And Round Me Rings: Bell Tales and Folklore

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University. She is the author of several books, including The
Mountain Is Moving: Japanese Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret
Laurence: The Long Journey Home.

This is an unusual book, and one with special significance for the
author. Ann Spencer credits her mother’s playing the piano at family
gatherings with enriching her life and making music become her second
language.

The other personal experience that led to the book was Spencer’s
chance presence in the ringing chamber of the Cathedral of the Holy
Trinity in Quebec City in 1996. For four hours she listened to
bell-ringing by members of the North America Guild of Change Ringers. It
proved to be an enchanted afternoon interspersed with storytelling about
bell-ringers and belfries.

This intriguing collection about bells and bell-makers has been
gathered from folklore and fable around the world. Bells have marked
curfews, warned of fires, and rung out a criminal’s fate. Some of the
legends are dark and tragic, even eerie. “Belling the Cat” is a
charming retelling of the Aesop’s fable that led to the folk saying
“But who will bell the cat?” and the sage conclusion “It is easy
to propose impossible remedies.” One whimsical anecdote about a flood
in the Trent Valley area in 1875 stems from the villagers’ seeking
refuge in a church on a hilltop. Its bell had been ringing irregularly
for days; the bell-ringer turned out to be a cow that was chewing the
straw bell pull.

Lindsay Grater’s exquisite graphite drawings are memorable, dramatic,
and touched with humour. Graphite might seem to be a simple, even
limiting, medium, but in Grater’s hands it becomes an impressive one.
And Round Me Rings is a beautiful and unusual book for all ages. Highly
recommended.