Guenevere's Passing, a Playlet

A room in a nunnery. Enter the Novice, bearing a pitcher and a goblet, to the discovered Lady, who reclines upon a couch.

Novice Greta

Good morrow, my Lady. How are you today?

Novice places pitcher and goblet on a stand by the bed.

Lady Guenevere

Weary, good Novice, weaker, but with less pain. Your medicine gave me a restful night.

Novice Greta

I wish I had some better anodyne to ease your discomfort, my Lady. I have brought more. Take a small draught if you need it.

Lady Guenevere

Thank you, Greta. My body's aches may come and go as they will. None of us escapes the flesh.

Novice Greta

Shall I un-shutter the window, my Lady? The day is bright, and not too cool.

Lady Guenevere

Perhaps, a little while. The air may revive me.

The Novice opens the shutters. A bird calls.

Novice Greta

The birds have sung a lot of songs today. Would you like me to sing you a song, my Lady?.

Lady Guenevere

Yes, sing me a country song, perhaps something the people dance to.

Novice Greta

I only know hymns, My Lady,

Lady Guenevere

Only hymns? I'm tired of hymns. Their pieties burden my ears.

Novice Greta

Mother Abbess says she never tires of singing hymns to the glory of our Lord.

Lady Guenevere

She is a stronger woman than I.

Lady Guenevere

Have you never known anything but the nunnery, child?

Novice Greta

I've lived here most of my life, my Lady. I don't remember much from before I was here.

Lady Guenevere

You must have been very young. You are not very old now.

Novice Greta

Mother Abbess reckons I'm fourteen.

Lady Guenevere

I wasn't much older when I went to Arthur's court.

Novice Greta

The Great Arthur?

Lady Guenevere

Yes. The Great Arthur.

Novice Greta

The troubadours write such songs of him and Lancelot! Did you know Lancelot, too?

Lady Guenevere

Yes, almost as well as I knew Arthur.

Novice Greta

And did you know the Queen?

Lady Guenevere

Yes, I knew her, too, better than the others.

Novice Greta

Tell me about her.

Lady Guenevere

Mother Abbess will be angry with me, if I corrupt you with tales of the worldly court.

Novice Greta

Perhaps, if she knew, but I won't tell. Truly, how can I choose the nunnery, if I know of no other choices? That's really no choice at all.

Lady Guenevere

I'll tell you about the court, then, just a little. Tell me, do you remember anything of the world outside this place?

Novice Greta

Yes, my Lady, the cold, mostly.

Lady Guenevere

The cold?

Novice Greta

And the hunger. Before I came here I was cold, always cold, and usually hungry. It was a very bad time, my Lady. The cold is what I remember.

Lady Guenevere

Court was sometimes cold, too, child. More often, it was warm, with great fires in the feasting hall in winter. Even the hounds had food enough, and there was some to spare for the beggars at the gates.

Novice Greta

And the Knights and the Ladies? Were they all beautiful and grand?

Lady Guenevere

They liked to think so, and indeed they dressed in the finest clothes, soft velvets, and silks and fine-woven woolens.

Novice Greta

But didn't the Knights wear armor?

Lady Guenevere

Not in the castle. Armor's very uncomfortable for court wear. Knights only wear armor when they are jousting or questing, not at court.

Novice Greta

And jewels? Were there jewels?

Lady Guenevere

Yes.

Novice Greta

And Guenevere? Was she the loveliest of all?

Lady Guenevere

Arthur told her so, many times. Perhaps, though, the other Knights thought, each of them, that his lady was the fairest of all.

Novice Greta

Which was handsomer? Lancelot, or Arthur?

Lady Guenevere

I will not say. They were both handsome men.

Novice Greta

I think I should have loved Arthur forever, if I were Guenevere.

Lady Guenevere

I think Guenevere still loves Arthur.

Novice Greta

Then why did she run away with Lancelot?

Lady Guenevere

Run away with Lancelot? Why would you say that?

Novice Greta

That's what the troubadours say.

Lady Guenevere

Is that what they say, these gossiping troubadours? When have you ever heard troubadours?

Novice Greta

Never. But I've heard Sister Ursula whisper to Sister Winifred at night, when Mother Abbess has gone to sleep. They hear all the news when they go to market in the town. The sisters think no one hears them, but I can. Their cells are near mine, and my ears are good.

Mother Abbess enters quietly.

Mother Abbess

But not good enough to hear my teachings, Greta.

Novice Greta

Oh, Mother Abbess! Pardon! I only wished to beguile the sweet Lady from her sickness for a little while.

Mother Abbess hides a smile.

Mother Abbess

Go. You've done quite enough, and there is bread to knead in the kitchens.

Novice Greta

At once, Mother Abbess.

Novice scurries out.

Mother Abbess

My Lady, Greta's faith is fragile. A few words, misplaced, might turn her from the truth and light.

Lady Guenevere

From your understanding of the truth and light.

Mother Abbess

She's young. It's best for her to have only one truth, one light.

Lady Guenevere

If you deny her curiosity, she may run from your truth and light with a doe's fleetness.

Mother Abbess

I pray the Truth keep her, and I will do my part to shelter her and any other woman here from harmful distraction. Please, my Lady, I understand you are not open to my beliefs. Do not, I beg you, abuse our hospice's hospitality by unsettling simple minds with the scandals of the world.

Lady Guenevere

I meant no harm. I hope I did none.

Mother Abbess

I hope you did none, also. Meanwhile, my Lady, you have a visitor, a man.

Lady Guenevere

Who? Who has come to see me?

Mother Abbess

He calls himself Sir Bedivere.

Lady Guenevere

An honorable Knight, and my friend.

Mother Abbess

He asked for you by name, my Lady. I have explained to him that our rules forbid a man and woman to be alone together within these walls. He accepts my condition. Will you do the like, my Lady?

Lady Guenevere

Indeed. I intend no dishonor to this house.

Mother Abbess

I'll fetch him. Then I'll remain, within earshot, as our order requires.

Lady Guenevere

Thank you, Mother Abbess.

Mother Abbess exits. The Lady props herself against her pillows, and smoothes her hair. The Mother Abbess returns with the Knight. The Mother Abbess returns to the doorway, glances at the couple, then takes a chair, just outside the open door, and opens her prayer book.

Lady Guenevere

Welcome, old friend. Come, sit beside me. I have difficulty rising from my bed these days.

Sir Bedivere

I am blessed to hear you speak again, my Lady.

Lady Guenevere

I confess I enjoy hearing your voice. What brings you here?

Sir Bedivere

You. Do the holy ladies treat you well, my Lady?

Lady Guenevere

Yes. They feed me and shelter me. They physic me at need with their simples.

Sir Bedivere

And do they treat you with proper reverence?

Lady Guenevere

Their reverence they reserve for their god. They treat me with all due courtesy and respect.

Sir Bedivere

My Lady, are you well?

Lady Guenevere

No. Nor shall be again, I think. I have a weakness in my stomach, that causes me much pain.

Sir Bedivere

Do you need books or embroidery silks?

Lady Guenevere

I am weary of reading. My eyes have lost strength. I cannot see to read or ply my needle, except at midday. That's when the sisters eat their greater meal, so I eat instead of sewing or reading. I weaken slowly. My flesh wears away under time as rocks wear away in the river waters.

Sir Bedivere

My Lady! Do not say such things!

Lady Guenevere

They are only truth, after all, good friend. Your own hair is gray.

Sir Bedivere

One of many changes. The world is so changed, my Lady.

Lady Guenevere

Yes. Arthur's dead. Lancelot's retired to brood in a hermitage. I am here, walled up in holy women.

Mother Abbess

We holy women do wall you in, as we wall out the world that would come at you to your harm. The difference between a refuge and a prison is often defined only by the direction one looks through the window.

Sir Bedivere

Yes, Mother. You speak a truth, there. Be glad you are safe here. The world's grown dark and lonely and dangerous.

Lady Guenevere

It always was.

Sir Bedivere

For a little while Arthur brought light into the darkness.

Lady Guenevere

And the usual dark winds have put it out again. What do folk say of Arthur?

Sir Bedivere

Some claim Arthur's not dead, but only gone to the Lady of the Lake, to wait there until he shall be called again to save Britain. Others mourn his death.

Mother Abbess

I bless Arthur's name. While he ruled, the poor had something to eat, and the powerless had protection. Arthur was a man of God.

Sir Bedivere

He was of your belief, Mother Abbess.

Sir Bedivere

There are wars and battles and plagues outside these walls, my Lady. The Arthur's hope of union shatters under the axes of war. It's as bad as it was before Arthur pulled Excalibur from the rock and invited us all to the Table. Only the troubadours remember Arthur's ideals.

Lady Guenevere

The troubadours? I have heard little of the troubadours. What do they sing?

Sir Bedivere

They grace their tales of romance and battles with Arthur's hope. He's become a kind of holy figure in their songs, shining brighter than ever the man and king we knew could.

Lady Guenevere

Arthur was a brightness in the land. He was also a man. What do the troubadours sing of the intrigues and follies at court?

Sir Bedivere

The troubadours love those tales. All the politics and lovers' intrigues are grist for their songs. They make songs off you, my Lady, and Arthur, and Lancelot. They make of you a tragic three, humanity broken by love.

Lady Guenevere

There is some truth, that we were broken by love, we three.

Sir Bedivere

The troubadours name you betrayer of the King's honor with Lancelot.

Lady Guenevere

They tell it that I betrayed the King with Lancelot? How so?

Sir Bedivere

Each wandering songster has his own twist to the tale, but each adds flesh to the same skeleton, that you, and Lancelot, came to be lovers, committing treason against the King. Some make quite a tale of your trysting. Others make a courtroom play of your supposed trials for treason. The common folk believe it all. It's so much more intriguing than the truth. It serves, as well, as explanation for Arthur's fall, and the shatter of his kingdom into battling dukedoms. It is a great romance. It's an old tale, one woman, two men, and easily swallowed by most people.

Lady Guenevere

How they lie! It was Merlin and Mordred who brought Arthur down! They were both power-dazzled.

Sir Bedivere

Power and wielding it ensorcel all of us, one way or another.

Lady Guenevere

Merlin knew Arthur's heart. He should; he molded it. Mordred broke it.

Sir Bedivere

My Lady, we cannot resolve the past by rehearsing it. It's done. Troubadours may sing whatever lies they will. They will not change what happened.

Lady Guenevere

Nay, what was is what was. May Arthur's memory stay bright. And Lancelot? What do you hear of him?

Sir Bedivere

He has retreated from the world, as you said, into his hermitage. He has sins to atone, and wrongs to grieve. None see him now, save the serving man who brings him his daily flagon of water and a small loaf. The serving man says Lancelot has gone gray and gaunt, like to a wolf the pack has left to die from a lack of easy rabbits.

Lady Guenevere

He, who was so vain of his person, brought to this?

Sir Bedivere

Brought himself to this, in his penance. He prays all day, and much of the night, I hear.

Lady Guenevere

And what of you, my friend, what of Sir Bedivere?

Sir Bedivere

I go to and fro upon the face of the earth, and do my little business until the time comes for me to lay it aside.

Lady Guenevere

You have blessed me, old friend, by including me in your "little business" to do. I grow very weary, my friend. I will need to rest now.

Sir Bedivere

I do not know when I may come again this way, my Lady.

Lady Guenevere

I will not linger long. We may not meet again. At our age, every goodbye risks forever. Mother Abbess, please...Sir Bedivere would go.

Mother Abbess rises. The Lady groans, then grimaces with pain.

Mother Abbess

My Lady?

Lady Guenevere

Please have one of the Sisters see Sir Bedivere to the gates. A pain begins to burn in my belly. I have need of your skills.

Mother Abbess goes to the door and calls.

Mother Abbess

Sister Ursula! Come, please, at once. Sir Bedivere, if you will. I must attend to the Lady.

Sir Bedivere

Of course, Reverend Abbess. Blessings, my Lady, be on you.

Lady Guenevere

And on you, old friend.

Sister Ursula enters, takes Sir Bedivere away. The Mother Abbess examines the Lady.

Mother Abbess

Where is the fire, my Lady?

Lady Guenevere

Here, good Mother, low in my belly. Gods, how it hurts!

Mother Abbess

It is what I have feared! The thing in you has burst. Oh, my Lady, now should you prepare for your end!

Lady Guenevere

My end? So soon, so terribly soon?

Mother Abbess

I think you have hours, not days, my Lady. Shall I send for a priest that you may make confession?

Lady Guenevere

No. Your priest would bless me according to his faith. I do not hold to it.

Mother Abbess

Does not your soul trouble you, when you think of what is to come?

Lady Guenevere

I do not know what is to come, and therefore am not troubled by it. Yet I would set all in order in my mind before I let go of life. Will you hear me, Mother?

Mother Abbess

I will hear you, my Lady. May I pray for you, when you have gone?

Lady Guenevere

You may, for whatever good it will do. When I have died, send word to Lancelot. Bid him make my funeral speech. Sir Bedivere will take the news.

Mother Abbess

Will you not give over your scandalous behavior even at death?

Lady Guenevere

What scandal is there in the King's Champion conducting my funeral? King's Champions have often done this last service for a queen.

Mother Abbess

But he and you broke the King's marriage. God may forgive you for that. The people will not.

Lady Guenevere

Lancelot and I have not been lovers.

Mother Abbess

But even now Sir Bedivere...

Lady Guenevere

...was repeating tales of troubadours. Arthur was my husband by law and convention, but not by common practice.

Mother Abbess

I do not understand.

Lady Guenevere

I will tell you this, then do not publish it to the world. Lancelot was more wife to Arthur than I could ever be.

Mother Abbess

How so?

Lady Guenevere

Poor Arthur! He came to my father's house seeking alliances and soldiers. Merlin was with him, Merlin who taught him all things, even how to love, and whom, if that may be taught. He found me, and tried to love me. He lay with me seldom, and to little purpose. Merlin blamed Morgan LaFay for Arthur's inclination, saying she had turned him from women.

Mother Abbess

My Lady, perhaps God alone should hear this, your confession. I do not want to hear such things!

Lady Guenevere

I do not confess, good Mother. I bore no fault in this, save in loving Arthur overmuch, and Lancelot as a brother. Mother, have you not said to me, your god's judgment is mercy?

Mother Abbess

So the priests and Scriptures teach us.

Lady Guenevere

Then may your god be merciful judging Arthur and Lancelot! When Arthur first encountered Lancelot, he fell in love with him, and Lancelot came to love Arthur. At first they hid their passion from me. Arthur would not hurt me, and Lancelot honored me as an older sister. I would have gone blissful to my grave had Merlin not told it all one night when he had drunk too much. Arthur and Lancelot were there, and I was with them.

Mother Abbess

My Lady, what grief!

Lady Guenevere

Merlin fell to reminiscing about Arthur's youth. As he got drunker, he left off simple stories of childish pranks and youthful pratfalls in the practice yard, and began the racier tales. He talked of Morgan LaFay, and Mordred's getting. This was not news to any of us. Arthur was profoundly embarrassed. Then Merlin began to bait him, with hints other liaisons. Merlin grew more and more graphic, and at last, pointed to Lancelot, and challenged Arthur to deny how badly he wanted to bed him. Arthur broke in tears.

Mother Abbess

The King? In tears?

Lady Guenevere

The King in tears. And Lancelot. And I, as it came clear to me that Merlin's badgering was more than a mere awkward jest.

Mother Abbess

Merlin was never a man of God. I hold him an agent of the Adversary.

Lady Guenevere

Merlin was a priest of power. He claimed later that some evil witch must have be-spelled him, to make him talk so. But the truth had come out. Arthur confessed to me, with many sobs, that he did, indeed, yearn to lie with Lancelot. Lancelot confessed the like to me. What could I do, but give them my blessing?

Mother Abbess

You should have held them firm against their base desires, won Arthur back. O, Lady! This is worse than the troubadours' tales!

Lady Guenevere

Should I have cursed them? It would not stop their wanting what they lusted to do. It might have destroyed the realm, and the peace Arthur envisioned and Lancelot struggled to uphold. I was a queen, and the health of the people and the nation depended on me. May your merciful god judge them with forgiveness.

Mother Abbess

And what of you my Lady? How would you have God judge you?

Lady Guenevere

I do not care about the judgments of your god. Arthur did, and Lancelot does, but I do not.

Mother Abbess

Take care, my Lady, that you do not mis-speak in this final hour.

Lady Guenevere

Mother, I do not trust the loving judgment of a god that would sacrifice his son. That's entirely too human to be divine. No goddess who loved her son or daughter would make such a sacrifice. I will take my chances with whatever comes hereafter.

Mother Abbess

That sacrifice was to the salvation of the world.

Lady Guenevere

So your Scriptures claim. I choose to not believe.

Mother Abbess

So be it, my Lady. God forces no one into Heaven.

Lady Guenevere

My pain worsens, and I would sleep my way into forever. Have you a potion to ease me?

Mother Abbess

Yes, my Lady. I've a draught here that will help you sleep despite the pain.

Lady Guenevere

May whatever god or gods that be bless you, Mother Abbess, for your kindness to me.

Mother Abbess pours a potion in a goblet.
The Lady takes it, and drinks,
then hands the goblet to the Mother,
who sets it on a stand by the bed.
The Mother Abbess takes the Lady's hand and kneels beside her.

Lady Guenevere

Now, whatever divinity you are that waits for me, let me die in peace.

Curtain

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