Day 7 - The Queen Fights Her Future Husband

I've read a lot of weird-ass fairy tales in the past week, but I've also found shining treasures buried deep inside the earth.  My absolute favorite by miles is "How Geirald the Coward Was Punished," which I will now summarize, because the Wikipedia summary sucks raw eggs through a straw.

Rosald, our hero, is the eldest son born to a poor knight.  As a teenager, Rosald meets Geirald, who is the same age, but who has the better fortune of being born into wealth.  Geirald longs to travel the world, but he needs a traveling companion, so he says that he will pay Rosald's way if Rosald will give all credit and glory for any accomplishments to Geirald.  Rosald agrees, and his parents give their blessing.

Along their travels, they first encounter a band of 12 robbers who refer to each other with color names - Blue, Red, Green.  Reservoir Dogs, anyone?  Geirald wants to flee, but Rosald comes up with a plan to go to higher ground and roll rocks down onto the robbers' heads.  The robbers are defeated, and Rosald gives the credit to Geirald, along with a ring from one of the robber's hands.  Geirald wears the ring everywhere they go, much to the admiration of everyone who sees it.

As the fame of this accomplishment spreads - two men defeating twelve dastardly robbers! - Geirald and Rosald appeal to a nearby king to stay the winter in his keep.  The king agrees, provided that they slay a pesky giant in his kingdom who has killed 50 knights.  After commissioning a special weapon for the purpose, Rosald single-handedly kills the giant, cutting off its head as proof.  Keeping his promise, he gives the head to Geirald to present to the king.

Word of these heroics spreads to the unmarried queen of a neighboring kingdom, whose subjects keep insisting that she take a husband.  She comes to a feast at the king's keep and asks if Geirald will fight one of her pages to demonstrate his skills.  The king approves, but Geirald becomes convinced that the "page" is going to be a valorous knight who will kill him.  As Geirald makes preparations to flee in the night, Rosald convinces him to stay by saying that Rosald will switch clothes with Geirald, fight the page, and give Geirald all the glory.  Geirald agrees.

When the time for the battle arrives- and this is the part that makes me want to jump up and down as if the whole world were my trampoline - it is not a page who appears to battle Rosald-in-Geirald's clothing, but neither is it a knight.  It is the Queen herself, disguised as her page.  The battle is mighty, but Rosald eventually prevails, and afterwards, he slips away to give his clothes back to Geirald. Pressed for time, however, he forgets to give Geirald back the ring stolen from the robbers.

Geirald appears before the king to receive his accolades in the torn and soiled clothes of battle, and as his prize, he asks for the hand of the Queen in marriage.  The Queen, who has just slipped back into the stands, thinks that while the clothes are the same, the man looks slightly different from the one she just fought.  When she also notices that he is not wearing the ring, she withholds her consent, asking that Rosald and Geirald fight each other.  Rosald throws the fight, but the Queen sees through that and asks for one last challenge, in which Rosald and Geirald both fight two knights of the queen's choosing.

Rosald cannot save Geirald from this final test, nor indeed can Geirald save himself.  Instead of appearing on the field at the appointed time, he hides under his bed.  The Queen calls off the fight and marries Rosald, impressed not only by his courage and his skill in battle, but also by his willingness to keep his promise, even at the cost of her love.

HOW GREAT IS THAT?!

Here is The Queen, Battling Her Future Husband.

This is, as always, available in my shop.