Madame Bovary

Madame Bovary

By Gustave Flaubert

A horizon of realisable whims opened out before Emma. She was prudent enough to lay by a thousand crowns, with which the first three bills were paid when they fell due; but the fourth, by chance, came to the house on a Thursday, and Charles, quite upset, patiently awaited his wife's return for an explanation.

If she had not told him about this bill, it was only to spare him such domestic worries; she sat on his knees, caressed him, cooed to him, gave a long enumeration of all the indispensable things that had been got on credit.

“Really, you must confess, considering the quantity, it isn't too dear.”

Charles, at his wit”s end, soon had recourse to the eternal Lheureux, who swore he would arrange matters if the doctor would sign him two bills, one of which was for seven hundred francs, payable in three months. In order to arrange for this he wrote his mother a pathetic letter. Instead of sending a reply she came herself; and when Emma wanted to know whether he had got anything out of her, “Yes,” he replied; “but she wants to see the account”. The next morning at daybreak Emma ran to Lleureux to beg him to make out another account for not more than a thousand francs, for to show the one for four thousand it would be necessary to say that she had paid two-thirds, and confess, consequently, the sale of the estate – a negotiation admirably carried out by the shopkeeper, and which, in fact, was only actually known later on.

Despite the low price of each article, Madame Bovary senior of course thought the expenditure extravagant.

“Couldn't you do without a carpet? Why have re-covered the armchairs? In my time there was a single armchair in a house, for elderly persons, at any rate it was so at my mother', who was a good woman, I can tell you. Everybody can't be rich! No fortune can hold out against waste! I should be ashamed to coddle myself as you do! And yet I am old, I need looking after. And there! There! Fitting up gowns! Fallals! What! Silk for lining at two francs, when you can get jaconet for ten sous, or even for eight, that would do well enough!

Madame Bovary. Photo by Elena.

Emma, lying on a lounge, replied as quietly as possible - “Ah! Madame, enough! Enough!”

The other went on lecturing her, predicting they would end in the work-house, But it was Bovary's fault. Luckily he had promised to destroy that power of attorney.

“What?” “

“Ah! He swore he would,” went on the good woman.

Emma opened the window, called Charles, and the poor fellow was obliged to confess the promise torn from him by his mother.

Emma disappeared, then came back quickly, and majestically handed her a thick piece of paper.

“Thank you,” said the old woman, And she threw the power of attorney into the fire.

Emma began to laugh, a strident, piercing, continuous laugh; she had an attack of hysterics.

“Oh, my God!” cried Charles. “Ah! You really are wrong! You come here and make scenes with her!”

His mother, shrugging her shoulders, declared it was “all put on.”

A Zombie Christmas Carol

A Zombie Christmas Carol

By Michael G. Thomas

Although well used to ghostly company by this time, Scrooge feared the silent shape so much that his legs trembled beneath him, and he found that he could hardly stand when he prepared to follow it. The Spirit paused a moment, as observing this condition, and giving him time to recover.

But Scrooge was all the worse for this. It thrilled him with a vague uncertain horror, to know that behind the dusky shroud, there were ghostly eyes intently fixed upon him, while he, though he stretched his own to the utmost, could see nothing but a spectral hand and one great heap of black.

“Ghost of the Future!” he exclaimed, “O fear you more than any spectre I have seen. But as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear you company, and do it with a thankful heart. Will you not speak to me?”

It gave him no reply. The hand was pointed straight before them.

“Lead on!” said Scrooge. “Lead on!” The night is waning fast, and it is precious time to me, I know. Lead on, Spirit!

The Phantom moved away as it had come towards him. Scrooge followed in the shadow of its dress, which bore him up, he thought, and carried him along.

They scarcely seemed to enter the city; for the city rather seemed to spring up about them, and compass them of its own act.

Bob Marley as a Dead Man walking. Photo by Elena.

There was something sinister and somewhat terrible about the place though. London was never the greatest jewel in terms of beauty but today it was a changed place. As he swept past the places he knew well he noticed the differences. Some of the houses were gone, entire streets in places razed to the ground as though a great storm had blown them down. Carts moved slowly through the winding alleys, some carried goods but most carried corpses, presumably off to burial. A sullen, bitter mood filtered through the alleys and roads from a miserable and much depleted population.

As they slowed, Scrooge noticed a scream and a group of young men ran in the direction of the noise.

“She's been bitten, quickly, do it!” cried one of them.

A woodsman rushed forward, lifting, his light axe he brought it down without hesitation. As the despoiled corpse dropped down the men simply dragged it to one side and heaped it onto one of waiting carts. Scrooge tried to stop to see what was happening, but the Spirit whisked him forwards and past the incident.

A short distance further on and they approached the better, more civilized parts of the city. There were still sections burnt or pulled down but unlike in the slums they were being rebuilt. Small groups of militia rode past, ever on the lookout for the terrible evil that seemed to linger on every street corner. They slowed to a halt as they reached the damaged but still functioning Stock Exchange.

There they were, in the heart of it; on “Change, amongst the merchants; who hurried up and down, and chinked the money in their pockets, and conversed in groups, and looked at their watches, and trifled thoughtfully with their great gold seals; and so forth, as Scrooge had seen then often.

Early Trade and Exploration

Early Trade and Exploration of the Nature

The world looked very different 20,000 years ago. Great glaciers, caused by an ice age, covered much of the land. The people who lived at this time were hunters and gatherers, and they were always on the move. They followed herds of animals ; gathered with nuts, berries, plants and shellfish; and fished the rivers. They traveled long distances for things they valued, such as flint for making tools and weapons. Gradually, they drifted across much of Europe and Asia, and crossed into North America. 

At the end of the last ice age, around 10,000 BC, the glaciers thawed and lush forest grew. As the climate changed, so did the way humans lived. Many continued to hunt and gather food, but people in the Middle East planted crops and bred animals. They made pots, wove cloth, and used metals such as gold. Soon they started to trade with other villages for goods they could not produce themselves.

On the Move

Groups of hunters and gatherers in North-America followed herds of caribous as they migrated between summer and winter pastures. The people carried all their possessions as well as their flint-tipped spears and arrows for hunting.

Past Reflections

People made utensils and tools from obsidian, a black volcanic gass tha was highly valued. Almost 9,000 years ago, women at Catal Huyuk in Turkey used obsidian mirrors to put on their make-up.

Fur trade was very popular. Photo by Elena.

Flint Ax

Hunters used bone or wood to chip flint stones into tools with sharp edges.

Survival Tools

Hunters and gatherers caught their prey with weapons such as wooden daggers with deer-horn points, harpoons made from wood and spearheads made from deer bone with flint set in carved grooves.

Golden Bull

Golden bulls were made of gold in Bulgaria. People often traded for precious metals, such as gold.

Working the Land

Early farmers in the Middle East made the first plows and harnessed oxen to them. Thousands of years later, this farmer in central India uses similar tools to plow his land.

Village Life

The town of Catal Huyuk in southern Turkey, is one of the oldest towns in the world. People built mud-brick houses, which were joined together and entered through the roofs, in 7000 BC. Some of the houses were special shrines, decorated with wall paintings, for worshipping the gods. The people herded cattle; grew wheat, barley and peas; and were skilled clothmakers. They had plenty of obsidian and exchanged it for goods from other areas. Catal Huyul soon become a busy trading center.

Pyramids : Set in Stone

Set in Stone

The World Beyond

Many ancient Egyptian stone monuments still stand in the desert today. Although moisture, wind, sandstorms and tourists have damaged them, the pyramods, tombs, temples and colossal statues tell us much about the ideas, beliefs and technology of the people who built them.

These incredibly complicated projects required expert skills and a huge work force. Astronomers studied the stars to determine the best sites, mathematicians and architects calculated the measurements, stonemasons shaped the blocks, and overseers organized the teams of several thousand laborers. Craftsmen worked soft stones with bronze and copper chisels. The pounded harder rocks with balls of dolerite, then rubbed the surface smooth with quartz sand. The Great Pyramids at Giza were faced originally with gleaming white Tura limestone and may have been capped with gold.

Shipping the Stone

Carpenters built cargo vessels at the Nile shipyards to carry stone blocks from the quarries to the building sites.

The pyramids of Giza

Khufu's Great Pyramid, the biggest of three massive pyramids at Giza, is the largest stone building in the world. It is 479 feet high and contains nearly two-and-a-half million blocks of limestone.

Building measurements on the pyramids are very precise. The stone slabs on the outside of the Great Pyramid fit so snugly side by side that a hair cannot be pushed into the joints between them.

A Pyramid set in ice. Photo by Elena.

The Pyramids and the Stars

We know from hieroglyphs on the pyramid walls that the ancient Egyptians likened their gods to the stars. Some scientists think that the arrangement of the three Great Pyramids on Earth matches Orion's belt in the sky. The buildings are placed in a line with the smaller one slightly to the left, just as the three stars in the constellation are aligned.

The Giza Sphinx

This huge sphinx, cut from rock, guarded the pyramids at Giza. The statue had a human head (representing intelligence) on a lion's body (a sign of strength). Together they symbolized royal power.

False Door

Tombs had false doors decorated with prayers and the owners' names. They were sacred places for the living to leave offerings for the dead.

Village Life

Village Life in Ancient Times

In the past, living in villages meant safety in numbers and shared supplies. Some groups built dwellings. Others followed the food trails, like the Subarctic people who carried caribou skin shelters from camp to camp. Several tribes wintered in pit houses covered with mud. Alaskan Eskimos lived partly underground beneath turf roofs, while Southern Seminoles raised their thatched homes on stilts above the swampy land. Southwesterners solved the problem of fitting many people into a small apce by stacking their stone and mud-brick houses one on top of another, like modern apartment buildings. Native American dwellings came in various shapes : cones, domes triangles, squares and rectangles. Their names were just as varied : chickees, hogans, igloos, tepees, longhouses, Ican-tos, wigwams and wickiups.

Pueblo Village

Sothwestern villages were honeycombs of two-storey stone houses. Ladders led to the roofs and the entrances to the upper rooms.

Split Level Living

Up to 12 Northeastern Iroquois families shared a longhouse. The top level was used for storage, the bottom for sleeping. Curtains separated areas.

Round Houses

The Mandan people built villages on rises beside the Missouri River. Heavy rain ran easily down the domed sides of the houses.

Village in Jamaica. Photo by Elena.

Village Layout

In the well-planned Creek villages of the Southeast, airy summer sleepouts were built beside warmer lodges. The largest round council buildings could seat 500 people. The villagers used them for ceremonies, dancing, winter meetings of the tribal elders and to house the homeless and the aged.

Front Door Poles

Northwest Coast tribes, such as the Haida, lived in wooden buildings. Carved cedar totem poles indicated who lived in each house.

Back Shelter

Some tribes built huts from chunks of redwood or cedar bark. The sweet-smelling wood repelled insects.