3-011-744 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

King Cheer - drawn by James Godwin, 1864. Illustration to a poem by George MacDonald. 'King Cheer he reigned in Aureoland, "With a cup for a sceptre in his hand; A jolly King at trencher and cup-He ate enough, but he drank all up, Till his head began to totter and shake, And his hands and his feet to stiffen and ache. The doctors were called, but they dared not say, "Your Majesty drinks too much tokay."...And Christmas Eve had brought no mirth, And the King thought nothing was good in the earth. Up rose the fool, whose every word Was three parts wise and one part absurd...The fool went down and opened the gate. In came a bowed man, hungry and cold, And he knelt at the dais all floored with gold. The fool caught up the King's golden plate, And set it before him. The hungry man ate. And the King beheld, with a pleased surprise, How he ate with his mouth, and his cheeks, and his eyes. And he rose himself, and took him the cup-"Drink it out," said he, " and I'll fill it up."...And hence the blissful custom was bred That at Christmas time, when the holly is red, The palace-gates stood open wide, And the poor came in from every side...And such a king in the world was none'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.