The Myths Of Time
By Frank Tremayne
Date: AD 643
Place: Perranporth Castle, Cornwall
In the castle grounds the drums sounded. It was a message from the King and Queen of Cornwall for the Knights and Ladies of the Square Table to go to the Great Hall in Perranporth Castle. At this, from across the castle the Knights and Ladies of the Square Table rushed from their rooms. The drums were normally only used in an emergency.
Sir Archibald
Sir Clovis
Sir Gareth
Sir Heruuard
Sir Melvin
Sir Roland
The six Ladies of the Square Table :
Lady Adele
Lady Brunhilda
Lady Edith
Lady Estelle
Lady Joanna
Lady Ysolde
In the Great Hall, Queen Mawgan and King Kenan awaited the arrival of the Knights and Ladies. Very quickly the Hall filled up and they took their places at the Square Table. Queen Mawgan and King Kenan were seated next to each other at the top of the table. Sir Archibald, Lady Estelle, Sir Clovis and Lady Joanna sat on the right side of the King and Queen. Lady Adele, Lady Edith, Sir Heruuard and Sir Melvin sat on the left hand side and Sir Gareth, Sir Roland, Lady Brunhilda and Lady Ysolde were at the far end of the Square Table directly opposite the King and Queen.
Queen Mawgan stood up:
‘Well done for getting here so quickly. I would like to say this is not a real Emergency but an Emergency Test scenario. The idea is for you to get into three teams as you are already seated and brainstorm a solution to the emergency. I will now pass you over to King Kenan who will describe the Emergency Test scenario.’
Queen Mawgan then sat down on her throne and King Kenan rose up.
‘Knights and Ladies of the Square Table. An angry enormous fire breathing dragon has suddenly appeared outside the castle walls and is threatening to cause great damage to Perranporth Castle and its inhabitants. Your assignment is to come up with ideas as to how we can defeat the dragon.’
Sir Roland: ‘How big is the dragon ?’
King Kenan: ‘It’s 20 ft long and 9ft high. Very big.’
Lady Estelle: ‘How far does the fire extend from the dragon’s mouth and how hot is it ?’
King Kenan : ‘The fire is about 8 ft and will incinerate any human or animal it touches. It’s a very dangerous dragon.’
Lady Brunhilda: ‘How strong are the dragon’s scales ?’
King Kenan : ‘The dragon has strong defences. The scales are very tough and a sword and axe are only deflected but like all dragons it has a soft underbelly and is vulnerable in that area.’
King Kenan lowered himself onto his throne and Queen Mawgan ascended.
Queen Mawgan: ‘There are three tables at the end of the room and I would like you to arrange yourself into your teams and come up with sensible solutions how to deal with the dragon. I would like each group to select a leader who will explain their answer to the problem.’
The Knights and Ladies arose from the Square Table, bowed and split into their teams. Queen Mawgan was especially interested to observe who would lead the teams.
For the next hour, the three groups sat down and discussed the emergency. The team with Lady Adele, Lady Edith, Sir Heruuard and and Sir Melvin were especially demonstrative.The King and Queen observed Sir Heruuard take out his sword and make upwards motions with the sword whilst Lady Edith looked like she was holding the dragon by its neck.
The group with Sirs Archibald and Clovis, and Ladies Joanna and Estelle spoke more as a group and were seen drawing a number of different diagrams. Queen Mawgan observed that Lady Joanna seemed to be the leader of that group. The other team of Sir Gareth, Sir Roland, Lady Brunhilda and Lady Ysolde appeared to find their solution far quicker than the others and for the last twenty minutes relaxed into their chairs, chatted quietly and made jokes it looked like from a distance.
King Kenan stood up : ‘Time’s up. The King and Queen would like you to reseat yourself at the Square Table and the leaders of each team to explain the solution to the fire breathing dragon emergency.’
The Knights and Ladies stood up, bowed and returned to the Square Table.
The first team to give their solution was led by Sir Heruuard.
Sir Heruuard : ‘We propose to take a direct solution and aim an attack at the dragon’s soft underbelly. There are twelve of us and six knights and ladies could pin down the dragon whilst the others could attack the underbelly with swords and axes. Even though this plan has its dangers, we believe it is a workable plan.’
Queen Mawgan smiled to herself. Sir Heruuard was very brave and tended to favour the physical approach without much subtlety.
Lady Joanna was next to speak:
‘My team’s response to the dragon is to fill big cauldrons with boiling water and go to the top of the castle and pour it down on the dragon and hopefully scald it which will either kill the beast or frighten it away. My team initially discussed the direct approach as described by Sir Heruaard but think that may involve loss of life or at the very least injury.’
The last team was led by Lady Ysolde:
‘Dragons are especially keen on deer. Our plan is take four dead deer into the quagmire marsh in the forest and lure the dragon away from the castle with the smell and hopefully the dragon would sink into the mud and water.’
Queen Mawgan and King Kenan smiled at each other. They were exactly the same answers they had come up with when they had discussed the dragon problem.
Queen Mawgan stood up : ‘Thank you Knights and Ladies of the Square Table. They are all workable plans. Well done.’
Queen Mawgan observed a Page by the big entrance door to the Great Hall who was trying to attract her attention. Queen Mawgan gesticulated for him to approach the King and Queen. The Page walked forward and Queen Mawgan and King Kenan and the Page went into a corner of the Great Hall.
Page: ‘Your Highnesses. I am very sorry to interrupt your meeting but this is very important.’
From a distance, the Knights and Ladies could see the King and Queen’s faces turn to shock and astonishment as the Page was talking. The Page left the Great Hall.
The King and Queen returned to the Square Table and Queen Mawgan addressed the Knights and Ladies:
‘To Action.
The Page has informed the King and Queen there is a real fire breathing dragon outside the castle walls. This is not a drill.’
~
Agreed. It’s all mind stuff.
The creative process has become interesting with anima / animus. That simply doesn’t describe it. It’s far more personal.
My original idea was for the Knights of the Square Table and then Her Indoors / Above suggested it should just be the Ladies of the Square Table and so we reached a compromise with Knights and Ladies of the Square Table. Also we co wrote the story. GSOH. The woman who made me laugh the most. This section was from Her.
‘The team with Lady Adele, Lady Edith, Sir Heruuard and and Sir Melvin were especially demonstrative.The King and Queen observed Sir Heruuard take out his sword and make upwards motions with the sword whilst Lady Edith looked like she was holding the dragon by its neck.’
Also I think the Dragon in the story has actually come to play and make friends with the humans.