Hail to King Arthur

Today a party surrounded by friends made me happy!  I loved it! I didn't know that my friends were so talented!!!

We had games, they guessed names, we had super pulled pork and King Arthur didn't act like a dork! (hee hee)

Since, I, the fair Queen, fired our Jester and our Minstrel because they were so boring, Our kingdom provided entertainment of which we had not seen the likes of before and which proved to be the hit of the night!

We had a visiting King from the land of Kitchen act while his Bar Maid recited the Highway Man (which is one of my favorites because it reminds me of Anne of Green Gables).

The Highwayman

The wind was a torrent of darkness upon the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight looping the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding--
Riding--riding--
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn door.

He'd a French cocked hat on his forehead, and a bunch of lace at his chin;
He'd a coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of fine doe-skin.
They fitted with never a wrinkle; his boots were up to his thigh!
And he rode with a jeweled twinkle--
His rapier hilt a-twinkle--
His pistol butts a-twinkle, under the jeweled sky.

Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
He tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred,
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter--
Bess, the landlord's daughter--
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

Dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim, the ostler listened--his face was white and peaked--
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter--
The landlord's black-eyed daughter;
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say:

"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart; I'm after a prize tonight,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light.
Yet if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."

He stood upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair in the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the sweet black waves of perfume came tumbling o'er his breast,
Then he kissed its waves in the moonlight
(O sweet black waves in the moonlight!),
And he tugged at his reins in the moonlight, and galloped away to the west.

He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon.
And out of the tawny sunset, before the rise of the moon,
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon over the purple moor,
The redcoat troops came marching--
Marching--marching--
King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.

They said no word to the landlord; they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed.
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets by their side;
There was Death at every window,
And Hell at one dark window,
For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.

They had bound her up at attention, with many a sniggering jest!
They had tied a rifle beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!
"Now keep good watch!" and they kissed her. She heard the dead man say,
"Look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though Hell should bar the way."

She twisted her hands behind her, but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,
Till, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

The tip of one finger touched it, she strove no more for the rest;
Up, she stood up at attention, with the barrel beneath her breast.
She would not risk their hearing, she would not strive again,
For the road lay bare in the moonlight,
Blank and bare in the moonlight,
And the blood in her veins, in the moonlight, throbbed to her love's refrain.

Tlot tlot, tlot tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hooves, ringing clear;
Tlot tlot, tlot tlot, in the distance! Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding--
Riding--riding--
The redcoats looked to their priming! She stood up straight and still.

Tlot tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot tlot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment, she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight--
Her musket shattered the moonlight--
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him--with her death.

He turned, he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o'er the casement, drenched in her own red blood!
Not till the dawn did he hear it, and his face grew grey to hear
How Bess, the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.

Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,
With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high!
Blood-red were his spurs in the golden noon, wine-red was his velvet coat
When they shot him down in the highway,
Down like a dog in the highway,
And he lay in his blood in the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.
And still on a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a gypsy's ribbon looping the purple moor,
The highwayman comes riding--
Riding--riding--
The highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.
Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard,
He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred,
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter--
Bess, the landlord's daughter--
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

We had a gypsy Violinist play while her Friar read about Zanadu.


Kubla Khan
By Samuel Taylor Coleridge

In Xanadu did Kublai Khan

A stately Pleasure-Dome decree,

Where Alph, the sacred river ran

Through caverns measureless to man

Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground

With walls and towers was girdled ’round,

And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,

Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;

And here were forests ancient as the hills,

Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But, oh! That deep, romantic chasm which slanted

Down the green hill, athwart a cedarn cover:

A savage place! As holy and enchanted

As e’er beneath the waning moon was haunted

By woman wailing for her Demon Lover!

And from this chasm with ceaseless turmoil seething,

As if this Earth in fast, thick pants were breathing,

A mighty fountain momently was forced,

Amid whose swift, half-intermitted burst

Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,

Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail;

And ‘midst these dancing rocks at once and ever,

It flung up momently the sacred river!

Five miles meandering with ever a mazy motion,

Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,

Then reached the caverns measureless to man,

And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean.

And ‘mid this tumult, Kublai heard from far

Ancestral voices prophesying war!

The shadow of the Dome of Pleasure

Floated midway on the waves,

Where was heard the mingled measure

From the fountain and the caves.

It was a miracle of rare device:

A sunny Pleasure-Dome with caves of ice!

A damsel with a dulcimer

In a vision once I saw:

It was an Abyssinian maid,

And on her dulcimer she played,

Singing of Mount Abora.

Could I revive within me

Her symphony and song,

To such deep delight ‘twould win me

That with music loud and long,

I would build that dome within the air!

That sunny dome, those caves of ice,

And all who heard should see them there,

And all should cry: “Beware! Beware!

His flashing eyes, his floating hair!

Weave a circle ’round him thrice,

And close your eyes in holy dread:

For he on honeydew hath fed,

And drunk the milk of Paradise!”

 We had a fair Lady-in-waiting sing a beautiful song right after her Sorcerer made us laugh with his jokes. We had a Gypsy who read us our futures, her Executioner tell us Daddy inspired Jokes. We had Death recite to us about Robin Hood, her jolly Minstrel strum his Guitar. We had another Gypsy and her knight Juggle and throw darts at an apple on her head trying to find out if they were compatible. We had a Crusader recite a wonderful poem dedicated to King Arthur and his Guinevere! We also had a Gypsy and her black Knight play a little magical coin trick which then stemmed into the wonderful talent from a fair tiny wench who with her knight played a game with coins.

All entertainer's Money were then taxed by our Jolly Jester-in-training and the one with the most money won our fine prize of top billing in the kingdom... Which of course was my very own Knight of the Round Table (or Rectangular...)  King Arthur!!!

Then, I the fair Queen, invited all to participate in a few rounds of The Minister's Cat- a fine game of Alphabetic feat!

A wonderful night I hope was had by all. Because I know it was for King Arthur and myself!!

Enjoy our pictures...