Spin, spinning, spun!
[As they dance out, singing, the Curtain of Moss-Roses falls over them again, closing the Third Event in the life of the Princess Moss-Rose, and leaving us in the pleasant certainty that she and her Prince Charming lived happily forever after. May you who have peeped through the veil with me do the same!]
THE TESTING OF SIR GAWAYNE
All Hallowe’en
THE TESTING OF SIR GAWAYNE
All Hallowe’en
What follows takes place at King Arthur’s Court in merry Carlisle, on the Eve of All-Hallowmass when strange things happen ... when the wicked crafts of sorcery work havoc with knightly adventure, and when enchantments bring about marvelous endings in affairs of love. We find ourselves looking backward through the years upon a scene that renews itself before our eyes in the castle hall. On one side is the banqueting-hall, and this way the servants pass to the kitchen [kitching we shall hear it called by Sir Kay, the steward or Seneschal.] On the other side the members of the Court pass to their sleeping-chambers or to the massive door that opens to the outer world. A window gives, first, the light of late afternoon in autumn, then moonlight, and finally a bright dawn. A fire on the great hearth affords a cheerful glow. When it is necessary to light the hall servants will set torches in their sockets against the wall. The walls are adorned with trophies of the chase, and with the arms of knight-errantry. A table, settees, a few plain chairs, and throne-chairs for the King and Queen suffice for furnishing. We shall now and then be taxed in our memory of French and Latin to understand some of the expressions we shall hear ... as, for instance, when someone bidding others leave the room cries, “Avoid! Avoid!” or when the word “quest” is used at one time as we should say “question,” and at another for “adventure.” We shall observe, too, that forms we have been taught to consider common or ungrammatical, obtained then in polite language, such as “afore” where we now say “before,” or the double negative, “not never.” This is something that should make us hesitate before we criticise the speech of simple people, country-folk, and ask ourselves if their homely phrase is not after all but a survival of the elegance of days gone by. It will interest us furthermore to note how in these days of chivalry when religion, love, and deeds of arms are the topics of the chronicler how freely, though not lightly, the names of Holy Persons are invoked in conversation. The Characters whom we shall see enact the little drama are King Arthur and his lovely Queen Guinevere, several Knights of the Round Table, including Sir Kay, the gruff steward or Seneschal, Sir Bors, Sir Bleoberis, Sir Meliogrance, and Sir Gawayne about whom the story concerns itself. Then there is the Knight the rescue of whom nearly cost Arthur his realm, his life, and his queen. Also there is the Little Page who for his precocious valour was dubbed knight and thereafter known as Sir Griflet, and there is the Outrageous Giant who was but the gallant Knight Déliveré under a spell of enchantment. Among the ladies we find Dame Laurel, and the Damosel who rode in such breathless haste to Arthur’s court, seeking aid for her captive Knight. And, most important is the Déliverance La Belle Pilgrim who was mocked at for being “a loathly lady.” And of course there are Pages and Servants and Gentlemen and Women in waiting and Squires and all the royal rest.