Lyonesse II - The Green Pear and Madouc
Page 94
"My mother, Twisk! It is my duty as a daughter to invite her to an occasion so merry!"
"Do you think she will come?"
"I will call her." Madouc selected a blade of grass and made a grass flute. She played a piping note and sang:
'Lirra lissa larra lass
Madouc has made a flute of grass.
Softly blowing, wild and free
She calls to Twisk at Thripsey Shee,
Lirra lissa larra leer
A daughter calls her mother dear!
Tread the wind and vault the mere;
Span the sky and meet me here.
So sing I, Madouc.'
In a swirl of vapor Twisk appeared. Her delicate features were placid, her blue hair coiffed into a crest along the top of her scalp and engaged in a silver mesh.
Madouc cried out in delight: "Mother, you are more beautiful than ever! I marvel at you!"
Twisk smiled with cool amusement. "I am pleased to merit your approval. Dhrun, I must say that you present yourself most agreeably. Your early training has served you well."
"So it may be," said Dhrun politely. "I shall never forget it, certainly."
Twisk turned back to Madouc. "Our compliments have been exchanged; what was your purpose in calling me?"
"I wanted you, my dear mother, on hand to share our merriment at a banquet, which even now is about to begin. It is a small but select occasion, and we will take pleasure in your company."
Twisk shrugged. "Why not? I have nothing better to do."
"Hmf," said Madouc. "Enthusiasm or none, I am still pleased! Come, we have already been called to the table!"
"I will naturally avoid the gut-clogging impact of your coarse food; still, I may taste a drop of wine and perhaps the wing of a quail. Who is that handsome gentleman?"
"That is King Aillas. Come, I will introduce you."
The three strolled across the lawn to where the table had been laid with-linen napery and salvers of silver. Aillas, in conversation with one of his escort, turned to watch the three approach.
Madouc said: "Your Highness, allow me to present my mother, Twisk, often known as 'Twisk of the Blue Hair'. I have invited her to share our banquet."
Aillas bowed. "Lady Twisk, you are more than welcome!" He looked from Twisk to Madouc and back to Twisk. "I think I see a resemblance, though certainly not in the color of the hair!"
"Madouc's hair was perhaps the only birthright rendered her by her father, a certain Sir Pellinore, of frivolous bent."
Shimrod approached the group. Madouc called out: "Mother, I would like to present another of my dear friends!"
Twisk turned, and her blue eyebrows lofted high. "So, Sir Pellinore! At last you choose to show yourself! Have you no shame?" Twisk turned to Madouc. "I advise more caution in the choice of your friends! This is the secretive Sir Pellinore, your father!"
Madouc gave a poignant cry: "I can choose my friends, Mother, but as for my father, the choice was yours!"
"True," said Twisk equably. "Indeed, it was from Sir Pellinore that I learned the caution I am now trying to teach you."
Madouc turned to Shimrod. "Are you truly Sir Pellinore?"
Shimrod attempted an airy gesture. "Many years ago, I wandered the land as a vagabond. It is true I occasionally used the name Sir Pellinore when the mood came upon me. And, indeed, I remember an idyll in the forest with a beautiful fairy, when I thought the name Sir Pellinore rang with romantic reverberations-far more than simple 'Shimrod'."
"So it is true! You, Shimrod, are my father!"
"If the Lady Twisk so asserts, I shall be honoured to claim the relationship. I am as surprised as you, but not at all displeased!"
Aillas spoke: "Let us take our places at the table! Our goblets are full with wine! Madouc has found her father; Shimrod has found a daughter, and the family is now united!"
"Not for long," said Twisk. "I have no taste for maudlin domesticity."
"Still, you must acknowledge the moment. To the table then, and we will celebrate Lady Twisk's surprising disclosures!"
"First: we shall salute my absent queen Glyneth and the new Princess Serle!"
"Second: to the Lady Twisk, who astounds us with her beauty!"
"Third: to Madouc, one-time Princess of Lyonesse, who became demoted to 'Madouc the vagabond', and now by royal dispensation becomes once again: Madouc, Princess of Lyonesse!"
Footnotes
1 In primaeval times a land bridge briefly connected the Elder Isles to Old Europe. According to myth, the first nomad hunters to arrive on Hybras, when they crossed the Teach tac Teach and looked down along the Atlantic foreshore, discovered the city Ys.
2 Somewhat later, King Phristan of Lyonesse allowed a Christian bishopric at Bulmer Skeme, on the east coast of Lyonesse, insisting only that no wealth be exported to Rome. Perhaps for this reason, the church received little support from abroad, and the bishop exercised no great influence, either at Bulmer Skeme or at Rome.
3 In years to come Cairbra an Meadhan would serve as model for the Round Table which graced King Arthur's court at Camelot.
4 Also known as the Hall of Heroes, where Evandig the throne and Cairbra an Meadhan the round table are situated.
5 Also Known as the Old Tower.
6 Known as the Eyrie.
7 Jousting in full armour with battle lances was not yet in vogue. During this era lances were heavily padded with pillowlike buffs, and jousting seldom caused injuries more serious than bruises and sprains.
8 Sir Blaise would eventually sire Sir Glahan of Benwick, who in his turn would sire one of King Arthur's best paladins, Sir Lancelot du Lac. Also present at the celebration was Sir Garstang of Twanbow Hall, whose son would sire another of King Arthur's most trusted comrades, Sir Tristram of Lyonesse.
9 Ska: the indigenous race of Scandinavia, with traditions and records older by far than those of the Near or Far East. Three thousand years previously, a wave of Aryans, or Ur-Goths, had migrated north from the Black Sea steppes into Scandanavia, ultimately expelling the Ska, who descended first upon Ireland, where they were known to myth as the 'Sons of Partholon'. Eventually, after defeat by the Danaans, they migrated south into Skaghane.
10 Saint Uldine's children were Ignaldus, Drathe, Alleia and Bazille. Each survived to pursue his or her destiny. The chronicles relating to these events may someday be made public.
11 NOTE: The honorific 'Sir' is here used to designate persons born to noble estate, without reference to their place in the exactly gradated hierarchy. The contemporary language uses a multiplicity of titles and honorifics to specify each subtle distinction; these would be impractical to render in the present chronicle. Hence 'Sir Cory' is designated by the same honorific as his father, the landed baron 'Sir Claunay', and his brother, 'Sir Camwyd', even though their absolute ranks are greatly at variance.
12 bodge: an outdoor lathe powered by a line running from a springy overhead tree branch to a treadle which turns the spindles of the lathe.
13 Untranslatable: a fairy word signifying (1) passionate receptivity or involvement with each instant of life; (2) a kind of euphoria induced by close attention to unpredictable changes in the perceived surroundings as one instant metamorphoses into the next; a dedicated awareness to NOW; a sensitivity to the various elements of NOW. The concept of skiemik is relatively simple and quite bereft of mysticism or symbol.
14 Lucanor’s duties were three: he plotted the shape of the constellations and, when needful, altered the placement of the stars; he assigned to each thing of the world the secret name by which its existence was confirmed or denied; he regulated the cycle by which the end of the future merged into the begin ning of the past. In Druidic depictions, Lucanor wore double-pointed shoes, with toes extending both forward and back. An iron circlet displaying seven golden disks clasped his head. Lucanor was a solitary god, who held himself aloof from the lesser gods of the Druidic pantheon, among whom he inspired awe and fear.
A Druidic myth relates how Lucan
or, coming upon the other gods as they sat at the banquet table, found them drinking mead in grand style, to the effect that several were drunk, while others remained inexplicably sober; could some be slyly swilling down more than their share? The disparity led to bickering, and it seemed that a serious quarrel was brewing. Lucanor bade the group to serenity, stating that the controversy no doubt could be settled without recourse either to blows or to bitterness. Then and there Lucanor formulated the concept of numbers and enumeration, which heretofore had not existed. The gods henceforth could tally with precision the number of horns each had consumed and, by this novel method, assure general equity and, further, explain why some were drunk and others not. “The answer, once the new method is mastered, becomes simple!” explained Lucanor. “It is that the drunken gods have taken a greater number of horns than the sober gods, and the mystery is resolved.” For this, the invention of mathematics, Lucanor was given great honour.
Table of Contents
Lyonesse II
Book II - The Green Pearl
Chapter 1
I
II
III
IV
V
Chapter 2
I
II
III
Chapter 3
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
Chapter 4
I
II
III
Chapter 5
I
II
III
Chapter 6
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
Chapter 7
I
II
Ill
IV
Chapter 8
I
II
III
IV
V
Chapter 9
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
Chapter 10
I
II
III
Chapter 11
I
II
III
Chapter 12
I
II
III
IV
V
Chapter 13
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
Chapter 14
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
Chapter 15
I
II
Chapter 16
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
Chapter 17
I
II
III
IV
Epilogue
Glossaries
Glossary I
Glossary II
Glossary III
Footnotes
Book III Madouc
CHAPTER ONE
I
II
III
IV
CHAPTER TWO
I
II
III
IV
V
CHAPTER THREE
I
II
III
IV
CHAPTER FOUR
I
II
III
IV
CHAPTER FiVE
I
II
III
IV
V
CHAPTER SIX
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
CHAPTER SEVEN
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
CHAPTER EIGHT
I
II
III
V
CHAPTER NINE
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
CHAPTER TEN
I
II
III
IV
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I
II
III
IV
CHAPTER TWELVE
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
Footnotes