On the night of the Opener, I have been reading a toast from a novel I wrote about a decade ago with help from kind folks here at the Campfire.
It used to be done in conjunction with KYHillChick's serving of a wonderful venison roast, the recipe was supposedly Henry VIII's favorite dish. Sadly, KYHillChick has been unable to make it to The Opener for few years due to her work. It also got to be a bit problematic. The dish is very rich, and it did not play out well, when we'd come in from dealing with the insides of deer.
Here's the recipe:
Henry VIII's favorite dish Here's the toast:
“He that outlives this day and comes safe home will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d, And point a finger at his mounted antlers saying ‘These wounds! These wounds, I gave on Opening Day!’ For he today that sheds blood with me shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile. This day shall gentle his condition. And Gentlemen all now in bed shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap
whilst any speaks that hunted with us on Opening Day.”
The gist of the plot at this point in the novel is a college student follows his English professor out deer hunting. The line is delivered as the professor is coming up on the student, who's just shot a nice 6 pointer. The chapter ends with:
He handed me a folding knife
and said. “You ever cleaned a deer before?”
"No."
I went to wake Angus the other morning down at Deer Camp. He'd taken a deer the day before, and decided not to go out. Upon asking him his intentions, he replied, " I am going to lie in bed and hold my manhood cheap."