Sparrow (11 page)
Authors: Michael Morpurgo
When, some years ago, I wrote
Arthur, High King of Britain
and then
Robin of Sherwood
I was simply retelling two old legends in my own way. I had little historical truth to take into consideration. With both books, I was seeking to strip away the encrusted layers of countless tellings, which seemed to me to have distorted the legends. I wanted to discover again, if I could, the living people behind the legends, the Arthur and the Robin who might have inspired the legends in the first place.
But Joan of Arc is, of course, more than a legend. George Bernard Shaw wrote of her in the introduction to his play: ‘Joan of Arc was born about
1412, burnt for heresy, witchcraft and sorcery in 1431; rehabilitated after a fashion in 1456, designated Venerable in 1904, declared Blessed in 1908; and finally canonised in 1920.’
Joan of Arc lived and died. She breathed the air we breathe. From the transcripts of her trial in 1431 and her retrial in 1456, we know more about her than any other person of her time. From her own lips she speaks to us down the centuries. And we hear her story, too, from eyewitnesses, from those who knew her as a girl, who grew up with her, who fought with her, who watched her die.
Since her death, Joan has been exploited mercilessly. She has been demonised and vilified – Shakespeare himself was among her detractors. She has been politicised, idolised, and sanctified. They made a legend of her, set her on a pedestal. I tried to find the real Joan, the Joan who grew up
in Domrémy. I wanted to be near her, to make sense of the innumerable historical inconsistencies and contradictions. Who was this peasant girl who heard voices, who, as a mere teenager, began driving the English out of France and then died at the stake for her beliefs, who inspired the French so much that within just a few years of her death, they had driven the English from their soil forever?
Many biographies by learned authors have been written about her. There have been numerous plays and films, too; but in many cases I found the Joan in them too remote or too saintly. I wanted to see her as she must have been, to share her doubts and her joys, her innermost thoughts. So in my book, I have invented a companion for her, a white sparrow who stays with her faithfully all through her life, right to the end. And to reach back into history, I have used the story of a girl of today who
grows up with a picture of Joan of Arc in her house, who admires and loves her deeply. Both devices enabled me to come close to Joan and will, I hope, enable my readers to do the same. But I have neither invented nor embroidered the history – though Joan’s story is so remarkable, it might very well seem as if I have! And wherever possible I have used Joan’s words. I have let her speak for herself.
Michael Morpurgo – April 15, 1998
Many sources were used in the writing of this book. But foremost amongst them have been
St Joan
by Bernard Shaw (Penguin),
Jeanne d’Arc
by Vita Sackville West (Folio Society),
The Trial of Joan of Arc
(Folio Society) and
J’ai nom Jeanne la Pucelle
by Régine Pernaud (Collections Découvertes Gallimard). And many people too have helped. In particular Christine Baker at Gallimard, to whom the book is dedicated, Pam and Colin Webb, my publishers at Pavilion, Philippe Barbeau of Orléans, The Jeanne d’Arc Foundation and the City of Orléans … and, of course, the other Michael, Michael Foreman. My thanks to them all.
After a fierce storm, a boy of today discovers a human skull, buried beneath the roots of an ancient tree. A skull with a legendary past: the heroic story of Robin Hood.
OUT NOW
MICHAEL MORPURGO OBE is one of Britain’s best-loved writers for children. He has written over 100 books and won many prizes, including the Smarties Prize, the Blue Peter Book Award and the Whitbread Award. His recent bestselling novels include
Shadow, An Elephant in the Garden
and
Born to Run.
Michael’s stories have been adapted numerous times for stage and screen, and he was Children’s Laureate from 2003 to 2005, a role which took him all over the country to inspire children with the joy of reading stories.
Outlaw – the story of Robin Hood
Little Manfred
Shadow
An Elephant in the Garden
Running Wild
Kaspar
Born to Run
The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips
Farm Boy
The Butterfly Lion
First published as
Joan of Arc
in Great Britain in paperback by Pavilion Books,
London House, Great Eastern Wharf, London SW11 4NQ in 1998
Published in 2001 by Hodder Children’s Books, a division of Hodder Headline
Limited, 338 Euston Road, London, NW1 3BH
This edition published as
Sparrow – the story of Joan of Arc
by HarperCollins
Children’s Books
in 2012
HarperCollins
Children’s Books
is a division of HarperCollins
Publishers
Ltd,
77-85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London, W6 8JB
The HarperCollins website address is:
www.harpercollins.co.uk
SOURCE ISBN 978-0-00-746595-8
EPub Edition © MARCH 2012 ISBN 978-0-00-746596-5
Michael Morpurgo asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of the work.
SPARROW
. Copyright © Michael Morpurgo 1998. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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