The Loathly Lady
OK. I needed that go ahead from the audience
"Oh, yes, I will tell you the answer, Arthur," she said. "But there will be a price."
"I am the King," Arthur said again. "I can give you anything you want."
"What I want, Arthur, is the hand of Sir Gawain in marriage."
At that, Arthur's heart sank. "I can not answer for Gawain," he said.
"Nevertheless, that is my price," said Dame Ragnelle, for that was her name.
Arthur rode toward Camelot greatly dejected. He knew that Dame Ragnelle had the answer to the riddle, but he could not ask his friend to pay the price. Tomorrow he would meet the Knight, and prepare to lose his head.
Gawain rode out to meet Arthur, in good humor. "My Lord," he said, "you should be happy the year's challenge is almost over. And yet you ride so sadly toward Camelot. Haven't we scoured the countryside for every possible answer to the riddle? Surely it is in the great book."
"It's not in the book, Gawain," said Arthur. "I have met the woman who knows the answer, but her price is too great."
"How can that be, my Lord? For you are the King." Gawain would not cease his questions. "Tell me, Arthur, what is the price?"
Finally Arthur was compelled to tell him, "Gawain, the price is your hand in marriage, and I would not ask it of you, for indeed she is the most Loathly Lady I have ever seen."
Gawain thought only for a moment, and out of great love for his friend and King, said, "Arthur, I will wed this Dame." And none of Arthur's protests would change his mind.
So Arthur rode out to Dame Ragnelle, and told her that Gawain had agreed.
"So tell me, Great Dame, What is is that every woman wants."
The Dame was greatly pleased, and she said to Arthur, "The answer is, What every woman wants is Sovereignty, the right to rule herself."
Arthur thanked her and rode back to Camelot thinking, "That can't be it. I will offer all the answers in the book first, and save Gawain from this marriage."
And so the next morning, Arthur dressed for battle, and rode off to meet the Knight. When he came to the field, the Knight asked him, "Well, Arthur, can you answer my riddle? What is it that every woman wants?"
And Arthur took the great book, and read from the answers he and Gawain had collected over the year. Beauty, Wealth, Children, Love....and the Knight said "No, No, No, No....Arthur prepare to lose your head."
And then Arthur said, "I met a Dame at the crossroads who told me that what every woman wants is Sovereignty, the right to rule herself."
At that the Knight grew angry, drew back his sword, cursed, and said "Twas my sister who told you that," turned his horse, and rode away.
Arthur rode back to Camelot, with a light heart -- his life was spared. But as he neared the castle, he started to worry about his friend Gawain, for now there would be the promised wedding.
Arthur went to Dame Ragnelle, and suggested that there be a quiet wedding, but she would not have it. "No," she said. "There must be a wedding fit to my station and that of Sir Gawain's." And so great preparation took place. The ladies of the castle wove and sewed a beautiful trousseauu, the hunters filled the kitchen with game, and the cooks cooked and baked so that in all it was six weeks before the wedding day.
When the day came, Dame Ragnelle arrived on a white horse trimmed in red. And she was a sight with her bramble of black hair, her snout in place of a nose, her eyes of two different sizes, her tusks, and her breasts that hung past her waist. Still, when Gawain greeted her, he offered her his hand, and helped her from her horse. He never showed by look or action that she was not the loveliest of women.
And so they were married. There was a grand feast, and Gawain chose the best pieces from his own plate to give to his new wife. And when they danced, he looked into her face, and never let her know by any word or action that she was not his first choice.
Everyone was horrified by the ugliness of Gawain's new wife. But they were relieved that nothing untoward happened at the wedding. They celebrated through the day and into the night, and finally it was time to accompany the couple to their marriage chamber, as was the custom. And when they were safely there, and Gawain turned, and said, "Thank you my friends, Good night," and closed the doors, the faces of Arthur and Guinevere and his other friends paled as they wondered what would become of their friend. Would she devour him in the night?
Inside the bed chamber, Dame Ragnelle spoke to her husband and said, "My husband, I thank you for today, for neither in word nor action did you ever betray that I was not your first choice."
Gawain bowed his head to her and said, "It is only your due, my lady." And he climbed into bed beside her. He rolled over, facing away from her, as if to sleep.
"But Husband," she said, "I do think that on my wedding night, I deserve at least a kiss."
Gawain had a tender heart, and he thought to himself, she is right, how can I deny her? And so he leaned over to her and kissed her full on the lips. And when he pulled back, there sitting next to him was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
"Ah, Gawain, husband. You see me now as I really am. I was under a curse, which your tender kiss has lifted." Gawain was indeed taken aback with this new course of events, and wished to kiss his wife again.
"Ah, but Gawain, the curse is only half-lifted. I can be as you see me now by night, and ugly by day; or I can be ugly by night, and beautiful by day. You choose."
And so Gawain thought about it. If she were beautful by day, everyone would realize Gawain had a beautiful wife, and it would be easier for her with the people of the court, but then at night he'd come home to an ugly hag. But then if she were ugly during the daytime, people would say "Poor Gawain, what a hag he has for a wife", and of course it wouldn't be easy for her, either. But at night he'd come home to a beautiful wife. What would it be, ugly by day, beautiful by night? Beautiful by day, ugly by night? Which would he choose? Which would you choose?
Finally, Gawain turned to his wife and said, "My Lady, it is not for me to choose, it is for you to choose."
"Ah," she said. "Now all the curse is lifted."
And so Dame Ragnelle and Sir Gawain lived in wedded bliss for seven years, when a white horse with red trim rode into the castle yard, and Dame Ragnelle rode off and was never seen again.
RedMaple