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| I understand my cousins in Frankia tell a tale of loss and legacy. <br>
| | redirect [[La Chanson de Garet]] |
| This is a story of betrayal and greed, a story where good men die and wicked men are punished. <br>
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| This is a story of stubbornness and folly masquerading as chivalry and nobility. <br>
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| I find it peculiar, and insulting, to know that the tale of a true event has been dressed up to serve such a purpose, <br>
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| the ennobling of a fool named Roland and a stooge named Charles.<br>
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| I find myself compelled to tell you of the true event, to tell you the Song of Garet<br>
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| ----
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| '''La Chanson de Garet'''<br>
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| <br>I.
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| <br>
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| And so after many battles, the King of An Tir extracted<br>
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| Promises of Friendship from the King of the West, <br>
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| and the mighty Lion’s Army prepared to return home.<br>
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| <br>II.
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| <br>As the hundred thousand spears of An Tir <br>
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| broke camp for their trip North, <br>
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| the King asked, “Who will command the rear-guard”, <br>
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| and Sergeant Garet, seeing a job in need of doing, said, <br>
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| “Go your way through the mountain passes, <br>
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| you must not fear any man while I live”<br>
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| <br>
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| III. <br>
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| And so Garet and his 200 men stood watch <br>
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| while the Lion’s Army marched north.<br>
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| <br>
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| IV. <br>
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| And in the valleys and the woods the West arms itself.<br>
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| They lace on their good helms, their forged steel and rich shields. <br>
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| They leave their donkeys and mount their warhorses. <br>
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| The day was fair and the sun was shining bright, <br>
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| their armour aflame while a thousand trumpets sounded. <br>
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| They made a tremendous noise, and An Tir heard them.<br>
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| <br>
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| V.<br>
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| Said Garet: “We know our duty: to stand here for our King. <br>
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| A man must bear some hardships for his lord,<br>
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| Stand everything, the great heat, the great cold, <br>
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| lose the hide and hair on him for his good lord. <br>
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| Now let each man make sure to strike hard here:<br>
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| Let them not sing a bad song about us!”<br>
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| <br>
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| VI. <br>
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| And so Garet went forth on his good swift-running war-horse<br>
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| He bears his arms – how they become this man!<br>
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| Grips his lance now, hefting it, working it,<br>
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| Now swings the iron point up toward the sky,<br>
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| Leaving his horn olifant hanging at his side,<br>
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| He thinks not to ask for aid when a simple task is before him<br>
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| Close behind him his good companions follow<br>
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| The men of An Tir hail him; their commander.<br>
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| He looks wildly towards the men of the West,<br>
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| And humbly and gently to the men of An Tir;<br>
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| And spoke a word to them, in all courtesy:<br>
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| “My lords, easy now, keep at a walk.<br>
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| These villains are searching for martyrdom.<br>
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| We’ll get good spoils before this day is over,<br>
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| No king of An Tir ever got such treasure!”<br>
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| And with these words, the hosts are at each other.<br><br>
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| VII. <br>
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| The battle is fearful and wonderful and everywhere.<br>
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| Garet never spares himself, <br>
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| strikes with his lance as long as the wood lasts;<br>
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| the fifteenth blow he struck, it broke, was lost.<br>
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| Then he draws Yale, his good sword, bare, and spurs his horse.<br>
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| He smashes through helmet, through coif, <br>
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| through the hair on heads, through eye, through face<br><br>
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| VIII. <br>
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| In the meantime the fighting grew bitter.<br>
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| The battle is fearful and full of grief.<br>
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| Garet and his men strike like good men, more than a thousand blows,<br>
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| An Tir fight side by side, all as one man.<br>
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| The West die by hundreds, by thousands;<br>
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| Whoever does not flee finds no refuge from death,<br>
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| And the men of An Tir lose from their great arms,<br>
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| They will not see their fathers, their kin again<br>
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| <br>
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| IX.<br>
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| The battle is fearful and vast<br>
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| The men of An Tir strike hard with burnished lances.<br>
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| There you would have seen the great pain of warriors,<br>
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| So many men dead and wounded and bleeding, <br>
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| one lies face up, face down, on another.<br>
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| West and An Tir, willing and unwilling, they quit the field.<br>
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| Garet’s man, “My lord, to sound the horn could not help us now, true,<br>
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| But still it is far better that you do it:<br>
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| Let the King come, he can avenge us then-<br>
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| These men of the West must not go home exulting!<br>
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| Our men will come, they’ll get down on their feet, <br>
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| And find us here – we’ll be dead, cut to pieces.<br>
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| But they will lift us up, and weep for us,<br>
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| And bury us in courts and churches.”<br>
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| <br>
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| X. <br>
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| Garet knows this is true, that his duty is to protect the King,<br>
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| Even with a warning and a confession his job is left undone.<br>
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| Garet has put Olifant to his mouth,<br>
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| He sets it well, sounds it with all his strength.<br>
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| And now the mighty effort of Garet the Sergeant<br>
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| He sounds his olifant, his pain is great,<br>
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| And from his mouth the bright blood comes leaping out,<br>
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| And the temple bursts in his forehead.<br>
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| The hills are high, and that voice ranges far,<br>
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| They heard it echo thirty leagues away.<br>
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| The King heard it, and all his faithful men.<br>
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| And the King said, “I hear Garet’s horn;<br>
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| He’d never sound it unless he had a battle”<br>
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| <br>
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| XI. <br>
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| The King commands the horns to sound,<br>
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| High are the hills, and tenebrous, and vast,<br>
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| The valleys deep, the raging water swift;<br>
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| To the rear, to the front, the trumpets sound;<br>
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| They answer the lone voice of the olifant.<br>
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| The King rides on, rides on in fury,<br>
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| The men of An Tir in grief and indignation. <br>
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| And every man of them says to the other:<br>
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| “If only we find Garet before he is killed,<br>
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| We’ll stand with him, and then we will do some fighting!”<br>
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| What does it matter what they say? They are too late.<br>
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| <br>
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| XII. <br>
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| Garet the Sergeant fights well and with great skill,<br>
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| But he is slackening, his body soaked with sweat;<br>
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| Has a great wound in his head, and much pain,<br>
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| His temple broken because he blew his horn.<br>
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| But he must know whether his King will come;<br>
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| Draws out the olifant, sounds it, so feebly.<br>
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| The King draws to a halt, listened.<br>
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| “Let every man who wants to be with Garet<br>
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| Ride fast! Sound Trumpets! Every trumpet in the host!”<br>
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| And on these words they sound, so high<br>
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| The mountains sound, and the valleys resound.<br>
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| <br>
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| XIII. <br>
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| The Westers hear; it is no joke to them<br>
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| “We were all born unlucky!<br>
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| This Garet is a wild man, he is too great a fighter –<br>
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| Let us cast at him” and so they did: arrows, wigars, darts,<br>
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| Lances and spears, javelots dressed with feathers;<br>
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| Struck Garet’s shield, pierced it, broke it to pieces,<br>
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| Ripped his hauberk, shattered its rings of mail,<br>
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| But never touched his body, never his flesh.<br>
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| But step by step the men of the West come nearer<br>
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| <br>
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| XIV. <br>
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| Sergeant Garet removes his shattered shield, his broken mail,<br>
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| He sees his Lion’s belt and knows it will be taken from him,<br>
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| “Margaret was the Baroness who gird you about me,<br>
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| And with my sword and you, my helm and book,<br>
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| I knelt for Lions Gate, that land where men are free,<br>
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| I served Seagirt, and every field of Hartwood,<br>
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| I ministered for Danescomb, and Thornwood,<br>
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| With them I provisioned Fjordland, and Lionsdale,<br>
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| All of these I did for my Barony, my Principality and my Kingdom.<br>
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| And now I am released from my oaths and my duty”<br>
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| And Sergeant Garet unwinds the belt from his body<br>
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| <br>
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| XV.<br>
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| The wind takes this belt, and carries it through the valley<br>
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| Bolstered by the voice of a thousand new trumpets.<br>
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| From the woods come banners baring fresh blazons<br>
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| The Lions and their Gate march in stretching numbers,<br>
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| Answering the call of the olifant.<br>
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| A shimmering black Whale crests over a hundred helms,<br>
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| Freshly coated in sea spray and answering the call of the olifant,<br>
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| Harts and Rams, Laurel Wreaths and a managerie of beasts,<br>
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| Leading men in the thousands, <br>
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| All waving proud, all answering the call of the olifant.<br>
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| Coming to return the service of Sergeant Garet<br>
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| <br>
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| XVI.<br>
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| The high-pitched horns sound, and they ride,<br>
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| Brave men with their great gathered host.<br>
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| They made the men of the West show them their heels,<br>
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| And they keep after them, all as one man.<br>
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| When they see the daylight faltering,<br>
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| They stop and pray to make the sun stand still for them,<br>
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| Hold back the night, let the day linger on.<br>
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| And on that day the sun stood still.<br>
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| The West flee, An Tir keep at their heels,<br>
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| Catch up with them in the Vale Tenebrous,<br>
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| Chase them on spurring hard to Cynagua,<br>
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| And always killing them, striking with fury;<br>
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| The waters of the Mists lie before them,<br>
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| Very deep, an amazing sight, and swift;<br>
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| And there is no boat, no barge, no dromond, no galley.<br>
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| <br>
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| XVII. <br>
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| When the King sees all the dead West,<br>
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| Many struck down, the great mass of them drowned, <br>
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| He gives thanks that their ambush was defeated, and their enemy gone,<br>
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| But even more, he gives thanks that Sergeant Garet stands,<br>
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| Battered, bare of helmet and shield, stripped of his belt, but alive.<br>
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| He gives thanks to the assembled hundreds <br>
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| who came to return the service Garet had rendered.<br>
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| On his Will, at their recommendation, and in light of his duty,<br>
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| The King grants Sergeant Garet an Elevation <br>
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| To make him a Master, and Companion of the Pelican<br>
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| <br>
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| <br>
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| <i>For [[Caemgen_mac_Garbith|Caemgen]] saw this,<br> and placed it upon this stone with the hand of Mathilde beside him<br>
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| AS LII</i>
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| ----
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| I would be remiss without acknowledging, and thanking, the Frederick Goldin translation of The Song of Roland (W.W. Norton & Company, 1978) for providing the foundational elements of this piece.
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| [[Category:Songs of the Storm Thrones]]
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