They were always having grand tournaments there at Camelot; and very stirring and picturesque and ridiculous human bull-fights they were, too, but just a little wearisome to the practical mind. However, I was generally on hand—for two reasons: a man must not hold himself aloof from the things which his friends and his community have at heart if he would be liked—especially as a statesman; and both as business man and statesman I wanted to study the tournament and see if I couldn’t invent an improvement on it. That reminds me to remark, in passing, that the very first official thing I did, in my administration—and it was on the very first day of it, too—was to start a patent office; for I knew that a country without a patent office and good patent laws was just a crab, and couldn’t travel any way but sideways or backways.
Things ran along, a tournament nearly every week; and now and then the boys used to want me to take a hand—I mean Sir Launcelot and the rest—but I said I would by and by; no hurry yet, and too much government machinery to oil up and set to rights and start a-going.
We had one tournament which was continued from day to day during more than a week, and as many as five hundred knights took part in it, from first to last. They were weeks gathering. They came on horseback from everywhere; from the very ends of the country, and even from beyond the sea; and many brought ladies, and all brought squires and troops of servants. It was a most gaudy and gorgeous crowd, as to costumery, and very characteristic of the country and the time, in the way of high animal spirits, innocent indecencies of language, and happy-hearted indifference to morals. It was fight or look on, all day and every day; and sing, gamble, dance, carouse half the night every night. They had a most noble good time. You never saw such people. Those banks of beautiful ladies, shining in their barbaric splendors, would see a knight sprawl from his horse in the lists with a lanceshaft the thickness of your ankle clean through him and the blood spouting, and instead of fainting they would clap their hands and crowd each other for a better view; only sometimes one would dive into her handkerchief, and look ostentatiously broken-hearted, and then you could lay two to one that there was a scandal there somewhere and she was afraid the public hadn’t found it out.
The noise at night would have been annoying to me ordinarily, but I didn’t mind it in the present circumstances, because it kept me from hearing the quacks detaching legs and arms from the day’s cripples. They ruined an uncommon good old cross-cut saw for me, and broke the saw-buck, too, but I let it pass. And as for my axe—well, I made up my mind that the next time I lent an axe to a surgeon I would pick my century.
I not only watched this tournament from day to day, but detailed an intelligent priest from my Department of Public Morals and Agriculture, and ordered him to report it; for it was my purpose by and by, when I should have gotten the people along far enough, to start a newspaper. The first thing you want in a new country, is a patent office; then work up your school system; and after that, out with your paper. A newspaper has its faults, and plenty of them, but no matter, it’s hark from the tomb for a dead nation, and don’t you forget it. You can’t resurrect a dead nation without it; there isn’t any way. So I wanted to sample things, and be finding out what sort of reporter-material I might be able to rake together out of the sixth century when I should come to need it.
Well, the priest did very well, considering. He got in all the details, and that is a good thing in a local item: you see, he had kept books for the undertaker-department of his church when he was younger, and there, you know, the money’s in the details; the more details, the more swag: bearers, mutes, candles, prayers —everything counts; and if the bereaved don’t buy prayers enough you mark up your candles with a forked pencil, and your bill shows up all right. And he had a good knack at getting in the complimentary thing here and there about a knight that was likely to advertise—no, I mean a knight that had influence; and he also had a neat gift of exaggeration, for in his time he had kept door for a pious hermit who lived in a sty and worked miracles.
Of course this novice’s report lacked whoop and crash and lurid description, and therefore wanted the true ring; but its antique wording was quaint and sweet and simple, and full of the fragrances and flavors of the time, and these little merits made up in a measure for its more important lacks. Here is an extract from it:
Then Sir Brian de les Isles and Grummore Grummorsum, knights of the castle, encountered with Sir Aglovale and Sir Tor, and Sir Tor smote down Sir Grummore Grummorsum to the earth. Then came Sir Carados of the dolorous tower, and Sir Turquine, knights of the castle, and there encountered with them Sir Percivale de Galis and Sir Lamorak de Galis, that were two brethren, and there encountered Sir Percivale with Sir Carados, and either brake their spears unto their hands, and then Sir Turquine with Sir Lamorak, and either of them smote down other, horse and all, to the earth, and either parties rescued other and horsed them again. And Sir Arnold, and Sir Gauter, knights of the castle, encountered with Sir Brandiles and Sir Kay, and these four knights encountered mightily, and brake their spears to their hands. Then came Sir Pertolope from the castle, and there encountered with him Sir Lionel, and there Sir Pertolope the green knight smote down Sir Lionel, brother to Sir Launcelot. All this was marked by noble heralds, who bare him best, and their names. Then Sir Bleobaris brake his spear upon Sir Gareth, but of that stroke Sir Bleobaris fell to the earth. When Sir Galihodin saw that, he bad Sir Gareth keep him, and Sir Gareth smote him to the earth. Then Sir Galihud gat a spear to avenge his brother, and in the same wise Sir Gareth served him, and Sir Dinadan and his brother La Cote Male Taile, and Sir Sagramore le Disirous, and Sir Dodinas le Savage; all these he bare down with one spear. When King Aswisance of Ireland saw Sir Gareth fare so he marveled what he might be, that one time seemed green, and another time, at his again coming, he seemed blue. And thus at every course that he rode to and fro he changed his color, so that there might neither king nor knight have ready cognizance of him. Then Sir Agwisance the King of Ireland encountered with Sir Gareth, and there Sir Gareth smote him from his horse, saddle and all. And then came King Carados of Scotland, and Sir Gareth smote him down horse and man. And in the same wise he served King Uriens of the land of Gore. And then there came in Sir Bagdemagus, and Sir Gareth smote him down horse and man to the earth. And Bagdemagus’s son Meliganus brake a spear upon Sir Gareth mightily and knightly. And then Sir Galahault the noble prince cried on high, Knight with the many colors, well hast thou justed; now make thee ready that I may just with thee. Sir Gareth heard him, and he gat a great spear, and so they encountered together, and there the prince brake his spear; but Sir Gareth smote him upon the left side of the helm, that he reeled here and there, and he had fallen down had not his men recovered him. Truly, said King Arthur, that knight with the many colors is a good knight. Wherefore the king called unto him Sir Launcelot, and prayed him to encounter with that knight. Sir, said Launcelot, I may as well find in my heart for to forbear him at this time, for he hath had travail enough this day, and when a good knight doth so well upon some day, it is no good knight’s part to let him of his worship, and, namely, when he seeth a knight hath done so great labour; for peradventure, said Sir Launcelot, his quarrel is here this day, and peradventure he is best beloved with this lady of all that be here, for I see well he paineth himself and enforceth him to do great deeds, and therefore, said Sir Launcelot, as for me, this day he shall have the honour; though it lay in my power to put him from it, I would not. There was an unpleasant little episode that day, which for reasons of state I struck out of my priest’s report. You will have noticed that Garry was doing some great fighting in the engagement. When I say Garry I mean Sir Gareth. Garry was my private pet name for him; it suggests that I had a deep affection for him, and that was the case. But it was a private pet name only, and never spoken aloud to any one, much less to him; being a noble, he would not have endured a familiarity like that from me. Well, to proceed: I sat in the private box set apart for me as the king’s minister. While Sir Dinadan was waiting for his turn to enter the lists, he came in there and sat down and began to talk; for he was always making up to me, because I was a stranger and he liked to have a fresh market for his jokes, the most of them having reached that stage of wear where the teller has to do the laughing himself while the other person looks sick. I had always responded to his efforts as well as I could, and felt a very deep and real kindness for him, too, for the reason that if by malice of fate he knew the one particular anecdote which I had heard oftenest and had most hated and most loathed all my life, he had at least spared it me. It was one which I had heard attributed to every humorous person who had ever stood on American soil, from Columbus down to Artemus Ward. It was about a humorous lecturer who flooded an ignorant audience with the killingest jokes for an hour and never got a laugh; and then when he was leaving, some gray simpletons wrung him gratefully by the hand and said it had been the funniest thing they had ever heard, and “it was all they could do to keep from laughin’ right out in meetin’.” That anecdote never saw the day that it was worth the telling; and yet I had sat under the telling of it hundreds and thousands and millions and billions of times, and cried and cursed all the way through. Then who can hope to know what my feelings were, to hear this armor-plated ass start in on it again, in the murky twilight of tradition, before the dawn of history, while even Lactantius might be referred to as “the late Lactantius,” and the Crusades wouldn’t be born for five hundred years yet? Just as he finished, the call-boy came; so, haw-hawing like a demon, he went rattling and clanking out like a crate of loose castings, and I knew nothing more. It was some minutes before I came to, and then I opened my eyes just in time to see Sir Gareth fetch him an awful welt, and I unconsciously out with the prayer, “I hope to gracious he’s killed!” But by ill-luck, before I had got half through with the words, Sir Gareth crashed into Sir Sagramor le Desirous and sent him thundering over his horse’s crupper, and Sir Sagramor caught my remark and thought I meant it for him .
Well, whenever one of those people got a thing into his head, there was no getting it out again. I knew that, so I saved my breath, and offered no explanations. As soon as Sir Sagramor got well, he notified me that there was a little account to settle between us, and he named a day three or four years in the future; place of settlement, the lists where the offense had been given. I said I would be ready when he got back. You see, he was going for the Holy Grail. The boys all took a flier at the Holy Grail now and then. It was a several years’ cruise. They always put in the long absence snooping around, in the most conscientious way, though none of them had any idea where the Holy Grail really was, and I don’t think any of them actually expected to find it, or would have known what to do with it if he had run across it. You see, it was just the Northwest Passage of that day, as you may say; that was all. Every year expeditions went out holy grailing, and next year relief expeditions went out to hunt for them . There was worlds of reputation in it, but no money. Why, they actually wanted me to put in! Well, I should smile.
Ringkasan dan Pengantar Penulis
Bagian ini adalah deskripsi yang jelas tentang turnamen yang diadakan di Camelot, sebuah kastil dan istana legendaris yang terkait dengan Raja Arthur yang legendaris. Kisah ini diambil dari tradisi kaya legenda Arthur, yang telah diceritakan dan diceritakan kembali selama berabad-abad. Kisah-kisah ini sering kali mengeksplorasi tema kesatriaan, kehormatan, keberanian, dan pencarian cita-cita yang mulia. Kisah-kisah aslinya diturunkan melalui sastra abad pertengahan, dengan kontributor terkenal seperti Sir Thomas Malory, yang karyanya "Le Morte d'Arthur" adalah salah satu koleksi legenda Arthurian yang paling terkenal.
Narator dalam bagian ini tampaknya adalah seorang pengamat yang bijaksana, mungkin seorang negarawan atau pejabat, yang tertarik tidak hanya pada tontonan turnamen tetapi juga pada implikasi sosial dan politik yang mereka miliki. Laporan rinci oleh pendeta menambahkan cita rasa sejarah, menekankan pentingnya merekam peristiwa secara akurat untuk generasi mendatang.
Interpretasi dan Signifikansi Rinci
Turnamen di Camelot digambarkan sebagai acara yang megah, penuh warna, penuh dengan kegembiraan, persaingan, dan interaksi sosial. Ksatria dari jauh dan luas berkumpul untuk membuktikan keberanian dan keterampilan mereka dalam pertempuran, sementara para wanita istana menonton dengan penuh semangat, terkadang dengan reaksi yang mengejutkan terhadap kekerasan. Pengaturan ini mencerminkan budaya abad pertengahan tentang kesatriaan, di mana para ksatria diharapkan untuk menjunjung tinggi kehormatan, melindungi yang lemah, dan terlibat dalam kontes kekuatan dan keberanian.
Namun, bagian itu juga mengisyaratkan kontradiksi dunia ini: "ketidaksenonohan bahasa yang tidak bersalah" dan "ketidakpedulian yang bahagia terhadap moral" menunjukkan masyarakat yang bersemangat dan cacat. Pandangan pragmatis narator—peduli dengan pemerintahan, penemuan, dan tatanan sosial—menambahkan lapisan realisme pada citra Camelot yang romantis.
Kisah rinci tentang pertempuran Sir Gareth menggambarkan cita-cita heroik dari ksatria yang berjuang dengan gagah berani dan mendapatkan rasa hormat melalui perbuatan daripada gelar. Interaksi antara para ksatria, tantangan yang mereka hadapi, dan rasa hormat yang mereka peroleh menyoroti nilai-nilai ketekunan, kesetiaan, dan keberanian.
Pelajaran dan Wawasan untuk Siswa
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Keberanian dan Ketekunan: Kesediaan para ksatria untuk menghadapi bahaya berulang kali mengajarkan pentingnya keberanian dan ketekunan dalam mengatasi tantangan. Siswa dapat belajar menghadapi kesulitan mereka sendiri dengan tekad yang sama.
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Hormat dan Kehormatan: Kode kesatriaan, meskipun ideal, menekankan rasa hormat kepada orang lain, keadilan dalam persaingan, dan kehormatan dalam tindakan. Nilai-nilai ini penting di sekolah, persahabatan, dan karier di masa depan.
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Komunitas dan Partisipasi: Keputusan narator untuk menghadiri turnamen meskipun ada keberatan pribadi menunjukkan pentingnya terlibat dengan komunitas seseorang dan mendukung kepentingan bersama.
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Berpikir Kritis: Ketertarikan narator untuk meningkatkan turnamen dan memulai institusi seperti kantor paten mendorong siswa untuk berpikir kritis tentang tradisi dan mencari cara untuk berinovasi dan meningkatkan masyarakat.
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Merekam dan Merenungkan: Laporan rinci pendeta mengingatkan kita akan nilai mendokumentasikan pengalaman dan belajar darinya, kebiasaan yang berguna bagi siswa dalam studi dan pertumbuhan pribadi mereka.
Menerapkan Pelajaran Ini dalam Kehidupan Sehari-hari
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Di Sekolah: Siswa dapat menerapkan keberanian dengan mengatasi mata pelajaran atau proyek yang sulit tanpa takut gagal. Mereka dapat mempraktikkan kehormatan dengan jujur dalam pekerjaan mereka dan menghormati guru dan teman sekelas.
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Dalam Pengaturan Sosial: Menunjukkan rasa hormat dan keadilan dalam interaksi membantu membangun persahabatan yang kuat dan menyelesaikan konflik secara damai.
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Dalam Pengembangan Pribadi: Merangkul ketekunan membantu siswa terus maju bahkan ketika tugas tampak sulit, baik dalam olahraga, seni, atau akademisi.
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Dalam Kreativitas dan Inovasi: Seperti ketertarikan narator pada penemuan, siswa harus didorong untuk berpikir kreatif dan menyarankan perbaikan di lingkungan mereka.
Mengembangkan Sifat Positif dari Cerita
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Keberanian: Dorong siswa untuk mengambil tantangan baru, memahami bahwa kegagalan adalah bagian dari pertumbuhan.
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Hormat: Ajarkan pentingnya memperlakukan orang lain dengan kebaikan dan keadilan, terlepas dari perbedaan.
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Semangat Komunitas: Promosikan partisipasi dalam kegiatan kelompok, klub, atau pekerjaan sukarela untuk mengembangkan rasa memiliki.
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Penyelidikan Kritis: Kembangkan rasa ingin tahu dan bertanya, membantu siswa untuk tidak menerima begitu saja tetapi untuk menjelajahi makna dan kemungkinan yang lebih dalam.
Kesimpulan
Kisah turnamen di Camelot menawarkan lebih dari sekadar kisah-kisah menarik tentang ksatria dan pertempuran. Ini memberikan jendela ke dunia di mana cita-cita seperti keberanian, kehormatan, dan komunitas menjadi hidup. Bagi siswa dan pembaca muda, kisah-kisah ini menginspirasi tidak hanya imajinasi tetapi juga pelajaran hidup yang berharga. Dengan belajar dari kebajikan para ksatria dan perspektif bijaksana narator, kaum muda dapat mengembangkan kualitas yang akan membantu mereka berhasil dan berkontribusi secara positif kepada komunitas mereka.
