5 ~ The Winter Flowers
I've been thinking about a story lately.
It's a story about promises and honor and I suppose it's also a story about generosity. It was hard for me to connect with it at first because the rigid adherence to sworn oaths and sheer amount of lovesickness it contains seem rather ridiculous. But perhaps if I'd been less careless with promises and rules maybe my life would have turned out differently. And now I understand what it means to want something you know you'll never have, and how it makes every day a little dimmer, every other desire just a shadow, every accomplishment turn to ash in your mouth. When you feel like that, what wouldn't you say, what desperate thing wouldn't you do, just to make things better.
Not so long ago, I attempted to write a play based on it but I never got far--perhaps because I could never decide whether I actually thought it was a good story or not. I still haven't figured that out, though I did abandon my attempts at adapting it.
I wrote the story out, at least my version of it, if anyone wants to read it.
Once upon a time there was a lady with golden hair and a bright laugh. She charmed many admirers and was charmed by many in turn, but in the end she was courted and won by a knight whose reputation for bravery was second only to his reputation for honor. They loved each other deeply and passionately, but before long the knight had to ride away for war.
At first the lady waited patiently, but as the months passed without her true love she grew lonely and began to sink into despair. Her friends did their best to cheer her up, especially one young man who would walk and talk with her in her gardens for hours, distracting her with amusing conversation and nature's beauty. It worked to some extent, but she still pined, and as the flowers died and the leaves fell from the trees, she began to sink into despair.
The young man, meanwhile, had quite unsurprisingly fallen deeply in love with the lady. He eventually confessed his love, but she declined to return it. He never quite gave up hope, though, for she clearly enjoyed his company and was quite displeased with him when he went to long without calling on her. One day he was asking her what it would take for her to love him, just one night, when she said, "If you could make the flowers bloom again, though it is the dead of winter, then I would come to you and be your love." He asked her to swear it, and she did, laughingly, for she thought it was quite impossible for the flowers to bloom in such weather.
The young man could hardly do such a thing and tried to give up his pursuit, but he only grew more lovesick by the day until he could neither sleep nor eat due to his hopeless longing. One day, in a fit of madness born of despair, he went to the one man who actually could make flowers bloom in winter--a mage of some repute who lived in a town not far off. The mage's asking price was far beyond what the young man would ever be able to pay, but he agreed to it nonetheless.
The young man went home and called upon the object of his love. Though it was cold, he walked with her outside in the barren gardens and reminded her of what she had said. At that moment he triggered the mage's enchantment and the flowers began to bloom even though there was still snow on the ground. The lady was far more disturbed than delighted, and angrily told him to leave. By a strange twist of fate, the knight returned home that very afternoon, before the flowers had all died of frost. He demanded an explanation and eventually the lady confessed to the foolish promise she had made.
The knight was displeased with the situation, but as dear as he held his lady, he held his honor more dear. He told the lady that as she was his wife, her honor was tied to his own and that all promises, however lightly made, must be kept. He told her that she must go to the young man as she had promised. She cried and pleaded, but he held firm, and eventually she agreed because she loved him true.
When she came to the young man and told him of what her husband had said he was impressed by her husband's commitment to his ideals and by how much the pair loved each other. He become ashamed of his own behavior and released the lady from her promise. She happily returned to her husband who was relieved to hear how things had turned out. The young man went to the mage to confess that there was no way he could pay his debt and offered to enter his service in payment. Curious, the mage asked why he had bought a spell he could not afford when it was such a silly, useless thing. The young man told him the entire story and the mage was so moved by how nobly everyone had acted in the end that he released the young man from his debt.
[ooc: tl;dr so summary: chick says she'll sleep with this dude if he makes flowers bloom in winter, dude goes into debt with mage for spell that does just that, chick's husband finds out but says she has to sleep with dude because she promised. Dude says she doesn't have to, mage ends up canceling his debt when he hears whole story. It's the Franklin's Tale from the Cantebury Tales, with a few changes.]
It's a story about promises and honor and I suppose it's also a story about generosity. It was hard for me to connect with it at first because the rigid adherence to sworn oaths and sheer amount of lovesickness it contains seem rather ridiculous. But perhaps if I'd been less careless with promises and rules maybe my life would have turned out differently. And now I understand what it means to want something you know you'll never have, and how it makes every day a little dimmer, every other desire just a shadow, every accomplishment turn to ash in your mouth. When you feel like that, what wouldn't you say, what desperate thing wouldn't you do, just to make things better.
Not so long ago, I attempted to write a play based on it but I never got far--perhaps because I could never decide whether I actually thought it was a good story or not. I still haven't figured that out, though I did abandon my attempts at adapting it.
I wrote the story out, at least my version of it, if anyone wants to read it.
Once upon a time there was a lady with golden hair and a bright laugh. She charmed many admirers and was charmed by many in turn, but in the end she was courted and won by a knight whose reputation for bravery was second only to his reputation for honor. They loved each other deeply and passionately, but before long the knight had to ride away for war.
At first the lady waited patiently, but as the months passed without her true love she grew lonely and began to sink into despair. Her friends did their best to cheer her up, especially one young man who would walk and talk with her in her gardens for hours, distracting her with amusing conversation and nature's beauty. It worked to some extent, but she still pined, and as the flowers died and the leaves fell from the trees, she began to sink into despair.
The young man, meanwhile, had quite unsurprisingly fallen deeply in love with the lady. He eventually confessed his love, but she declined to return it. He never quite gave up hope, though, for she clearly enjoyed his company and was quite displeased with him when he went to long without calling on her. One day he was asking her what it would take for her to love him, just one night, when she said, "If you could make the flowers bloom again, though it is the dead of winter, then I would come to you and be your love." He asked her to swear it, and she did, laughingly, for she thought it was quite impossible for the flowers to bloom in such weather.
The young man could hardly do such a thing and tried to give up his pursuit, but he only grew more lovesick by the day until he could neither sleep nor eat due to his hopeless longing. One day, in a fit of madness born of despair, he went to the one man who actually could make flowers bloom in winter--a mage of some repute who lived in a town not far off. The mage's asking price was far beyond what the young man would ever be able to pay, but he agreed to it nonetheless.
The young man went home and called upon the object of his love. Though it was cold, he walked with her outside in the barren gardens and reminded her of what she had said. At that moment he triggered the mage's enchantment and the flowers began to bloom even though there was still snow on the ground. The lady was far more disturbed than delighted, and angrily told him to leave. By a strange twist of fate, the knight returned home that very afternoon, before the flowers had all died of frost. He demanded an explanation and eventually the lady confessed to the foolish promise she had made.
The knight was displeased with the situation, but as dear as he held his lady, he held his honor more dear. He told the lady that as she was his wife, her honor was tied to his own and that all promises, however lightly made, must be kept. He told her that she must go to the young man as she had promised. She cried and pleaded, but he held firm, and eventually she agreed because she loved him true.
When she came to the young man and told him of what her husband had said he was impressed by her husband's commitment to his ideals and by how much the pair loved each other. He become ashamed of his own behavior and released the lady from her promise. She happily returned to her husband who was relieved to hear how things had turned out. The young man went to the mage to confess that there was no way he could pay his debt and offered to enter his service in payment. Curious, the mage asked why he had bought a spell he could not afford when it was such a silly, useless thing. The young man told him the entire story and the mage was so moved by how nobly everyone had acted in the end that he released the young man from his debt.
[ooc: tl;dr so summary: chick says she'll sleep with this dude if he makes flowers bloom in winter, dude goes into debt with mage for spell that does just that, chick's husband finds out but says she has to sleep with dude because she promised. Dude says she doesn't have to, mage ends up canceling his debt when he hears whole story. It's the Franklin's Tale from the Cantebury Tales, with a few changes.]