[A story I wrote a while ago and posted on myspace. I'm going to cross post it now and think about writing some more of it. I'm not a writer so go easy on me, or just ignore it all together.]
There was once a knight, well he was a knight but he was young, first
years out of knight school. Ha-ha get it night school Knight School...
So anyway, our knight was a great fella. Even though he was young and
had only been in a few battles, he had gained the wisdom and strength
to survive.
In the days our knight lived in, many terrible
things had been done to lots of people, especially beautiful young
damsels. Some of these young damsels had been taken away and locked in
towers. Often, these towers were very old and dangerous places. Some
even had dragons that lived around them who were told to guard these
damsels, so that no one can ever get near them. The rumour amongst the
knights was that these beautiful women were the best that ever existed.
I don't mean just physical beauty; these were women with whom no women
from any other country could compare (at least thats what the knights
believed). These women were smart, elegant, captivating, intelligent,
dedicated girls who had been taught by the best. Perhaps that's why
they had been locked up; maybe they were seen as threats.
The
knights were often exhorted to take on the most dangerous and
challenging adventure that there was the rescuing of one of these
beauties from their towers. Now this was no mean feat! First he must
find a tower with a beauty just waiting to be rescued. Once the tower
was found, the knight would often have to travel great distances to get
near the tower (always in some really deep valley, or on a titanic
mountain). Our young knight thought about the wisdom and beauty of
these damsels and realised that there was a lot to be gained from such
an adventure; but being so young, he had no idea how to find one or
where to look. There were many older, wise knights that had already
been on such an adventure and they had many wise things to say. They
offered to guide and help the young knight prepare for such a journey.
But all of them said that in the end the young knight must embark on
this adventure alone, and walk the path knowing that he was loved and
cared for at home but that that was all he could take for support.
So
after many years of waiting and preparing for the adventure to rescue a
trapped princess, the young knight set out. The trip would take several
months at the shortest and many two years or more at the other end. He
knew there would be many battles to fight along the way, many lonely
cold nights. Several times he would see other knights that had died
along the way, there was nothing that scared him more than seeing a
knight that lay in the middle of a sunny field but had been killed.
Sometimes there was not even the sign of a battle or fight at all. It
just seemed that these knights had died of nothing more than an
abandoned heart. These others knights had simply found the first part
of the adventure to hard. The young knight wondered why that was as
this was meant to be the easiest part of the adventure.
After
several months the knight, who was gaining more understanding and
wisdom by the week, came into view of valley that held a very precious
princess. She was more precious than any other that had been known
before her, and than anyone could foresee coming after. Because of her
captivating life, she had been locked in the deepest, darkest valley
that anyone had ever seen. In fact, the valley was so steep, rough, and
deep that no light ever shone down onto the tower, which stood hundreds
of meters below. The young knight looked over the edge and could see no
way down. There were sheer cliffs on both sides, and the gorge
stretched for miles. This problem was huge, but still, it was only one
of many that the young knight had overcome through the past months.
Sometimes the problems needed a very gentle approach and some time.
Then again there were situations that need a deep commitment to jump in
with both feet. This was certainly a problem, but the knight found the
means needed to scale the walls.
The next part was the dragon.
Our young knight had found his way down the walls and discovered the
remains of many a knight. Some of the armour had claw marks from the
dragons. They looked like they had been torn open like a can opener
wound. But the thing that caught the attention of the young knight was
that some of these knights had arrows through their armour. This was
most curious as there was no one around here and the only people that
ever came here were knights travelling alone. Who could have shot these
arrows at the knights? Our young hero decided that these arrows must
have been wounds that had been sustained the in fierce battles when
trying to get to this place. Still, the young knight thought that he
should remember this, as he was always taught to be attentive to his
surroundings and the stories that dead men do tell.
The dragon
proved vicious and nasty - he had particularly bad breath that smelt of
rotting flesh. As the young knight fought the dragon and finally beat
it back to the point where he could finally kill the beast he
remembered a wise saying that he had once been told by his mentors -
"Do unto others as you would have them do to you." He looked into the
face of the dragon as it lay battered and helpless. The dragon spoke
and made a pact to spare his life, and the knight granted the request.
They agreed to allow mutual passage away from this horrible valley
where the dragon had been guarding the princess for so long. As a token
of his appreciation for sparing his life, the dragon spoke of several
different paths that could be taken to the tower; he also guided the
young knight past several pitfalls that had been well hidden in order
to trap anyone that got past the dragon.
Our hero survived and
made it up to the tower. Upon reaching the top he could see the door
that leads to the princess room. The lock on the door was very strong,
yet with the long years it had rusted to the point where it would
simply fall open with the swing of his sword. The young knight took a
moment to thank the Lord for all He had brought him through, to thank
God for the blessings that had been bestowed upon him, and also to ask
for the wisdom to treat this beauty with all the respect and grace that
such a princes of the most high deserved.
As the knight prayed
he could hear the princess inside praying. She too was speaking to God,
asking for the prince of her dreams to come and rescue her. She asked
for a man of daring, integrity, honesty, loyalty and many other things.
As the young knight heard her pray, he thought back over the adventure
he had come on and remembered all the things he had experienced and
learned in the process. And while our young prince would never have
thought it, he had gathered all the things this princess was asking
for. But such things are never seen on the surface, they only ever
really get seen on the journey back home when they are together. Such
things as honesty and integrity cannot be explained or interviewed for;
they are learned, and then seen in the hard times that ensue after. And
so both the prince and the princess had grown into things that they
were not before they began their adventures.
With a swing of
his sword, the prince laid open the door. The princes looked around,
saw the prince and then quickly sat down on her stool. She looked at
him and asked if he would sit and speak with her a while. The young
knight was both relieved and bemused. He thought to himself "Surely
this fair maiden knows how hard the journey has been to get her; why is
she not overjoyed that she has been rescued?" - but the knight was too
tired to argue at that moment. He sat down as the princess began to
unravel a long scroll. The princess began to speak and asked the prince
many things about himself. As the prince spoke, he could not help but
feel that he was being measured against a list. The beauty asked about
the experiences he had encountered. These were not always easy for the
knight to talk about. Some had been traumatic and broken his heart,
others he had never talked about with anyone and had no words to
describe what he had experienced. For some reason, this was not
acceptable to the young princess, and the knight began to become very
worried that something had gone horribly wrong in this room. As he
gained his breath from the adventure he had just been on for months, he
tried to explain that life was a journey and there were many things
that had to be experienced to be fully understood. But the princess did
not listen; she continued to look at her list.
Finally the
Christian princess looked up and said to the young knight, "You can not
take me from this tower. You don't meet the requirements on my list."
The young knight stood up and stumbled backwards, completely
dumbfounded. He had experienced many surprises in his life, many
unexpected battles and twists in the path he had walked, but this was
not something he had ever experienced before. As he stammered, trying
to ask questions, to try to explain, the princess picked up her bow and
drew an arrow. Aiming at the young knight, she said, "Leave me alone
and never come back to this tower! I am waiting for my knight to come
rescue me. Don't even try anything with me; do you think I don't know
how to shoot an arrow? Take a look outside at the many I have wounded,
and some even killed!"
As the sun began to set on the story of
the young knight, the world kept moving. Perhaps it didn't notice the
passing of such a young and vibrant light, or maybe the world had seen
it all before. Perhaps the world had stopped caring, because it too had
realised that to care is to hurt and with a world so full of people and
lives being extinguished before their time, the world would only be a
sad place all the time. So maybe the world knew something that we
don't. At any rate, we will never know because we can't ask the world
what wisdom it had, more is the pity. And so the world went on and time
passed. The story of knights kept being told; some of them lived and
others died, because not all knights can be winners and get the girl.
If they were all winners there would be no adventure, because every
adventure must have risk. Why, if it weren't for the risk, there would
be no thrill and no story to tell! - And so is the way of life. And
along with many a brave and valiant man, our young night was mourned
and missed, and then forgotten. But he wasn't dead, at least not yet