Week 13 Story: The Unknown Bride

Once upon a time in Camelot there lived a knight named Jordan. Jordan was not your average knight because he was the least respected and known for his bad attitude toward women.  Whenever he and the other knights would go out to battle, he participated as little as possible.  He thought that since he was not valued as a knight that he should not have to put much effort forth when fighting.  After each battle was won, he would get sloppy drunk and go around and harass the women of the nearest tow.  Eventually word made its way to King Arthur that one of his knights was not upholding the standards that he had instilled.  After hearing all the complaints and dealing with distraught women, Arthur had enough.  He called for an emergency meeting with his knights to discuss the plan of what to do with this garbage of a man.  While most men suggested execution or being thrown out of the kingdom, one knight suggested letting Guinevere decide his punishment. 

The knight said, “Since he has been harassing women, let your dear wife decide his punishment since the people offended are like her.”

Arthur replied, “Why that is a genius idea, Lancelot!”

Arthur then went to Queen Guinevere and let her know what was happening and she replied, “That is a great idea Arthur. I have the perfect punishment for him.”

Eventually Jordan was called in front of the king and his misdeeds were put out into the open.  One would think that Jordan would be embarrassed but that was not the case.  It seemed that he always had an excuse for what he did.  After he was done protesting about how he shouldn’t be punished, Arthur had heard enough.

He yelled, “Stop this babbling nonsense.  I will not stand for any knight in the court of Camelot to disrespect women.  My men and I wanted to have you killed, but Guinevere has a better plan.”

Guinevere said, “One year from now you must report back and learn about what women want and don’t want.  If you cannot be honest and do this then you will die.”

Jordan agreed to do this task but really had no intentions of following through.  Throughout the year that followed he would go out and get drunk and yet accost women but made sure to silence them so they would not report back to anyone about what had happened.  Eventually the timeline came to pass, and Jordan showed up in front Arthur and Guinevere.  He spat complete nonsense at them, and they realized that he was a lost cause.  Everyone in the room could see that he was drunk beyond belief.  Arthur and Guinevere got together and discussed what they should do.

Arthur said, “We should make an example of him and kill him. There is no hope for a lost soul like that.”

Guinevere agreed but said, “I feel like it would be a better example to brand him an ex knight and make sure everyone throughout the land knows what kind of person he is.  He will be treated like a leper.”

Arthur found this to be much more satisfying and agreed.  They told Jordan that they know he did not actually go out to figure out what woman want and don’t want.  Jordan instantly became a mess crying out in anger saying they would regret killing him.  Arthur let him know they weren’t going to kill him but instead make sure he was banished. As the guards carried him away his screams could be heard echoing in the great hall.  No one knows what happened to Jordan after he was banished.  A story was heard that a group of sisters killed him after he tried to touch one of their sisters after his night of drinking.

A knight (No date)

Darksouls1. Source: Pixabay

Authors note:

I wanted to change this story up a lot. This story is very long and consists of multiple parts.  It has the knight having to do something even in the end to be able to let Guinevere know what women want.  I wanted to give a straighter forward, no bullshit story.  I wanted to create a character that people would not like at all.  It seems that in this day and age men get away with assaulting women with the defense they were drunk and did not know what they are doing. I wanted to show that actions have consequences. I thought it would also be empowering to have Queen Guinevere decide his fate.  I thought that it was only fitting that he met his demise by a group of sisters who killed him. Also, I know there is nothing about a bride in this story, because I thought I should focus on the bad knight and what he did.

Bibliography: Gibbs, Laura. Canterbury Tales: The Unknown Bride. Canterbury Tales: The Unknown Bride