Showing posts with label Week 12. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Week 12. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Storytelling: Long Live the King



Diary of Queen Guinevere
The 3rd day of March of the year 537
---
The King is dead.

I should go on to narrate all of his good deeds. Perhaps relate his good will and generosity or of the battles and deeds he had accomplished over the course of the long and fruitful life. But that would be a lie. He was not noble or kingly. He was a tyrant. The kingdom would surly have fallen if not for the efforts of the council and myself. I am sure, however, that there are people out there already writing records of his greatness. No. I refuse to let my husband, if I must call him that, be known as a noble king.

Let it be known that Arthur Pendragon, son of Uther, was a coward and a ruin to the kingdom.

Never before was there such a man who was more interested in the bottom of a keg then in the affairs of his own house. If there was a time he was coherent, servants would cower in the alcoves to avoid his wrath. Knight would avoid his rooms so that they would not be accused of treason for the lack of ale. Not that he was any kinder when he had been drinking, simply more tolerable and easily avoided.

Every night he would have a different woman in his bed. Sometimes they were servant girls, sometimes women from the village. But more often they were the wives and daughters of the nights and nobility. None of them could refuse him, for if they did they, and often their entire families, would be found the next morning dead and mutilated. If one happened to fall pregnant from his advances he would take her into the palace. Then he would proceed to pamper her and ensure her health. But, as soon as the child was born, not a minute after the first cry, the woman would be gone, left to fend for herself. If the babe was a girl, she would be left outside the city walls, a son would be raised in the castle. I myself am not free from this. Arthur had seen my beauty once, when visiting my father. He came back a week later and killed my entire family and forced me to wed him. I have lost many children to his cruelty. He also took his sister, Morganna, claiming her beauty was overwhelming and had enchanted him. Though he did not know it, she fell pregnant. The council and I helped her flee before the king could tell. She gave birth to young Mordred. He is now the saving grace of our kingdom.

He did more to damm the kingdom then spending all his money on liquor, luxury, and women. Our land is one that thrives on magic and Arthur took pleaser in wiping that magic out. He ordered hunts to slaughter herds of unicorns, the fay folk, dragons, and so many more. He ordered the execution of Merlin and Morgan Le Fay (who was also his sister), saying that they practiced arts that were bringing destruction to the kingdom.

It is safe to say that no one in the kingdom will be sad when news spread further beyond the walls of Camelot.

Eventually, his bustard son, Mordred, challenged Arthur on the battlefield. They fought for a very long time. In the end both struck each other through the gut with their swords, a treatable wound if acted upon quickly enough. We knowable in the healing art rushed to Mordred. We had heard from his mother that he was a worthy heir to the throne. We left Arthur there on the ground.

Now I will end this by saying this.

Long live the king

Sometimes going analogue is the
only way to go by Tobias Vemmenby
flicker
Bibliography: Death of king Arther-King Arthur; Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang, source

Author's Note- I truly do not know where this came from. I was reading about King Arthur and thought--as I was reading about his death-- what if history got it wrong. What if Mordred was the good guy and Arthur was a really nasty one? Somehow this rush job came to be. I apologize. I know its not my best work. 

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Reading Notes: King Arthur, Part B


Long Live the King 
Okay...Morbid time. Diary style. Mordred becomes king..written by view of Morganna (?) or Queen Guinevere. Every one celebrates that Arthur is dead- because they all hated him. He was a tyrant, temperamental and arrogant, was running the kingdom. I want the diary to be a reflection filled with resentment and hate. Detailing his atrocity-maybe he killed Merlin, dragons,unicorns, knights, paupers. I want it to be abundant clear that everyone is happy his is dead.  Begin with the lines the King is dead...end with long live the king. Question: dies in battle,both wounded but everyone rushes to the aid of Mordred, poisoned? The tales of the kings funeral are acutely of Mordred not Arthur-history has twisted it. 

End of Arthur
I want this one to be nice. But I do want to change the original story, just a bit. 
Arthur dies, but Bedivere has to drag his body to the lake because it was the dying wish of the king. I want to write how Bedivere got the body to the lake. Highlighting the fact of the dead body, the environment, desperation and urgency of Bedivere. Ending right as he reaches the lake and seeing the congregation waiting. End with a poem or song lyrics as the kings body is set in the raft. mood: bittersweet, genuine love for the king and regret for his death. 

The Death of a King by Elentori
DeviantArt

Bibliography: King Arthur; Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang, source

Monday, April 10, 2017

Reading Notes: King Arthur, Part A

Drawing of the Sword
If they are not worthy the sword kills them. But I want to change it up more than that. No man is able to pull the sword. But a woman stands up-she is already married and has children. She is able to pull it out, but she reruns it saying she is happy with her life. Then another woman is able to release it. A young girl, not yet old enough to wed. She returns it saying that she is looking for more in life than royalty. A third woman pulls it out. An old hag who has many grandchildren and has been widow for many years, She too returns it saying that she has lived a good life and has no need of it. The community then asks what they should do/why they were able to pull it out. The women say give the sword to Arthur-The three women become the triple goddess and guide Arthur.

The Sword Excalibur
I think it would be interesting to write a story on how Excalibur was forged. I think it would be fascinating if a woman made it rather then a typical male blacksmith. She puts her heart and soul into forging it, It is a beautiful sword in its simplicity-no ornate decorations or pomades just a weapon designed for maximum efficiency. When the last blow is struck the lady dies-she is exaliber. Her husband does a similar process to forge the sheath for the sword- both die so that the weapon may live-life sacrifice to ensure its perfection and ablilites. The lady of the lake is the daughter of these two mettle smiths. The sword was forged on the lake-she is a lady of it because that is where she was born-her mother did not stop forging even for her birth.

Arthieran Knight by Charles Ernest Butler
Wikimeadia Commons
Bibliography: King Arthur; Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang, source