The Lens of Truth

As the final maiden put on the mantle, the room got silent. All the women were shocked when the outfit fit the girl. When the messenger left the castle, the court went to celebrate. When the messenger returned to the elf woman he looked very nervous. The woman greeted him and asked if King Arthur followed her demands. The messenger replied and said that the king did follow his orders but was distraught to see all of the women in his court humiliated. She then gave the messenger a small mirror and told him to take it to King Arthur. This mirror, known as the lens of truth, was an artifact that revealed the nature of someone's heart. The lens looked to be in the shape of an eye with spikes sticking out from the top. It was purple and red and covered in strange messages. The messenger went back to King Arthur and gave him the mirror. When the messenger left weird things began to happen at the castle. The events started small like the flickering of lights and odd noises in the halls. After about six months of a series of strange and unfortunate events, the king decided to investigate the artifact. His court found that the lens was cursed by the elf woman. One of the messages on the lens was Valar morghulis, which translates to "All men must die." A few days later a Plague hit the kingdom, killing at least a third of the men in the country. Arthur believed that it was the work of evil spirits that came upon the land and the lens was where they were coming from. Arthur and his court took the lens into the forest to hide it in the one place they believed no one could find it, at the bottom of a well. As time passed, the knowledge of the lens faded into legend, The area surrounding the well eventually became a village. No one knows why but the village is still haunted to this day. Hopefully, someone will find and destroy the lens of truth. 

It wasn't me

when the women put on the mantle, and it gets really short, "it wasn't me."

It was just a foot rub.

The Queen's thoughts:

Try on this mantle? Well, it is quite beautiful. Yes, I shall wear it. I go for long walks in the garden often. My legs will look fantastic in this.

Ah, yes. A very nice fabric. Wonder what its made of. Wait, what's it doing? Did it just shrink? I could have sworn it was a little longer. It still kind of fits. But, is that a draft I feel on my ankles? Dear God, I hope no one's looking. A queen's got to stay modest.

Give it back? No, of course it fits. It means what? What sorcery is this? So, I let another man play with my feet. If Arthur was more willing to give me a foot rub every now and then, I never would've gone to another man.

You know what? Fine. I didn't want the damned thing anyway.

Look at all these women. So unfaithful. They got much farther than I did. Valven's beloved took it in the butt and thinks that means she's still faithful. Ha! King Urien's daughter hiked up her skirt for anyone who looked her way. You should be a little more grateful, Arthur. At least I didn't let the guy suck on my toes. He was rather odd, that servant.

You should really count your blessings, my love.

That---that woman isn't human. Or, her beloved gives damned good foot rubs.

At the end of the tale, the following quote appears:

"Now let no one say anything but good about women, because it is more fitting to conceal than to reveal something, even though one may know the true state of affairs."

                 -Kalinke, in Wilhelm, p. 223

This quote curiously seems to encourage deceit and secrecy, despite the theme of the rest of the saga which appeared to encourage honesty and purity. The comedic aspects of the tale perhaps use these final words as a last attempt to mock Arthurian romance, making clear the ridiculous ideals of the past.

It takes two...

It takes two to tango..

In this tale there is a certain scene that describes the choice of being unfaithful only to the women. It makes it seem that if a man is unfaithful; it is at no fault of his. For surely he was tricked into by the woman by agreeing to take part in her "follies". This quote explains how a man is not reprehensible for his action. "we shall never admit that a good, valiant man is reprehensible because his beloved besmirches herself with another man; rather, she herself is as evil because of her deeds and vices as is he who consented to her follies." (pg 221). When the cloak shows how the women in the court have been unfaithful, the men are shocked. They are ashamed of their wives and disappointed in them. Yet no husband is upset that another man has slept with his wife. It is like the husbands are forgetting that it takes two people to be unfaithful, and that there is another person is at blame. Shouldn't the husbands be more upset that a fellow  knight, and friend has betrayed them by sleeping with their wife? Rather than only putting the blame and betrayal on their betrothed? The tale makes it seem that women are the only ones who are unfaithful and who are into sex.Yet it takes two to tango.. 

                                             

There's more than one

Sir Karadín's lover puts on the cloak and to his delight, he sees that she has indeed been faithful to him. Surely she must be the only maiden in the land who has been completely faithful to her knight. Wrong.
A quiet, young maid who was serving the king and his subjects their meal was persuaded to put on the cloak as a joke from the drunken knights (too many drinks for dinner). She was shy and slightly hesitant but put on the cloak at long last. To everyone's surprise, it fit perfectly. There was no such unfaithfulness found in her. Now the deal was whoever the cloak fit perfectly should have it for themselves, but here there was a problem. Both of the maidens who had the cloak fit perfectly did not care who kept it, but the men being the pigs they were wanted to see a winner. Basically they just wanted to see who could get in the goody goody's pants.
King Arthur, seeing the knights longing for a decision, decided that the two young ladies would fight for it. Normally the knights entertained others with their clashes and fights, but now the knights were in for a little dinner and a show. Sir Karadín gave his sword and gear to his maiden to protect her, the young waitress, not having her man there, was forced to fight without armor and a borrowed sword. The knights moved the tables out of the center of the room and cleared an area for the fight to go down. The two maidens took their respective sides very uneasily and waited for the word from King Arthur to begin their duel. The knights eagerly leaned in and waited, King Arthur took a quick glance around the room and then yelled, "FIGHT".

Double Standards

The Saga of the Mantle reveals the true colors of the women who put on the cloak. On the other hand, it also emasculates the men in a sense, because of their connection to their lover and how it reveals their unfaithfulness towards them. The men show their insecurity by putting down the women and blaming them for infidelity when in reality most of the men on the Court have also engaged in acts of infidelity. The Saga of the Mantle makes it seem as if there is no maiden in the Kingdom to live up to this double standard. The theme of a patriarchal double standard is astonishing. All the women are embarrassed and put on the spot, but there would be no such thing for a man.  

When Sir Karadin asks his lover not to put on the cloak because he loves her too much and he would rather not know if she has been unfaithful, it shows a brief moment of nobility. Primarily throughout the Saga the women are made fun of for how short the cloak is on them. Women are described as unfaithful and mocked throughout, “all deceive their beloveds and not a single one is trustworthy” (219). In my opinion the men are the ones we should be laughing at for being blind to what goes on behind their backs.   

supprise;;;;;;;

  "My lovely, said the Gracious king Arthur, the test will be rightly award you this mantle because none finds fault in you."
Because she was the daughter of king Urien a powerful man, and she was the most lovely maiden,  her husband had a complete trust on her.
   

   

   yes king that is right king. You just can trust a woman because she seems to be liked by everybody. everybody has a little dark box that you can't access.

Double Standard of Chastity

The story of “the Saga of the Mantle” condemn women for being unfaithful to their men, hence why many women were unworthy of the mantle. This double standard for women still exists today in a similar fashion, women are stigmatized for having multiple sexual partners, but men aren’t as much, and even praised for it. How is that any different from women? In “the Saga of the Mantle”, the knights bicker of how faithful they believe their lovers to be, however the mantle tells them otherwise. What was more intriguing was the fact that none of the noblemen or even King Arthur were angry about the unfaithfulness of their lovers. In fact, they ridiculed them and joked about it. For instance, once Kay realized how unfaithful his beloved is, he teases the other guys whose lovers are also unfaithful by gathering them together, and essentially labeling them as whores. What’s interesting is that being unfaithful was so common for all these women to the point that Queen Guinevere couldn’t deny it and ended up laughing it off. What’s more interesting is that all these women were the wives or lovers of knights, and rarely did the story go into detail about unfaithful peasant women. Today, men who cheat on their partners are now condemned but still to a lesser extent than women.

The Man With The Mantle

"That is not right, sire, nor honorable, nor in keeping with your station; by no means do I intend to take back the mantle before I see that all the women and maidens have tried it on, for whatever a king grants and promises must never be rescinded or revoked because of anyone's demanding or inciting words" (216)

This is a significant part of the story, since it drives forward the plot of every maiden trying on the mantle. This is another instance of King Arthur saying an idea, only for someone to suggest the opposite and Arthur immediately turning his opinion of the situation around. King Arthur could have relatively easily removed the man with the mantle from his presence, but he allows him to remain and continues to force every maiden he can find to where the mantle. This decision causes a cascade of embarrassment and anxiety for everyone involved. One can only imagine the amount of awkward conversation that ensued within the court after this story took place.

What if...

So... what if chastity is reversed and women end up controlling King Arthur AND the entire situation?? Say the women half way through the process are fed up and make the men try on the magical- elf cloak to see what they have been doing behind their backs!

       "The third maiden that was forced to try on the magic cloak, but threw the cloak at King Arthur. The entire dinner party was in dismay; however, King Arthur looked enraged. King Arthur shrieked and squealed, "What are you doing throwing this cloak at me? You must put it on!" The maiden exclaimed that they were not going to allow them to dishonor and shame them in that way. The maiden firmly stated, "If you want us to prove how loyal and worthy we are to you, than you must prove your individual worth to your fair maidens as well. If not, you will have proven to us that you are dishonorable and do not deserve our faith and love." The tone and the threat of the stern maiden seemed to startle the King and so he did just that.

        King Arthur and the other lads tried on the magical cloak and the cloak did just what it was supposed to. It proved that some of the lads were faithful and some had came up a little too short. (literally) This was unfortunate for most of the husbands and lovers because they thought they could get away with having all of the power and sleeping with other women behind their maiden's back. However, the women had outsmarted the men and they had taken control. Each woman made the decision on how they would punish their trueloves or if they were going to leave based on how short the cloak had shown.

ALL Women?

"'Foolish is he who trusts any women because all deceive their beloveds and not a single one is trustworthy..." (219).

"And I know that he knows I'm unfaithful"

The Magic of an Elf

I found it interesting how the mantle was described. Obviously, it is meant to symbolize physical purity, and like in many other medieval romances we've read through this semester, items and people are often described in great detail, sometimes even paragraphs long. This mantle was only described in about a paragraphs length, but that was still enough to get the point across that this was the work of some sort of magic. Firstly, the mantle was crafted by an "elf-woman". Thanks to fiction, we already have an understanding that elf's tend to be mystical, so magic itself isn't too much of a surprise for this. However, the mantle's debut itself brings up another odd point. The young man had given this mystical item as a gift for the king's acceptance to his request; despite not knowing of the maiden he spoke of. There was a clear trust in a man's words at this time; as no good man would lie, especially to a king. The most important part is to note that it is not the mantle itself that is magical, but a charm that the elf woman places into it (p.214) It is because of this charm that our story unfolds and the events that lead towards devastation in the hearts of the lovers and their beloved.

However, one question that can arise is why this was made just for the women of the tale? Just as the men were worried of their beloved, the same could be said for the other side. Had the mantle been made for the men, the story likely could've been similar. As we have read in many of our medieval tales, women aren't the only ones who aren't loyal. We can only wait to see if a sequel in the future has an elf man create one for the others to test.

Men....

"There was no one in that large gathering of chieftains and knights who were there who did not have a beloved, and everyone who saw their faces could right away discover distress and sorrow in them. It was a consolation that no one could mock another without himself being implicated."

Throughout this story, as every woman tried the mantle on, they were judged by the men of the court for their infidelity. This quote displays how all the men were visibly upset about the outcome of their beloved's faithfulness. Every man had something negative to say or tried to put down a women based on how short the mantle was on her; yet, what would happen if the mantle was made to show the unfaithfulness of men? The men tried to make it seem as if the women are committing the act of infidelity by themselves. The court could have been full of the men who slept with majority of the women; yet, they look down on them as if they committed the worst crime in history when they were most likely accomplices of that crime. The word choice in this quote displays how the men are so worried about their image that they believe they are better than the women, but if the mantle was made to fit men, it probably be as short as their neck.

Be True to Yourself!

Page 219 Chapter 9 discusses the mantel that only fit one maiden perfectly. When any other maiden put on the mantel it immediately showed all of their flaws. Their unfaithfulness, misdeeds and sins. Yet at the end of the third paragraph it states "Dispite all this, everyone still wanted to own the mantel." My question has two parts, first why did everyone still want to own it? Was it because it represented everything all the maidens wanted to be and second, is it right to want something which represents something you are not?

Trustworthiness

“‘Foolish is he who trusts any woman because all deceive their beloveds and not a single one is trustworthy.’” (p. 219)

The men are stating that the women can be trusted because each woman has slept with a man that is not her husband or lord. This does not seem logical because the only men that the women would be able to sleep with are the men doubting their trustworthiness. The men are just as not trustworthy as the women.

what a sacrament of penance

Then you must travel North and south and only food that's from the mouth of a dog may you take in and speak no word of good or ill. (Line 295)

     I am still wondering why he had to take food only from the Dog's mouth to show how sorry he was. I thought about going around all the people's family he has done wrong. What

does the doggy have to do in all his sins? just leave the dog alone he too doesn't want to mouth contact with you.