Word: wises
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Private Ivan Chonkin bears a Slavic resemblance to Jaroslav Haśek's The Good Soldier Schweik. But where Schweik was a shrewd operator in the Austro-Czech army of World War I, Good Soldier Chonkin belongs to an older tradition. He is the wise fool, the slow-witted peasant who mulishly plows a straight furrow through a devious world. Chonkin even looks as if he had plodded from the pages of folklore, "his field shirt hanging out over his belt, his forage cap down over his big red ears, his puttees slipping...
...there really a bright star nearly 20 centuries ago that guided the wise men from their lands in the east to the manger in Bethlehem? There are those who dismiss the star as nothing more than a metaphor; many ancient civilizations believed that new stars heralded the birth of almost any king or conqueror. Stars, after all, are said to have greeted the births of Mithridates and Alexander. But others take the Christmas star more literally, and not without reason. Astronomical records show that there were several significant celestial events around the time of Jesus' birth...
Astronomers and scientists generally agree that the bright light in the sky that led the wise men to Jesus' birthplace was probably not a supernova, or exploding star. Such stellar catastrophes are far too spectacular to escape general notice, and with the exception of Matthew, none of the Apostles or King Herod mentions such a brilliant star near the time that Jesus was born. Nor does a comet seem likely to have been the Christmas star. True. Halley's comet, which was first seen in 240 B.C., reappeared in 12 B.C. But that was several years before...
...sweeping overall view of the work is laced with the tenderest of vocal and instrumental touches. He also has the better Sachs. As fine an artist as is Fischer-Dieskau, he cannot match the residue of obvious stage experience that Britain's Norman Bailey brings to his wise, warm and passionate cobbler...
...winter-not only is there snow on the ground (sometimes), but there aren't even any crews out cruising on the Charles. Where there were fleets in October there are now occasional chunks of ice (without coxswain) headed downstream. One would figure the crew jocks got wise and bagged it this time of year, since it's too cold to row anyway...