John's Jokes

John von Neumann Seen by his Brother by Nicholas A. von Neuman.

Prize contest in a magazine: Who wrote this: "They know this well my baron and my men / Gascony, England, Normandy, Poitou, / That I had never follower so low / Whom I would leave in prison for my gain. / I say this not as a reproach to them, / But prisoner I am. " Since I did not know the answer, I asked John: 

 

N: Who wrote this? 

 

J: (without hesitation) Richard Coeur de Lion. 

 

N: Do you know this poem? 

 

J: No. 

 

N: Did you ever hear it? 

 

J: No. 

 

N: Then how did you know the poet? 

 

J: "Very simple. Gascony, England, Normandy and Poitou were in one feudal hand only during the early Plantagenets/ and from there it was quite easy to associate with Richard's crusades and European captivity. But of course, this is a translation. Quite obviously, the early Plantagenets spoke Norman (Medieval) French. 

 

--- Context: axiomatic deduction. I found out later that the translation is that of Henry Adams, and that the "Prison Song" is only one of Richard's many and most perfect poems, usually referred to as gems of English literature!

 

Two twentieth century Jewish brothers discussing in Hungarian, the poetry of a medieval Christian Crusader King translated by a nineteenth century American historian.  Marvelous!  The quintessence of the modern Classical Liberal world.  Also the great chain of Western Civilization knowledge.