"Love wol not be constrained by maistrye."

[larryhammer]

According to the Squire, an envoy to Genghis Khan spoke so well,

That Gawain, with his old courtesy,
If he were come again out of Fairye,
He could not improve upon a single word.

To which I say -- Wait, Gawain departed into Faerie? Where's THAT story? Hel-LO-o?*

Speaking of which tale, a commentator explained why an episode early in book IV of The Faerie Qveene felt like it was missing some backstory: it was, becase Spenser wrote a continuation of the Squire's Tale. (This may have been glossed, but if so it didn't stick. Because Spenser credits Chaucer, I came away thinking it was an adaptation from one of the unfinished works.) I suppose it makes sense that, given the Squire's Tale is pioneer of what would become Ariosto's genre, that Spenser (and Milton) would admire it. But ... still. As a storyteller, the Squire sucks Spenser's limp carrots.


Ninja Replacement Scores of Canterbury Tales, final report:

Franklin's Tale: The Franklin just may be the wisest of the pilgrims, and his tale has just the right balance of romantic (in the old sense) and serious. Not in an Ovidian way, despite Dorigen's monologue, but I don't think a Breton lay could handle the Ovidian treatment. Not unless it's about Melusine. (Mmm -- Melusine.) NRS = 0.

Physician's Tale: Dude, when your powerful enemy gets control of your virginal daughter by condemning her to become his lackey's slave, you don't cut HER head off -- you go ninja on HIS ass. Idjit. NRS = 1.

Pardoner's Tale: Death is the ultimate ninja. NRS = 0.

Second Nun's Tale: Is it bad of me to want Christian martyrs to turn ninja on their persecutors? NRS = 1.

Canon's Yeoman's Tale: I almost wrote that ninjas ∉ caper stories, but then I realized ninjas are in their way all about the capers, if not as con men. One doesn't belong in this story, though. NRS = 0.

Manciple's Tale: The raven was a ninja, and look how well it served him. NRS = 0.

Parson's "Tale": There's no characters to replace. Unfortunately. NRS = 0.

Knight's Yeoman's, Haberdasher's, Carpenter's, Weaver's, Dyer's, Tapicer's, and Plowman's Tales: Apparently ninjas got these guys before they could tell their tales, which is a Bad Thing. We need to replace the ninjas with less harmful sorts. NRS = −7.

(Previous reports: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.)

Total NRS = 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 14 + 1 + 4 + 1 + 1 − 7 = 20. Which a pretty good score for an anthology this large, I say.


And in conclusion: Just as there are genres not amenable to New-Criticism–style close readings, so are there genres not readily evaluated by ninja replacement.


* I suppose it's no weirder than the Merchant turning Pluto and Prosepina into the king and queen of the fairies. And yet.

---L.

Comments

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

Gawain departed into Faerie...

Damn you. Now I want to write a story about Gawain departing into Faerie.

And I'm not writing short stories now. I'm not, I'm not.

Oh...I know. You write it. *g*

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

If you won't, I will.

NRS posts: Love 'em. Just love 'em.

[larryhammer]

How 'bout you BOTH write the story, and let me read 'em. Sounds like a win/win to me.

NRS may have its weaknesses, but it's a remarkably useful tool natheless. And fun.

---L.

[janni.livejournal.com]

I especially like the seven ninjas that get subtracted away at the end.

[larryhammer]

I'd subtract another for the Cook, but he shows up near the end in the frame narrative (getting snippy with the Manciple), so we know his story wasn't cut off by a ninja blade.

OTOH, maybe a ninja got the manuscript of his story. Darn them. Stupid ninjas.

---L.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

That Gawaine in Faerie story sounds like it would be excellent!

And:

: Dude, when your powerful enemy gets control of your virginal daughter by condemning her to become his lackey's slave, you don't cut HER head off -- you go ninja on HIS ass.

You need to teach that lesson to the people carrying out honor killings in Iraq--you know, where they kill the women they successfully get back from kidnappers, because, well, if she's been kidnapped...

[larryhammer]

An unfortunately prevalent attitude in central and western Asia....

---L.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

I have run into other references, I think, over the years, to Arthurian characters or other folktale figures having gone away into Faerie; I always took it as a metaphor for the end of the golden age of heroes. In Irish and Welsh mythology heroes often retire into the otherworld, do they not? And Gawain is Welsh, originally. Faerie is the realm of tales, where Frederick Barbarossa and Roland play chess waiting for their summons again to the world.

[larryhammer]

A stasis tank for heroes, especially those without graves.

Wasn't the canonical end for Gawain to die at Camlan?

---L.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

He died somewhere in the wars against Mordred, whether early or late I don't even recall now. But I've read (much more recently) Welsh folklore claiming he went off and became a hermit (St Gowan or Goven or some similar name like that). If we agree to admit all hearsay, it's as good an ending as any and allows us to imagine a series of murder mysteries about the retired champion, trying to peacefully contemplate in his cave and repent his worldly life, continually called upon to sort out difficulties...

Many Welsh saints, it must be noted, have dubious origins.

[larryhammer]

As do many Irish saints.

The Sword from the Stone: A Brother Gawain Mystery by Hugh Lloyd?

---L.

Uh-oh, it's monstrous.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

I thought I was making a sick joke, but Gawain as a detective would have everything necessary for a fairly standard mystery series with huge cross-genre appeal. I wish I could cough up mystery plots. Gawain: the flawed chevalier, gallant and powerful still (his strength waxing and waning with the day, as ever---you don't walk away from that one); famous knowledge of herbs comes in handy in each book, for herbal neep for the detail-obsessed; occasional (one per book, I guess) cameos by Arthurian Survivors, giving good fanservice; opportunities to insert sly references to known historical figures of approximately the 5th c. but extending to temporally incorrect in-jokes about Giraldus Cambrensis; medieval values; romance and Romance; list goes on and on. Scary thought, isn't it!

I wonder whether I could get mystery reader and herb aficionado jonquil to collaborate.

Re: Uh-oh, it's monstrous.

[larryhammer]

It does work. You should ask her.

---L.