying that crossing through the stream they've finally found will let them reunite with the rest of the hunt and forget about ever being lost and stuck with brambles.
Macbeth, Act II Scene II Lines 721-740
Macbeth. Whence is that knocking? How is't with me, when every noise appals me? What hands are here? ha! they pluck out mine eyes. Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather 725 The multitudinous seas in incarnadine, Making the green one red. [Re-enter LADY MACBETH] Lady Macbeth. My hands are of your colour; but I shame To wear a heart so white. 730 [Knocking within] I hear a knocking At the south entry: retire we to our chamber; A little water clears us of this deed: How easy is it, then! Your constancy 735 Hath left you unattended. [Knocking within] Hark! more knocking. Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us, And show us to be watchers. Be not lost 740 So poorly in your thoughts.
