Some old stories survive for so
long, despite cultural and social changes, because they hold some truths that
are still relevant to us. The Marriageof Sir Gawain and Dame Rangell is
one of them.
This story starts when King
Arthur finds himself in the forest facing death by a mystical powerful knight. Instead
of killing the king, the dark knight decides to offer him a challenge: to return
within a year with the right answer to his question or to face his death. The
question is - what do women most desire?
For a year King Arthur and Sir
Gawain, his beloved nephew and one of the Knights of the Round Table, toured
the country in search for the answer. Nearing the end of the year with no
satisfying answer to be found, King Arthur was certain that he would be facing
his death soon. It was then when a very ugly hag approached them on the side of
the road. Her name was Ragnell. She proclaimed that she knew the correct answer,
however in return for saving the king’s life she demanded that Sir Gawain would
marry her. King Arthur was horrified by the idea that his nephew would marry
such a repulsive creature, but Sir Gawain agreed on the condition that indeed
she had the correct answer.
At the end of the year King
Arthur faced the evil knight and repeated the answer provided by Ragnell – what women desire most, is to have their will (in early versions of the
story the answer is – women desire the
most is sovereignty, the ability to
make their own decisions).
The evil knight knew that it was
his sister who told the king the correct answer; she was the only one who knew
it.
Loyal to his promise, Sir Gawain
married Ragnell. It was a sad wedding where all the other knights felt sorry
for him for marrying an unappealing woman instead of one of the many beautiful
maidens who admired him. When the newly married couple retired to their
bedchamber Ragnell asked Gawain to look at her. To his surprise there was a
beautiful woman standing next to him.
Ragnell explained that their
marriage removed the curse that caused her to look so hideous, but the curse
was not completely removed. She could be beautiful only half of the day. She
asked Gawain to choose which part of the day she should look beautiful: during
the daytime when other people could see her, or during the nighttime when they
are alone?
Gawain considered the question
and then decided that it’s not for him to decide this for her. He asked her to
make her own choice. In return Ragnell told him that by enabling her to have
her own will in this, he not only removed her curse completely, but he also
removed the curse that caused her brother to become the dark knight who threatened
King Arthur’s life.
***
For me this story is a good
reminder of how important it is to respect other people’s will: women or men,
adults or children. When people are adamant about their knowledge and their
beliefs they stop asking questions, they forget to listen, they fail to see
what is around them. In such a reality so much can be missed out on and then
disasters and tragedies often follow.
This story reminds me of the Paul McCartney song Hope of Deliverance
What does this story mean to you?
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