Commenting SIR GAWAIN AND THE PRINCESS OF ELFLAND

[Ephtariat]

I made this separate post for commenting on my reworking of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, titled Sir Gawain and the Princess of Elfland. Please do comment here, so that the story remains more easily accessible.

[Chrysophylax Dives]

I like the picture!

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Do we get now the whole saga of Gawain? Wouw, had not thought of that to appear. *shakes head in unbelieve* One does not have to get bored.

[Ephtariat]

@Hill Did you also read the tale? What did you think?

[Ephtariat]

Aiks: How's that for encouragement? I never considered writing other Gawain stories, but I do have a few ideas, now that you make me think about it!

[Aikári Salmarinian]

I get the picture you are swept of your feet by Gawain. More ideas... What can I say? *rolls eyes* I just came online and noticed it. Got yet to start, but first breakfast.

[Ephtariat]

Aiks: Take your time, sir!
We're all here when you want to reach out (after breakfast, of course!)

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Eph: I am on the big PC now and not a mobile phone, where coding is quite awkwardly and the battery is pretty quick depleted. I will read, will take about a half hour I guess. And I guess I just swept genders.

[Ephtariat]

Aiks: Looking forward to your opinion!

[Chrysophylax Dives]

Well, not got very far as yet. Trojan prologue is most excellent; though the seed of the traitor type origin is an almost biblical tale that makes me wonder again as to what your deal is with elves and monsters.

This paragraph below from early in the story proper seems to show why you walk past my own research project into towers without batting an eye-lid. But I would not myself have put Merlin in the topmost chamber of the tower of Camelot - though I see why one would. Then again, I recall Merlin does not fare so well in the epilogue, so this is only preliminary reflection.

In his desperation, Gawain once climbed the steep steps of the winding stairs leading all the way up into the highest chamber of Camelot’s topmost tower, seeking Merlin’s help in his study. The room was an overwhelming mess of manuscripts, scrolls, candles, jars, flasks, alembics, and every other sort of curiosities, ranging from the four-legged chest, walking about the place as though looking for something, to a glass bottle apparently containing perpetual lightnings, the flashes of which intermittently blinded any bystander. The wizard himself was sleeping on a rocking chair, but he immediately woke up as the knight cleared his throat, then Merlin got up from his chair, grabbed a wooden stick, murmured some formula in what might have been Latin, and immediately the chest retracted its four legs and returned a normal chest, while the lightning storm within the bottle stopped. “Now, now, now…” Merlin started, as though he and Gawain had been interrupted in the middle of a conversation, instead of being just then starting one. “As I was telling you, Sir Gawain, there is nothing I can do for you, because verily even though I gave you Excalibur the Sword of Kings, and Dyrnwyn the Fiery Blade, and even though I brought you Gungnir and Mjölnir, the Spear and the Hammer of the Gods, and even though I dressed you in the Helmet of Hades, the Veil of Isis, and the Armor of Örvar Oddr, and however you may repair under the shield Wynebgwrthucher, yours is not a challenge of arms, but a trial for your mind and a test for your heart, and all the help that avails you shall come from within, not without”. As he was speaking, Merlin had heedlessly taken Gawain under his arm and walked him outside the door, so that, when he abruptly finished his speech, he came back inside, shut himself in, and gave the astonished knight only the benefit of a final: “Good day, Sir!” before returning to whatever he had to do.

[Ephtariat]

@Hill I framed it as a Trojan story because that's what the Gawain-Poet himself does.

I thought you might have something to say on the Merlin bit!

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hey Eph, and yes I am returning to reading your rewritten tale on Gawain. I have read much earlier this year, or late last year the poem about Gawain and all of Tolkien's thought about them. But that aside from my side, reading... It was little surprise to me to discover the classic note from the mediterranean basin through the prologue. You take me with it back to the lands of Tory in another setting. Funny how Gawain is distracted by a maiden and in the fight is not alerted anymore against the black rider. I wonder to which knight would that happen?

And there is the green knight whose head is chopped off and leaves still. A year passes and the adventure commences. A nice game of the mind get to Gawain, where the spoken words keep roaming. You felt indeed to ponder over how Gawain experiences this year at Camelot. A visit to the wizard. It is a thing that the poem doesn't tell really about, not that I can remember. Funny how Merlin walks him out of the good and says him "Goodbye Sir!" I never had the impression of Gawain go so lost of mind what to do exactly, until the moment he leaves.

It is a big chunk of text to wrestle through, but finally we get to the road.... You did some research on the roads in the area of Camelot, hence the Celtic names. It gives an actual sense in what kind of time Gawain lives. Ah Yvain... It makes the poem a lively event to read through and go with Gawain at the lengths. Gawain collect heads? How barbaric.. So on the way to Eire perhaps, or into Cymru. One red and one blue knight. Then it gets a bit fuzzy concerning a dreaming state of some sorts. Gawain reaches the destination. An lived happily.

Aww all and all it was a pretty good reworking of the old ballad. I hadn't expected to happen like this. But it is cool. Well done! Thanks for sharing! It kept me a few hours busy.

[Ephtariat]

Aiks: Thanks a lot, I'm glad you enjoyed your reading of my tale. The Trojan prologue, as I was saying to Hill, is my way to elaborate the fact that the Gawain-Poet starts from Troy. That's due to the fact that medieval author Geoffrey of Monmouth made Arthur a descendant of the supposed colonizer of Britain: Brutus of Troy, grandchild of Aeneas.

You ask me which knight would be distracted by the thought of his Lady so much as to forget about his opponent charging against him. Well, that happens to Lancelot in Chrétien de Troyes's romance of Lancelot. Of course this fact does not make it any less funny. :-D

The digression on Gawain's year at Camelot was my way to fill a blank left by the Gawain-Poet, who passes over the entire year in a couple of stanzas about the seasons. The visit to Merlin was just my interpretation of what a knight of King Arthur would do if he was confronted with a supernatural enemy.

As to your impression that collecting heads is barbaric, I'd say that's pretty much what a hunter would do if he could not carry the whole prey: collect a trophy. I'm glad that you enjoyed Gawain's travels, anyway. A lot of research went into it, because that's just another blank the Gawain-Poet leaves, surmising over months in a couple stanzas.

What are your impressions about the lady tempting Gawain? Did I handle well those scenes? In the original poem they just talk and kiss, while I made her way more "active" in her flirt with Gawain. Do you feel it works? :-)

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hey Eph! To answer your questions in a moment... Ah yeah I remember about Monmouth, but it is a long time since highschool. Oh that was a bit of rethorical question, but aye Sir Lancelot. Yeah it was a good interlude about Camelot and deepens out Gawain's character far more. There are indeed a lot of blanks in. It is a way how I came rewrite all of The HP tales through the antagonist Draco Malfoy.

1.What are your impressions about the lady tempting Gawain?
It was quite exciting to read actually. My surmising was how strong would Gawain be to resist her attempts. That was kind of itching.

2.Did I handle well those scenes?
I have a feeling you did. You surprised me in a lot of ways, but don't ask me which situations. You have a good way with putting humour in your tales. Something mine definite are missing.

3.In the original poem they just talk and kiss, while I made her way more "active" in her flirt with Gawain. Do you feel it works? :-)
It definite works. The time it was written in, was a quite prudent period. Bit twofolded in many ways, fair in public and dirty in private. Or at least how it comes over on paper. The old stuff is archaic. You wrote it more nowaways, or definite nowadays. And truth to say, it digests better.

[Ephtariat]

Thank you so much, Aiks. I'm so glad to read these comments of yours, as much as the previous ones. At your service.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Sure! What kind of ideas do you have more, as you mentioned before?

[Ephtariat]

Are you familiar with the Imperious Host motif?

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Eph: Kinda I guess, from what I gather it is from Heroes of the Storm. It is a videogame from 2019 I believe... but I never saw any game content on Youtube, than a promotion vid or so. You are up to something about it?

[Ephtariat]

Aiks: The Imperious Host is a folktale motif that was studied by scholars at the beginning of the 20th century. It is the story of a man who is a guest in the house of a host who must be obeyed in everything, even if he asks absurd requests, culminating in asking the man to sleep with the host's wife and daughter, and asking the man to behead the host. If the man disobeys only one command, he is killed. When the man obliges to everything, beheading the host does not kill him, but disenchants him from the spell that had been put on him, that was the cause of his weird behavior. The man is then rewarded by the hand of the host's daughter.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Eph: Ah you have been me here, I don't know it then. Where is it from really England, Italy? What is the actual title of the poem/folktale? I tried to google it, but it does not pop up? Have you done something with the form and also put a tale around it? Filling in the gaps, as we speak?

[Ephtariat]

Aiks: It's a motif found in folktales from all Europe and beyond, but in the Middle Ages it's found in English Arthurian tales of Gawain such as "The Carl of Carlisle" and "The Turk and Gawain". You can easily find the Middle English text of both on google, but I don't know if a translation in Modern English is available. I've not written anything yet, but I might like to make my own version.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Eph: Oh I see. Good luck with writing then. I'll see what I can find. Sounds quite interesting. Thanks for the info!

[Ephtariat]

Aiks: Thanks for the good wishes!