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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
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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.
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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 noi�er
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.
- - - - -- -------===========================------- -- - - - -
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