William Golding on God

And what he can do

William Golding, best known for his first novel, The Lord of the Flies, which used to be regularly assigned in school, won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1983. (The book has been criticized for getting the story upon which it was based exactly wrong.) This story is taken from his essay “Wiltshire,” collected in A Moving Target.

There was once a Wiltshire gardener who was given a piece of land to clear. he worked at his accustomed pace — the slow pace of the true countryman, which can be kept up all day and accomplish nothing. But the land belonged to the vicar, who kept an eye on him and urged him on. At last he had finished and the vicar congratulated him.

“You have done well, my man,” he said, “with God’s help.”

The gardener spat on his spade.

“You should have seen this place, vicar,” he said, “when God had it to Hisself.”

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