nobles of Toulouse decided to invite poets to recite their works, the winner to receive, as the first prize, a violet fashioned of gold.
The contest was held in France periodically, until Violante de Bar, queen of Cataluña and Aragon and wife of King Joan I, brought the poetry competition and some of its French judges to Barcelona in 1388. The Spanish court soon officially adopted the Jocs Florals and celebrated them each year with great pomp. By the time they came to Count Vasca's attention the annual poetry competitions were judged by the royal court. The silver violet was now given as the third prize. Second prize was a rose fashioned of gold. The first prize, with a typical Catalan touch, was a single real rose, on the theory that nothing made by humans could surpass a flower made by God.
Vasca thought it would be splendid to be summoned to the court to receive such an honor, and he made plans to enter the Jocs Florals. The fact that he was illiterate didn't deter him, for he had the wealth to employ someone with writing skills, and he hired Asher ben Yair and told him that he must write a poem. In a discussion about subject matter Vasca said the poem should be about a great and noble soldier, and after a very brief time the count and the clerk agreed that Count Fernán Vasca himself was the warrior most suitable for description in such a work.
When the poem was completed and read to the count it didn't offend his ear. It was sufficient that his bravery and warrior skills were treated with reverence and no little exaggeration, and Count Vasca sent a copy to Barcelona.
The Vasca poem failed to impress the judges of the court. By the time news reached the Count that three others had won the prizes, Asher ben Yair had said good-bye to his uncle, Rabbi Ortega, and had wisely departed for the island of Sicilia, where he believed he could become a teacher of young Jews.
Count Vasca had sent for Helkias Toledano, a Jew who was reputed to be a remarkable worker of precious metals. When Helkias had gone to Tembleque he had found Vasca still enraged that he had been snubbed by a group of effete versifiers. He told Helkias about the Jocs Florals and its imaginative prizes, and then revealed that he had decided to sponsor a more manly contest, a true jousting tourney, with a first prize far more remarkable and magnificent than any given in Barcelona.
'I wish you to fashion a rose of gold, with a silver stem.'
Yonah's father had nodded thoughtfully.
'Listen to me with care: it must be fully as beautiful as a natural rose.'
Helkias had smiled. 'Well, but--'
The Count had held up a hand -- Helkias believed he was unwilling to abide very long discussions with a Jew. Vasca had turned away. 'Just go and do this thing. It will be required after Easter next.' And Helkias had been dismissed.
Helkias was accustomed to the unreasonable demands of difficult patrons, though the particular situation was made more difficult by the fact that Count Vasca had a reputation for brutalizing those who displeased him. He started to work, sitting before rose bushes for many hours, making drawings. When he had a depiction that satisfied him, he began to beat gold and silver with a hammer. After four days he had something very much in the shape of a rose, but it was disappointing, and he broke it apart and melted the metal.
He tried again and again, each time gaining small victories but meeting defeat in the aggregate effect. Two months passed from the day of his meeting with Vasca, and still he wasn't close to fulfilling his commission.
But he kept trying, studying the rose as if it were the Talmud, drinking in its scent and beauty, picking roses apart petal by petal to note the construction of the whole, noting how stems turned and bent and grew toward the sun, observing the way buds were born and ripened and tenderly unfolded and opened. With each attempt to reproduce the simple and stunning beauty of the flower he began to sense the essence
The contest was held in France periodically, until Violante de Bar, queen of Cataluña and Aragon and wife of King Joan I, brought the poetry competition and some of its French judges to Barcelona in 1388. The Spanish court soon officially adopted the Jocs Florals and celebrated them each year with great pomp. By the time they came to Count Vasca's attention the annual poetry competitions were judged by the royal court. The silver violet was now given as the third prize. Second prize was a rose fashioned of gold. The first prize, with a typical Catalan touch, was a single real rose, on the theory that nothing made by humans could surpass a flower made by God.
Vasca thought it would be splendid to be summoned to the court to receive such an honor, and he made plans to enter the Jocs Florals. The fact that he was illiterate didn't deter him, for he had the wealth to employ someone with writing skills, and he hired Asher ben Yair and told him that he must write a poem. In a discussion about subject matter Vasca said the poem should be about a great and noble soldier, and after a very brief time the count and the clerk agreed that Count Fernán Vasca himself was the warrior most suitable for description in such a work.
When the poem was completed and read to the count it didn't offend his ear. It was sufficient that his bravery and warrior skills were treated with reverence and no little exaggeration, and Count Vasca sent a copy to Barcelona.
The Vasca poem failed to impress the judges of the court. By the time news reached the Count that three others had won the prizes, Asher ben Yair had said good-bye to his uncle, Rabbi Ortega, and had wisely departed for the island of Sicilia, where he believed he could become a teacher of young Jews.
Count Vasca had sent for Helkias Toledano, a Jew who was reputed to be a remarkable worker of precious metals. When Helkias had gone to Tembleque he had found Vasca still enraged that he had been snubbed by a group of effete versifiers. He told Helkias about the Jocs Florals and its imaginative prizes, and then revealed that he had decided to sponsor a more manly contest, a true jousting tourney, with a first prize far more remarkable and magnificent than any given in Barcelona.
'I wish you to fashion a rose of gold, with a silver stem.'
Yonah's father had nodded thoughtfully.
'Listen to me with care: it must be fully as beautiful as a natural rose.'
Helkias had smiled. 'Well, but--'
The Count had held up a hand -- Helkias believed he was unwilling to abide very long discussions with a Jew. Vasca had turned away. 'Just go and do this thing. It will be required after Easter next.' And Helkias had been dismissed.
Helkias was accustomed to the unreasonable demands of difficult patrons, though the particular situation was made more difficult by the fact that Count Vasca had a reputation for brutalizing those who displeased him. He started to work, sitting before rose bushes for many hours, making drawings. When he had a depiction that satisfied him, he began to beat gold and silver with a hammer. After four days he had something very much in the shape of a rose, but it was disappointing, and he broke it apart and melted the metal.
He tried again and again, each time gaining small victories but meeting defeat in the aggregate effect. Two months passed from the day of his meeting with Vasca, and still he wasn't close to fulfilling his commission.
But he kept trying, studying the rose as if it were the Talmud, drinking in its scent and beauty, picking roses apart petal by petal to note the construction of the whole, noting how stems turned and bent and grew toward the sun, observing the way buds were born and ripened and tenderly unfolded and opened. With each attempt to reproduce the simple and stunning beauty of the flower he began to sense the essence
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