PORTRAIT AND PROLOGUE

Among the company of pilgrims was a maid

Very quiet and serious; different from the rest.

She was not participating very much

In the conversation that people was having.

Indeed, she seemed sad and not very happy.

Everybody was looking at her and wondering

Where her mistress should be.

But she seemed not to care about them.

Her face showed sadness and melancholy

We do not know why yet.

Black was the veil head-dress she was wearing

As the color of her kirtle to ankle length.

For certainly her heart was missing someone

And very soon we will find out by ourselves.

There was this maid thinking over the knight’s tale

About fights and wars for honor and glory.

At last, she started talking as if she had

Something important to say;

“Listen! Everybody here.

You may think that there is nothing more glorious

Than to die for honor as the knight just said.

But I believe that dying for LOVE is greater

And to prove it, remember the story of Tristan and Isolde

Or that one of Romeo and Juliet

Where both of the lovers died because their love was great.”

The maid stood up and addressing everyone she said:

“You all know that I am a maid and

I close relationship with nobility I bear.

So let me tell you a story sometime ago I heard

About one lady and her love and their tragic end.”

All the people were in silence,

Waiting for what this maid had to tell.

So she stood up and walked to the window

To let us know what’s in her head.

                                                 THE MAID’S TALE

“There is a castle in England property of a noble family

To them, this dear mistress  belongs;                                                                                                                                                                

Well, I think I just should say belonged.”

She stopped for a moment, holding her breath, and

 Her tears were showing up as if they wanted to escape.

“Sorry, I beg you, for this moment of weakness.”

She took a deep breath and continued with her tale.

“In this castle there was a beautiful garden

Where this mistress from her early years

Played with her soul mate the apparent Count of Westphall.

Many were the summers they played together

Amidst the perfumed air of roses and lilies.

And many were the nights they lay under

The young Apple tree, laughing in the twilight of innocence

Without a thought as to their star-crossed dawn.

One autumn evening as the last of the apples fell

From the over-ripened tree the young Count

Approached his love with a heavy heart and misty eyes.

She asked him: “It is clear as water that you feel sorrow

But please save it for the morrow.

Let us enjoy this magical night as we always have”

The young Count agreed with his love

And decided to write a letter explaining what troubled his heart.

Next day the mistress’ maid was helping her to get dressed

And Oh! she was beautiful as you will never guessed.

She was telling her how happy she was for having

This young Count as a friend and love.

This happiness lasted not long for a messenger came

Bringing the letter of pain and hurt.

This was what the message contained:

“My dear love,

I do not want to make you suffer but I need you to hear my words

Tomorrow you will not see me at our place since

I am leaving far from here, not because I do not love you

But because my parents have obligated me to.

We are travelling to Spain but for how long I cannot tell

But this promise I make: I’ll return to you, be it later or soon”

Oh! What a pain my lady felt in her heart and soul

That for more than three weeks she wept without stop.

The maid didn’t know what to do to make her mistress forget

About that painful situation and unfortunate fate.

One morning she told her: ”Here, my lady, take something to eat”

“I won’t eat anything until I see my love again” she said.

“Don’t say that my lady, just remember his promise

And let your heart cheer up with trust and hope”

At that moment her face blushed with color

For before her face was seen with death and horror.

“Yes” she claimed “I’ll wait for him and be happy

For I know that he is a man of honor”

Months passed by ‘til the new spring came

And although she didn’t know anything of her love,

This lady went to the Apple tree every night full of hope.

“I’ll see him again” she constantly chanted to herself

While walking through the garden full of new spring’s air.

One unexpected morning was the lady getting ready

For her usual walk through the garden

When, all of a sudden, her father came in and told her:

“Dear daughter, sixteen are the summers your eyes have seen

So the hour of your marriage is closer than you think”

“What do you mean father?” She, surprised, exclaimed.

“You know that all that I am, to the young Count of Westphall belongs”

“Don’t speak nonsense” angrily the father said.

“He is far from you in a different land

And having him as a husband is something you will never have”

She could not but burst out into painful tears.

Oh! How great was the pain her maid felt for her.

But let me continue with what happened that day

And tell me if it is not the most tragic story you have ever heard.

“Laying down on the bed the mistress was while her

Father approached her and touched her hair.”

“Oh! My sweetheart, I don’t like seeing you cry,

For your own sake ‘tis that I’m doing this.

You know that you are in your sixteen’s and

Waiting for your wedding is impossible for me.

This young man with whom I am arranging your wedding

Comes from a noble family, well-known in the world

His name Sir William Lovell; he’ll love you with all his heart.”

She remained in silence, with no word to speak

For she knew there were nothing but her father’s will.

Once alone, with her maid standing by her side,

She went to the window to admire the moon light.

“Alas, how pretty is the moon bright tonight.

I’ve heard Atalya – for that was the maid’s name –

That the moon is for the lovers, a really good friend.

Maybe, she would be willing to help me

If she knew the horrible destiny that awaits me.

To be married and give my purity, to a man I feel nothing for.

Oh! My dear friend moon!! Do not let that happen

Cause you, who are on high and see everything,

 Know my soul; and just to Westphall belongs my heart.

So let me make a promise to you, who are alone:

I am willing to give you my life if you allow me

 To spend the last night before my wedding with my real love.”

She left the window and walked towards the maid,

And with a strange smile my lady said:

“Atalya,  I am happy now, because I know

That thanks to my friend, the moon                       

I will be the happiest girl in this world.”

Hearing such words, the maid’s soul almost broke

as she knew that she wouldn’t be with her for long.

The weeks flew by but for the lady they were slow,

For she was impatient to have her night of love.

Everything in the castle was prepared for the wedding;

Flowers on the walls, servants cleaning all the floors  

Of course, sending the invitations for guests

And what was most important the bride’s dress.

The day before the wedding she went to her father

And giving him a sweet kiss on his cheek she said:

“Dear Father, I know that you just want the best for me

And that’s why I love you although to this wedding I’m against.”

“I know you think that you won’t be happy” the father said

“But you will learn to love Sir William, I swear”

“Dear Father” she said again. “I don’t want to fight this day

So let me go now because I know you will be ok.”

She left the room with sadness in her eyes

Leaving her father wondering in his mind.

“Come with me” said the lady to the maid. “I will need

Your help to wear my wedding dress”

“Your wedding dress? she asked. “Don’t ask me anything now Atalya

And just be tonight more than ever that good confidante you always were.”

How pretty she looked in that exquisite dress

And white little flowers adorning her hair.

The maid couldn’t stop crying when her plans she heard

However, she wouldn’t dare to stop her since her happiness was in them.

At almost midnight she left and to the Apple tree she went.

She was no more than ten minutes in the garden

When she saw her Count of Westphall come from the west.

“Oh! My love, you are here with me” the lady cried

  “And now, I am the happiest woman on the earth.”

“How did you know I would be here tonight?” The Count said,

“My plans were told to nobody, a strong force to come here I felt.”

“There’s no time to explain this, so let’s just enjoy that we are here.”

“And why are you dressed as a bride?” He exclaimed with wonder

“It is because your wife I will be, and the moon and this tree

That saw us grow our witnesses will be.

 But please my darling, don’t waste our time with words

Because being yours is all that I want.”

What happened after, I will not say.

Morning arrived, bearing sorrow and pain.

“Sweetheart, how cold and pale you are” said The Count,

Not knowing that his love dead lay down.

Let me say no further; there is no human being

Who can express what that young man felt or thought

Seeing his true love in his arms with no beat in her heart.

‘Twas my lady’s father searching the garden for her,

With haste as the hour of bells drew near,

Who first gazed upon the result of his will:

Two lifeless bodies lying on the cold ground, still.

This is the lady’s story that I have just told

And some might think: Oh! What a miserable end they had!

But at least she died happy in her lover’s arms; full of LOVE.”

END

Critical discussion

    This tale is a Liebestod telling by a maid. This kind of genre is a mix of Romance and Tragedy. The very title means Liebs= love and Tod=death. These two elements are found in The Maid’s tale. All the romantic images are seen in the love story between the lady and the Count of Westphall. They are in love since they were kids. We read about their encounters in the garden. The tragedy of the story is when the young Count has to leave from Spain and the lady’s father arranges a wedding for her. In that moment, she makes a promise to the moon saying that she is willing to die if she is able to spend one more night with his love. This is important because it refers to another feature of Liebestod: the theme of erotic death or “love death” meaning the two lovers’ consummation of their love in death or after death. In this particular case, the two lovers die after spending the night before the lady’s wedding together.

    One of the things that I have done with this story to model it on Chaucer’s writings is the unanimous feature. In The Canterbury Tales we find very few autobiographic elements. All the stories are the told by someone who knew a friend who told him the story kind. In this tale, the story is told by a maid who is telling the story about a lady that she had heard about. It is true that when we read the tale we find several elements that make the reader think that the story the maid is telling is the story of her own Lady. However, that information does not appear in an explicit way in the tale, it is something that the reader guess while reading.

Another important feature in Chaucer’s writings is the authority. Chaucer based all his tales on biblical, classical or folk-tale sources. The only case where we find none of these sources is in The Wife of Bath’s Tale but this is an atypical character. So I try to model my story on Chaucer’s writings by giving some classical references in the tale. These references are the authoritative voices which allow the maid to tell the story.

      The dramatic principle is clearly identified in the story. First of fall, the genre of The Maid’s Tale is supposed to be written by the first state. However, there were some characters from the third state that were very close to the first one, as the case of the maid. These maids were also called ladies in waiting and were in touch with the higher ranks of the society of the time, so much so, that “they naturally dressed very much as she did [the lady], with at first nothing to distinguish them except an avoidance of display” (Cunnington 198). So, it fits the maid to tell the story since these kinds of women were related to the first state. In short, the tale is matched to the teller. Also, we find the portrait of the maid in the story as being the maid who is actually telling the story. As previously said, there are no explicit elements in the story through which the reader can know that but it seems very obvious being that way.

The Quyting (payback) is part of this story as well. As we read in the prologue, the maid is listening to the knight’s tale about how dying for glory and honor is the best way to die. Hearing this, the maid decides to tell a story to show that there is another way to die greater than for glory and honor and that way is dying for love. Probably, if the maid had not listening to the knight’s tale she would not have told the story.

Bibliography

·       Cunnington, Phyllis, and Catherine Lucas, Occupational Costume in England: From the Eleventh Century to 1914. London: Black, 1967

·       Bumke, Joachim. Courtly Culture: Literature and society in the High Middles Ages. Trans. Thomas Dulap. Berkeley: University of California Press.

·       Goetz, Hans-Werner. Life in the Middle Ages from the Seventh to the Thirteenth Century. Trans. Albert Wimmer. Ed. Steven Rowan. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1993.

·       Dictionary of the Middle Ages.

·       Encyclopedia. New York: Garland, 1998

·       Online source: Wikipedia