- - - - -- -------===========================------- -- - - - - cccccc, ccccc, cccccccccccc, ?$$$$$$$$$$, ,ccc, ,cc :`$$$$$$bc :`$$$$c ::`$$$$$$$$$$$$c`:"$$$$????$$b "$$$$c, `$$h `:`$$$$$$$$c,:`$$$$h `:: ?$$$b :::;$$h`:`?$$$,::`$$b `$$$$$$c, ?$$$c ``:`$$$$$$$$$$,`$$$$c ..,,,:"$$$b `:::` `:"$$$b :`?$B,:"$$$$$$$$$$?$b `::`$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$h:"$$$$c:`$$$b `:`?$$$c`:`$$b:`?$$b."?$$:`?$. `::`$$$$$$P?$$$$$$$$c:`????":`?$$b. ,?$$.`:?$$$h.;,?$$;:"$$$,`:"`:`$$ `::`$$$$$$.`"$$$$$$$h::`` :::"$$$, .,:d$$b`:`?$$$$$$$$$;``?$Fb `:` `::`$$$$$$.` "?$$$$$c, `:::"$$$$$$$$$$$$$.:.?????""";` `:::` `::`$$$$$$ `::"?$$$h. `:::`?@$$$000P?"' : :::::''` `::`$$$$$b `::`?$$c, ::: ""'''';,,:` `::`$$$$$b `::`;" ` ;;;:''' t h e `::,????), `::' n e o - c o m i n t e r n `::::::` e l e c t r o n i c m a g a z i n e n e o - c o m i n t e r n . c o m - - - - -- -------===========================------- -- - - - - s u b v e r s i v e l i t e r a t u r e f o r s u b v e r t e d p e o p l e m a r c h 3 r d , 2 0 0 2 e d i t o r - b m c - - - - ----==={ I N S T A L L M E N T 1 9 2 }===---- - - - - w r i t e r s : b m c - - - - ----==={ F E A T U R E S }===---- - - - - The Lay of Sir Orfeo by BMC - - - - -- -------===========================------- -- - - - - e d i t o r ' s n o t e - - - - ---==={PLEASE DO NOT READ THE FOLLOWING!}===--- - - - - What are you thinking about? Drop it right now. This is more important. Well, maybe it is. Hmm. OK, it probably isn't. But drop it anyway. - - - - -- -------===========================------- -- - - - - THE LAY OF SIR ORFEO An Immortal Middle English Poem, Author Unknown - - - - -- -------===={Translated by BMC}====------- -- - - - - We often hear that lays(1) sung to the music (1) Lays: ballads or short of the harp are found to be tales of the narratives, intended to be fantastic. There are lays of war and woe, joy sung. and mirth, treachery and guile, old adventures, frivolity, and ribaldry. Many lays are written about fairies, but of all of them, most are written about love. These lays were written in Brittany; after they were discovered in other lands and brought back, the British learned to compose them too. When kings would learn about something marvelous, they would take a harp and compose a lay with it. I can tell you some of the stories, but not all of them. However, listen to me and I will tell you the best tale - that of Sir Orfeo. Orfeo loved to play the harp more than anything, and he was an inspiration to every other player. He taught himself to play, and his skill was due to sharp wit. He learned to play so well that he was the best in the world. No one ever lived who could listen to Orfeo's music without thinking they were in Paradise(2) - he was that good. (2) They were in Paradise: as opposed to the notion Orfeo was an English king who was strong, that they received one of courageous, generous, and courteous. His "the fourteen joys of father was the son of Hades and his mother Paradise," as A Book of was the daughter of Hera, both of whom were Middle English states. A considered to be gods in the tales of their simple change in the text exploits. At the time our story takes place, makes this understandable the king lived in Thrace, a well-protected city to a contemporary reader. (Winchester was called Thrace at that time, no doubt about it). He had a queen of great renown, called Dame(3) Heurodis(4); she was (3) Dame: Middle English undoubtedly the fairest lady of body and from Old French from Latin bones. She was so full of passion and good "domina mistress" (Oxford qualities that no description of her could do Canadian Dictionary). her justice. (4) Heurodis: A Book of This story starts at the beginning of May(5). Middle English seems to When those days are lovely and hot, the rain encourage this name to be goes away and every field and tree is covered translated as Eurydice, in flowers. On this perfect mid-morning(6), but if that were to Dame Heurodis took two of her valued maidens happen, the title of the and went to play by an orchard-side, to watch work should also be the flowers blossom and bloom, and hear the translated to Sir Orpheus. birds sing. All three sat down under an apple Reverting these names to tree, and before long, the fair queen fell their ancient Greek asleep on the grass. The maidens didn't wake counterparts would seem to her, but let her rest. She slept all morning, be an anachronistic and into the afternoon, but when she awoke she mistake. began to cry and wail. She flailed about frantically and scratched herself with her (5) Beginning of May: A fingernails. Her face bled and her dress was Book of Middle English torn. It seemed as though Heurodis had gone says this is prime fairy mad. time. The two maidens became afraid and ran to the (6) Mid-morning: palace as quickly as they could. They told the according to A Book of squire and the knight that the queen had gone Middle English, people mad and begged them to quickly come and are generally assaulted restrain her. Several knights ran toward the by fairies between mid- apple tree, and so did many young women (over morning and the early sixty of them, in fact!). When they reached afternoon. the orchard, they approached the queen. They hauled her off, put her in her bed, and made her stay put. During that time, she cried continually and also kept trying to escape. Orfeo had never been so troubled in his life as he was when he heard about this. Escorted by ten knights, he came to Heurodis' chamber and looked at her. Upset, he asked, "Oh my beloved: Why? Why? Why do you, who have always been so full of grace, now scream so wretchedly? You have torn up your body that was once so beautifully coloured. The rosiness of your complexion is now as pale as death. And your small fingers are so bloody and pallid. Alas, your beautiful eyes now look on me as a warrior looks on his foe. Oh, dame, I beg for mercy! Stop crying so miserably and tell me what you are(7)! What has happened to (7) What you are: you, and how can I help?" certainly familiar with fairy lore, Orfeo seems to She stopped thrashing about and laid still. suspect that Heurodis has She began to cry and sobbed to the king: "Alas been replaced with a my lord, Sir Orfeo! We have never fought since changeling. we were first together. I have loved you as my life, and so have you loved me. But now we must part - be strong, for now I must go." "Alas," he cried, "I am lost! Where is it that you will go? Where? Where you go, I shall go with you, and where I go, you shall with me." "No, no sir. That's not the case. I will tell you how it is. This morning, as I slept in our orchard-side, bold knights who were fully armed approached me. They told me to come with them and speak to their lord the king, but I told them straightforwardly that I could not. They left quickly, and returned right away with their king and more than a hundred of his knights. Also, a hundred young women dressed all in white came riding on snow-white steeds. Never in my life have I seen such fair and perfect creatures. The king wore a crown of silver, and on it was a gem that shone as brightly as the sun. He came to me, captured me against my will, and made me ride by him on a palfray(8). He brought me (8) Palfray: defined by A to his palace, which looked regal in all Book of Middle English as aspects, and he showed me castles, towers, a horse for women to ride. rivers, forests, woodlands, and every other part of his magnificent estate. After that, he brought me back to the orchard. Then he said, 'Look dame, tomorrow I will retrieve you from right under this apple tree, and then you will come and live in my land until the end of time. And if you hide or resist, then when we find you we will rip you apart. Nothing can help you. Even if we have to ruin you, we will still take your tattered body away with us.'" When King Orfeo heard this case, he said "Oh woe! Alas, alas! I would sooner lose my life than lose my queen." He asked all of his counselors for advice, but none of them could offer him any help. The next morning, Orfeo took up his arms, and brought a thousand knights with him, armed and ready to kill; they all went to the apple tree with the queen. The soldiers surrounded Heurodis on every side and vowed that they would all die there before they would allow anyone to take her. And yet, amongst all of them, the queen disappeared. The fairies had captured her, and nobody knew where she had been taken. Then they began to cry and weep. Orfeo went into his chamber and swooned upon the stone floor. He moaned and groaned until he was nearly dead. Nothing could cheer him up. He called all of his barons, earls, and lords together, and when they were all there he declared the following: "Lords, I have brought you here to witness this; I hereby place my steward in charge of my kingdom. In my stead, he shall watch over all of my things. I have lost my queen, the fairest lady ever to live, and so I will never see another woman. I will go into the wilderness where the wild beasts dwell. When you receive news of my death, establish a parliament and elect a new king for yourselves. Now I leave you - take care of my kingdom." The hall was filled with the sounds of people weeping and crying out in sorrow. Nobody, young or old, could speak without sobbing. They knelt down all around him and begged him not to leave. "Stop!" said he, "I must go." He gave up his entire kingdom, and took nothing with him but a ragged cloak on his back and his harp in his hand. And in that manner, he walked out through the city gate, barefoot and alone. And there was crying and sorrow when Orfeo, who once wore the crown of a king, left the town in a state of poverty. And as Orfeo walked through the woods and fields, he found nothing that gave him pleasure; it seemed that he would live his entire life in terrible sorrow. That king, who once had the most expensive furs on his body, and the finest cloth on his bed, now laid on the hard earth, covered by nothing but grass and leaves. He once had castles, towers, rivers, forests, and woodlands(9), but now found himself freezing (9) Castles, towers, in the winter snow. This king, who once had rivers, forests, and knights and ladies of high reputation kneeling woodlands: Since Orfeo's before him, now had nothing to comfort him but kingdom contains all of the venomous snakes that slithered by. Orfeo, the things were described who once had his fill of food, drink, and every in lines 159-160 as dainty, now had to dig in the dirt all day to existing in the Fairy find his fill of roots. In the summer he King's world, it seems odd survived on wild berries and fruit, but in the that Heurodis would have winter there was nothing but grass, roots, and felt compelled to give bark from trees. Orfeo such a comprehensive list. Perhaps Heurodis For ten years Orfeo wasted away, and his body wanted to explain that the became broken down and weak. His beard was Fairy King's world black and rough, and grew down to his waist. contained the exact same He hid his harp in a hollow tree, and things that Orfeo's sometimes, when the weather was clear and kingdom does, but that bright, he would take it out and play on it. does not seem like a As his music echoed through the forest, the reasonable explanation. birds would come and sit on a branch to hear There may be a continuity his song, and they would stay until he was done error or a redundancy in playing. When he finished, they would all fly the text at these points. away. Orfeo often saw the fairy king and his company in summer mornings when they would come to hunt. He often heard their bird-calls and barking dogs, but he never saw them catch anything, and he never saw where they came from or went to. And other times, at night, he would think he saw a great army travelling by him. A thousand well-equipped knights, bold and fierce, would march by with their swords drawn and their flags streaming - but Orfeo could never tell where they were going. And other times, Orfeo would see knights and ladies gracefully dance by with soft, quaint steps, as drums and trumpets played for them, and all other kinds of minstrels. One day he saw a hunting party of sixty ladies ride by him on horseback. They were as prim and happy as a bird on branch, and there was not a man among them. Each woman held a falcon on her hand as they rode and hunted by the river. They found a good spot; there mallards, heron, and cormorants arose from the water. When the falcons spotted them, each slew its prey(10). Orfeo saw this and began to smile. (10) Each slew its prey: A "Truly," he rejoiced, "there is fair game. By Book of Middle English God, I will follow them! This is a familiar notes that unlike the sight to me." earlier hunting party, which caught nothing, He got up and walked toward them. He these hunters did capture approached one of the ladies and realized that their prey. According to it was his own queen, Dame Heurodis. He was the legend of the day, the overjoyed to see her and she was excited too, fact that these hunters but neither had the ability to speak(11) to the caught something means other one. When Heurodis saw that Orfeo, once that they are not fairies. rich and powerful, was now such a mess, she began to weep. The other ladies saw this and (11) Neither was able to made her ride away. "Alas," he lamented, "now speak: A Book of Middle I am miserable. Why can't I just die? I English explains that wish I was dead after seeing this. With my their inability to luck, I'll probably live long now that I am communicate with each unable to speak with my wife - why can't I just other is due to fairy die? Truly," he decided, "I am going to follow enchantment. those ladies wherever they go, and I don't care if it kills me." Orfeo quickly put on his cloak and slung his harp onto his back. He was so eager that he ran right over all the stumps and boulders(12) (12) He ran right over in his path. Then the ladies rode into a solid stumps and boulders: A rock, and he followed them without hesitation. Book of Middle English After traveling over three miles through the translates the original rock, Orfeo came out of it into a region of "he no spard noişer land that was as bright as the sun on a stub nor ston" as "he summer's day. It was a grassy plain, smooth went by the most direct and green, and there was not a hill or valley route." This would seem in sight. to suggest that he went right through the stumps In the midst of the land he saw a royal castle and boulders. However, that was remarkably lavish and tall. The outer this makes it seem wall was clear and shone like crystal. A ordinary for Orfeo to hundred turrets surrounded the castle and pass through solid protected it well. The supports that arched matter, something that out of the moat were made of gold and enamel. is not supposed to Inside, the great halls were made entirely of happen until the next precious stones, even the most insignificant sentence. pillar was made of solid gold (and was freshly polished). It was always light in the land of the fairies, even at night, because the gems shone as brightly as the sun at noon. It would be impossible for any mortal to conceive of the work that was involved in the creation of this kingdom; by the sight of it, one would think it to be Paradise. The ladies rode into this castle and dismounted from their horses, and Orfeo decided that he would follow them if it were possible. He knocked at the gate. The porter addressed him and asked him what he wanted. Orfeo said, "I am a minstrel, and I am here to amuse your lord with my music if he will have me." The porter immediately opened the gate and let him into the castle. Then Orfeo was able to see that, inside the castle's walls, there were people who were thought dead by the outside world, but were actually alive. There were some people without heads, some without arms, some with critical wounds, and some that were considered mad. There were armed soldiers on horses, people who choked as they ate, people that drowned, and people who were scorched with fire. There were women who died or went insane from childbirth, and there were many more that lay there, asleep, just as they would sleep in the morning. Each one was imprisoned in this world, captured by the fairies. Then he saw his own wife, Dame Heurodis, sleeping under an apple tree; he recognized her by her clothes. And after examining all of these strange things, he went into the king's hall. Inside he saw an amazing sight - a brilliantly coloured canopy that went over the thrones of the king and his beautiful queen. Their crowns and clothes shone so bright that Orfeo could hardly look at them. When Orfeo had beheld all of these things, he knelt down before the fairy king and said, "Oh lord, I wish to play my harp for you if you so desire." The king replied, "Who are you to come here like this? Nobody sent for you. Never, in the history of my kingdom, has anyone been so foolish as to come here - except for those that I sent for." "Lord," Orfeo pleaded, "I swear to you, I am just a poor minstrel. And, sir, it is our way to seek the house of every lord and offer to play music for them - it is their decision whether to welcome us or not." Then Orfeo sat down before the fairy king, took his brilliant harp, and played as well as he could. His song was so beautiful that everyone in the palace gathered around and lay at his feet. The king sat still as he listened, and he was very pleased - so was the queen. When Orfeo finished playing, the king said, "Minstrel, I really like your music. Now ask me for whatever you want in exchange, and I will gladly pay you. Just ask and you will see." "Sir," he said, "I ask that you give me that lady - the bright-faced one that sleeps under the apple tree." "No," said the king, "I will not! You two would make a terrible couple because you are haggard, dirty, and unshaven, while she is flawlessly beautiful. It would sicken me to see you with her." "Oh, noble king," he replied, "wouldn't it be more upsetting for you to be a liar? You just said that I could have whatever I wanted, and now you must keep your word." The king said, "You are right. Take her and get out of here - and have a good time." Orfeo knelt down and graciously thanked him. Then he took his wife by the hand and quickly left the fairy world the same way he came. It had been so long since he had been to his city, the city of Winchester, that nobody recognized him. But he didn't go any further than the edge of the city because he didn't want anyone to discover who he was. He took his wife into a beggar's shack, and told the beggar that he was a poor minstrel. Then Orfeo asked for news about the land and who was in charge of the kingdom. The poor beggar told him every detail: the queen was stolen by fairies ten years ago, the king went into exile and nobody had seen him since, the steward became ruler of the land, etcetera. The next day at noon, Orfeo left his wife at the beggar's shack. He borrowed the beggar's clothes, slung his harp on his back, and went into the city to be received by the people. Earls, barons, citizens, and ladies beheld him. "Oh!" they said, "what a man! Look at his hair! His beard hangs down to his knees! He is as shriveled as a tree trunk!" And as he walked down the street, he met up with his steward. Loudly he cried, "Sir steward, I beg your mercy! I am a harp player from a distant land - help me in my condition of distress!" The steward said, "Come with me. I will share my wealth with you. I welcome every good harp player as I would welcome my own lord, Sir Orfeo." Once they went into the castle, the steward sat down to a meal, and many lords were sat around him. Trumpeters, drummers, harp players, and other musicians played music. While they played, Orfeo sat still, listening to their music until they stopped. Then he took out his harp and played the most beautiful song he had ever played, or that anyone had ever played for that matter, and they all loved it. Suddenly, the steward realized that he recognized the harp. "Minstrel," he said, "please tell me where you found this harp! By your livelihood, I must know!" "Lord," said Orfeo, "once, as I walked through a strange part of the wilderness, I came across a dale. In this dale, I found a man that had been torn into little pieces by lions and wolves, and beside him I found this harp. That was about ten years ago." "Oh!" said the steward, "Now am I sad! That was my lord, Sir Orfeo! Alas, wretch, what shall I do now that I have lost him? I wish I was never born! It's not fair that he had such a cruel fate and such a terrible death!" He swooned, falling down to the ground. The barons lifted him up and told him how it was: there was no remedy for Orfeo's death. Now King Orfeo was certain that his steward was a true man who loved him well. He stood up and said, "Steward, listen to me. If I were Orfeo, the king, and I had exiled myself to the wilderness long ago, rescued my queen from the land of the fairies, brought her back to the town, left her with a beggar, came here in disguise to see what you would do, and found you to be a true man - you would never regret it. Certainly you should be king after my day - and if you would have been happy at news of my death(13), you would just as quickly have (13) Orfeo's belief in lost your chance!" the possibility that the steward would be Then everyone knew who King Orfeo was. When happy at the news of the steward realized it, he knocked the table his death makes it seem over in excitement and fell down at Orfeo's as though his death would feet. Every other lord bowed to Orfeo too, and allow the steward to rule they all said, all at once, "You are our lord the kingdom. However, it and king!" is important to remember that this servant would They were glad he was alive, and happily not have been king if escorted him to his chamber. When they got Orfeo had died. Orfeo's there, they bathed him, shaved his beard, and departing wish is that, on dressed him in his finest clothes. Then, in a the news of his death, a great procession, they brought the queen into parliament was to be the town. The parade was accompanied by all founded and a new king to kinds of musicians who played wonderful music. be elected. The steward And everyone wept with joy to see the king and held complete power over queen return safely. Then King Orfeo was Orfeo's kingdom while recrowned, and so was Dame Heurodis, and they Orfeo was in the forest, lived a long life. After Orfeo's rule, the and news of Orfeo's death steward became king. could have resulted in the steward losing all of his After that, harp players in Britain heard of power. Therefore, the this amazing story, wrote it down, and named it steward should have been after the king. It is called "Sir Orfeo;" the sad about the news of story is good, and the music is sweet. And that Orfeo's death, regardless concludes the story of how Sir Orfeo's sorrow of his reason. was cured. God bless us all. Amen. - - - - -- -------===========================------- -- - - - - The Neo-Comintern Magazine / Online Magazine is seeking submissions. 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