Intro to Jewish Folktales

Hey guys! For those of you who celebrate, I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving, and that you survived the frenzy of Black Friday. Happy Cyber Monday, by the way! The Kindle version of Hammerfall is on sale for today only; you can check it out here.

Today we're taking a look at the rich and complex stories told by the Jewish people. Their faith, known as Judaism, is often simplified when talked about as being “just the Old Testament”. In reality, Judaism is far more than their 24 books that make up what Christians term the Old Testament (which is actually 39 books for Protestants, because they split several of the books from the Hebrew Bible into smaller books). Let's take a look at some of the different writings found in Judaisim.

The 24 books I mentioned above form what is called the Tanakh.

 

(If you guys have never seen written Aramaic...well, it is gorgeous, as you can see above.)

The first five books of this series of writings are termed the Torah, or the Pentateuch. In addition to these core tenants of their faith, Jews have an enormous amount of literature that they consider central to their religion. These writings most notably include laws, but also can be songs, proverbs, and stories. As with many old religions, all of the books of Judaism began as oral traditions. They were not recorded for many centuries.

Now, I do not feel I have studied enough of religion to tell you about the Jewish faith. The series of posts I have planned aren't going to talk about the Jewish God, called Yahweh, or their prophecies, or anything central to Judaism. I focus on mythology, so talking about religions that are still widely practiced today is a little difficult for me. Instead, I plan on talking about the stories found in Jewish literature. Because of this I have dubbed this series of posts “Jewish Folktales”, because they are about the tales those folks tell (see what I did there?).

Next week I'll be talking about the story of Esther, one of the strong women found in the Tanakh. Her actions and bravery led to the celebration of what is called Purim – a festival that is still celebrated in modern times. Since Monday the 14^th is the last day of Hanukkah this year, I plan to talk about the origins of that holiday on that day. After that I have a special post planned, and then we'll hop back into Jewish folktale with the beautiful story of Reuben and Penina to round out the year.

 

I'm really excited for this, guys! I think the stories are absolutely lovely, and there's such a wide variety for me to choose from. I hope you're looking forward to this as well. I'll see you guys next week!

Morgan, Morgause, Mordred, and the Fall of King Arthur

Hello!  I hope you had a lovely week!  Today's post takes us back to wrap up Arthurian legend.  Beginning next week I'm going to be taking a look at Jewish folklore.  Before I begin this post, there's a couple of things I'd like to talk about.

First off, I totally forgot about this blog's anniversary, so we missed it!  My first post, an Intro to Norse Mythology, was published on October 28th, 2014.  That's right - mythdancer has been around for over a year now!  During that time you guys have been amazingly friendly and supportive, and I've loved seeing your enthusiasm for mythology, fairy tales, and folklore.  So, whether you've been reading since the start (thanks Mom!) or have only recently found this blog, thank you for your support.  You're the reason I keep writing these posts.

Next, we are very nearly to 4000 pageviews!  I can't believe it!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Last thing before I get into the post: This coming Saturday I will be at the Bookmans on Speedway and Wilmot for their last Local Author's Fair of the year.  I'll have copies of both Hammerfall and Lovesick, along with a massive number of lightsaber earrings (Come to the dark side!  We have fashionable jewelry!).  If you're in the neighborhood, you should swing by and see me!  You never know who might be there...

Now, on with the post!

Arthurian legend is full of honor, chivalry, and strict ties between knights and their lords.  Unfortunately, it is also fraught with convoluted familial relationships and romances that at times tear the court apart.  One such situation leads to the fall of King Arthur's court, and his disappearance from this world.

I mentioned in my post about Uther that Igraine, the mother of Arthur, had several daughters with her first husband (before Uther killed him).  These girls were married off by Uther to various vassals and lords that he wanted brought under his control.  One of the daughters, Elaine, doesn't really figure into Arthurian legend after this.  Unfortunately, she is the only girl who disappears from the stories.  Her sisters Morgan le Fay and Morgause appear quite prominently.

Now, when I see the name Morgan le Fay I tend to go "Boo!  Hiss!  Evil!"  This reaction is because Morgan is portrayed as a villain in so many parts of popular culture nowadays.  She has been the evil responsible for Arthur's downfall in books, television shows, movies, and videogames.

This is very interesting, because in the original legends Morgan le Fay actually wasn't that bad of a person.  She was depicted in the beginning as a healer who often aided King Arthur and his court. Later the myths changed to make her an opponent of Queen Guinevere (largely because Morgan loved Lancelot, Guinevere's lover), and by extension King Arthur - but she eventually exiles herself to the land called Avalon to study magic and ceases to plague the court.  She even shows up in the end to escort a mortally wounded Arthur to his rest in Avalon.

So how did the Morgan le Fay from the legends become the one now featured so evilly in pop culture?  The answer lies in her other sister, Morgause.  The two women are often combined into one, with Morgan's name and magical prowess merged with the story of Morgause.  It is to Morgause that we now turn.

Morgause, like her two sisters, was married off to a vassal of King Uther.  When the king died she was unaware that he had sired her half-brother, Arthur.  Arthur, being raised away from the court and his heritage, was unaware that he had any half-sisters.  Upon his coronation a dramatic turn of events saw he and Morgause share an incestuous night together - a night that resulted in the birth of a son, Mordred.

In truth, that is about the extent of Morgause's importance to the story.  She bears several sons to her husband, and they and Mordred (raised without knowing his heritage) go on to become knights in King Arthur's court.  Morgause pretty much disappears from Arthurian Legend at this point.

It is to Mordred that we now must turn.  He became a seemingly noble knight for King Arthur, but in reality he often sought to undermine the king's power.  Mordred is often depicted as trying to alert Arthur to the adultery of Guinevere and Lancelot, hoping to plunge the knights into a civil war.  This usually fails, luckily for the court!

Unfortunately, Mordred gets his chance to overturn the order of things when Arthur leaves him in charge while the King wages war far away (sometimes this war is upon Lancelot and his army, since Arthur finally discovered the betrayal of his knight).  Left with no one to stop him, Mordred crowns himself king and seizes Arthur's throne for himself.  He also tries to marry Guinevere - depending on which story you read, she sometimes willingly marries him and sometimes flees to a convent rather than wed him.  In any case, Mordred takes the power of Camelot and has no intention of giving it back.

This is problematic, because when Arthur hears of his young knight's betrayal he marches his army straight back to Camelot to reclaim his throne.  The battle that ensues is known as the Battle of Camlann.  Many died during this battle, which culminated in a confrontation between Mordred and Arthur.  Arthur managed in the end to kill Mordred, but he was struck a mortal blow in the process.

Lying on the battlefield dying, Arthur sends one of his knights to return Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake.  The knight tries several times to keep the blade for himself, but Arthur sees through his lies each time.  He eventually gives in to his King's orders and throws the sword into the Lake, where it is reclaimed by the hand of the Lady rising from the deeps.

What happens next is one of the more interesting parts of Arthurian legend (at least to me).  Arthur is taken by a group of women - their identities vary, but they generally include at least one Lady of the Lake and Arthur's half-sister Morgan le Fay.

These women carry the dying king to a boat and escort him to the isle of Avalon, a mystical land of healing.  According to legend, the great king does not actually die.  Instead, he lies on Avalon, regaining his strength until the day of his return.

(Which sounds an awful lot like the story of Fionn, doesn't it?)

With that, I'll end my posts about Arthurian legend for now.  What did you guys think?

As I said at the beginning of the post, next week I'll be starting to take a look at Jewish folklore.  Until then, you guys have a great week!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Quetzalcoatl: The Birth and Death of the Aztecs

While the cultures of Latin America had many different gods, one of the most prevalent deities was named Quetzalcoatl.  Quetzalcoatl was worshiped as a god by many cultures in Mesoamerica, including the Aztec civilization. As one of their chief deities, he was sometimes revered as the creator of mankind. Unfortunately, historically Quetzalcoatl would play a role in the downfall of the Aztecs, coming to represent both their birth...and their death.

But just who is Quetzalcoatl?

“His name comes from quetzal, a rare bird with strikingly long green tail feathers, and coatl, which means snake. Under different names he was honoured throughout Mexico and Central America and the highest pyramid temple in Mexico, at his sacred city of Cholula, was dedicated to him.” (Gifford 21)

Quetzalcoatl was worshipped as a god of many things, including war, intelligence, and the creation of man.

One of the first places the name Quetzalcoatl appears in Mesoamerican mythology is in the stories and architecture of the Toltecs.  The word "Toltec" means artisan, and this people is often accredited with creating the great city of Teotihuacan - literally, "The City of the Gods".  Teotihuacan is home to one of the most famous temples of Quetzalcoatl: the Temple of the Feathered Serpent.

 (UNESCO video)

 

A famous leader amongst the Toltecs was a man named Quetzalcoatl.  He was a ruler who they believed had been sent by the gods to lead them.  Around 1000AD they were driven out of their city by a neighboring army led by a man called Tezcatlipoca. (Bingham 127)  Interestingly, both Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca came to be regarded as gods.  Besides simply being deified in legends, they were also regarded as brothers by those who told their story. (Flood)

 

When the Aztecs came to inhabit the land the Toltecs had previously ruled, they adapted many of the stories and myths of that earlier people. 

"According to Aztec tradition and legend, Quetzalcoatl/Tialtzin was challenged by a warlike faction who had as their tribal god the fierce Tezcatlipoca (the Smoking Mirror). The fight between the two groups, which is told as a struggle between the gods themselves, brought an end to the power of Tollan and the Toltecs.” (Gifford 13)

The Aztecs built their grand city of Tenochtitlan near the city of Teotihuacan.  As such, they would have been able to see the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, and perhaps were inspired by its grandness to place Quetzalcoatl so high in their own pantheon.

 

(Kass)

 

In the myths of the Aztecs, Quetzalcoatl became the creator of mankind.  The Aztecs divided time into a period of five suns.  During the second sun, Quetzalcoatl ruled as a sun deity who made mankind as they are seen today.  Unfortunately, man became wicked and corrupt, and so another god turned them into monkeys.  Quetzalcoatl was infuriated by his failure, and so he used a tidal wave to wipe away the monkeys.  He then stepped aside to give another god his turn at ruling the earth - but eventually Quetzalcoatl would descend into the underworld, where he used his own blood to bring life to the bones of the humans he had once made.  His sacrifice of blood raised the dead, creating the men who live in this, the fifth sun period. ("Aztec Creation Story")

 

Tragically, this being whom the Aztecs believed had brought them life would also be in part responsible for their downfall.  Another myth about Quetzalcoatl told of the god being tricked into getting drunk.  While intoxicated, Quetzalcoatl slept with his sister.  Upon waking and discovering his incestuous actions, Quetzalcoatl was ashamed.  He made a boat and sailed away into the east in self-imposed exile, but the god vowed to one day return. (Bingham 110)

 

The year of the god's return was given, and the retelling of the story lent it a prophetic air.  The Aztecs believed that the god Quetzalcoatl would return in the year they called 1 Reed.  Alas, 1 Reed was the year known as 1519: the year in which the Spaniard called Hernan Cortes invaded Mesoamerica.  The emperor of the Aztec empire during that year was called Moctezuma, and he foresaw disaster in his dreams.

 

(Bell)

 

Whether or not Moctezuma truly believed that Cortes was Quetzalcoatl returned remains unclear...but the rumors caused him to hesitate, which proved a costly mistake.

“The Aztecs believed that Quetzalcoatl would one day return from over the sea. This would happen in a year when his birthday fell on a particular day...when the Aztec ruler, Montezuma, was told of the strange men who were landing on the neighboring coast, he concluded that Quetzalcoatl had arrived to claim his land...It was only when the Spaniards revealed their warlike intentions that the Aztecs realized their tragic mistake.” (Gifford 25)

Moctezuma's uncertainty prevented him from taking immediate action against the army of the Spaniards, a mistake when "only swift and unified action could have saved the day for the Indians.” (Adams 189)  He invited Cortes into the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, upon which the Spaniard revealed himself to be a greedy man rather than a returned god.  Moctezuma was taken captive and ultimately killed.  Many Aztecs died during the ensuing battle, and many more were killed by disease inadvertently carried by the Spaniards.  Cortes' forces were ultimately driven out of the city, but they returned with a larger troop and slaughtered the remaining Aztecs. (Bell)

And so it was that Quetzalcoatl, whom the Aztecs regarded as their creator, also proved to be their downfall.  Their belief in the prophecy of the god's return led to their acceptance of Cortes and his men...men who then turned upon their hosts and killed them, taking their wealth and property for their own.

Quetzalcoatl had not returned - but his story lives on in the records of his people.  Some individual Aztecs survived, and they passed the tales of their ancestors on to their descendants.  Because of this, the name Quetzalcoatl and the myths that surround him still live on today.

 

(Codex)

 

Works Cited

 

Adams, Richard E. and MacLeod, Murdo J. The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas: Volume II: Mesoamerica Part 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Print.

“Aztec Creation Story”. Aztec-History. 2006. Web. 11 November, 2015. http://www.aztec-history.com/aztec-creation-story.html
 

Bell, Amy. “500 Nations II, Mexico, the Rise and Fall of the Aztecs 1 YouTube”. Online video clip. YouTube. 5 September 2012. Web. 11 November, 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkI2J0FcoOc>

Bell, Amy. “500 Nations II, Mexico, the Rise and Fall of the Aztecs 3 YouTube”. Online video clip. YouTube. 5 September 2012. Web. 11 November, 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdOUA8OmBZs>

Bingham, Ann. South and Meso-American Mythology A-Z. New York: Facts on File, 2004. Print.

“Codex Telleriano-Remensis page_18r”. Photograph. FAMSI. Web. 11 November, 2015. http://www.famsi.org/research/loubat/Telleriano-Remensis/page_18r.jpg
 

Flood, Julia. “God of the Month: Quetzalcoatl”. Mexicolore. 13 August, 2013. Web. 11 November, 2015. http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/gods/god-of-the-month-Quetzalcoatl
 

Gifford, Douglas. Warriors, Gods & Spirits from Central & South American Mythology. New York: Shocken Books and Vancouver/Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 1983. Print.

Kass, Barry D. “Closeup of the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl, Temple of Quetzalcoatl, Teotihuacan”. Photograph. Images of Anthropology. Web. 11 November, 2015. http://www.imagesofanthropology.com/images/c.Pyramid_of_Quetzalcoatl_Teotihuacan_Mexico_image_2.jpg
 

UNESCO. “Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan (UNESCO/NHK)”. Online video clip. YouTube. 3 June, 2010. Web. 11 November, 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMsIyFGnLQA>





Mythology in Pop Culture

Hey guys! So tomorrow I'm going to be doing a panel on mythology at my local community college. I needed to type up all of my notes for it, and it struck me as I was doing so that my presentation would make a pretty good blog post. Because of that, you get to read what I'm talking about tomorrow – which is the way that mythology influences pop culture.

Let's start by taking a look at comics, shall we?

Obviously, there's Thor. I wish I could quote Stan Lee and say “ 'nuff said”, but there's actually more to talk about. In both the comics and the myths, Thor is the Norse god of war and storms; Loki is a trickster trying to bring about the downfall of the gods; the Bifrost is a rainbow bridge; and Odin is the king of the gods. Odin is also the god of wisdom. In the myths he has two ravens who fly around the world and tell him everything that they see. One of my favorite parts about Marvel's movie is that in the first Avengers, two ravens fly by when Thor and Loki are arguing – a very nice reference to the original myths!

Although the comics and movie adaptations are awesome, there are quite a few differences between them and the original myths. For one thing, the mythological Thor isn't all that bright. He mostly just wants to hit things with his hammer.

 

Then you have Sif, who is a goddess of fertility and the harvest – she's definitely not a warrior. Perhaps the biggest difference is that Thor and Loki aren't actually brothers! In the myths, Loki is the sworn blood brother of Odin.

Thor may be the most obvious representation of mythology in modern comics, but he's not the only one. Let's move away from him and take a look at the DC comics.

First, you have Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman is an Amazonian princess. Some of her origin stories say that Wonder Woman is the daughter of Zeus, king of the Greek gods and lord of the skies. That's right – Wonder Woman is a demigod.

 

Then you have Superman. His story has close ties to the Christian and Jewish faiths – and those ties were written deliberately. There's a story in the book of Exodus about a baby named Moses. During the time period in which Moses was born, the Pharaoh of Egypt had enslaved the Jewish population. Their numbers kept growing, and the Pharaoh feared revolt, so he ordered all baby boys to be killed. To save Moses, his mother put him in a basket and sent him floating down the river. He was adopted by the Pharaoh's daughter and raised by a family not his own. Eventually, Moses grows up to save his people.

Now let's look at Superman's origin story. He was born on a world that's about to be destroyed. His parents put him in a little space-cradle and sent him away to save his life. The cradle carries him to Earth, where he is raised by an adoptive family. Superman goes on to save the world – many, many times.

(This photo was just too hilarious to not share!)

There's definitely some similarities between the two stories – and, like I said, they were put there deliberately. The writer and artist of the original Superman stories were both Jewish. The character of Superman first appeared around the time of World War II, when Jews were facing horrific persecution. Superman's creators wanted to create a figure of hope for their people, so they wove the story of Moses into the character of Superman. Pretty cool, right?

Let's turn away from comics and take a look at another aspect of popular culture. I'm a huge fan of video games – how about you? Do any of you guys play World of Warcraft?

Mythology has influenced a lot of video games, but WoW is a treasure trove of mythology. I can think of about half a dozen different mythologies that show up in World of Warcraft, and that's just off the top of my head – I'm sure there are a lot more. One of those mythologies appears as soon as you go to make a character – the druid.

 

Druids have their origins as sort of priests in Celtic mythology. In the myths they have close ties to nature, and are often depicted as shapeshifters. In various stories druids turn into wolves, bears, boars, swans, and a myriad of other things.

In World of Warcraft the druid class' powers are tied to nature – sun, moon, and plants. Like their mythological counterparts, druids are shapeshifters. These are a few of their various forms.

 

 

Another mythological influence in WoW can be seen heavily in the race of the Trolls. The religion and culture of the Trolls are based on myths from Latin America. An area in WoW called Zul'Drak provides the best example of this. Take a look at the architecture: This is a temple in Zul'Drak.

 

This is the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, found in the Aztec city of Teotihuacan.

 

 

One of the most prevalent figures in Latin American mythology is the god Quetzalcoatl. He appears in the pantheons of several different Latin American cultures, including the Aztec. Quetzalcoatl translates to “the plumed serpent”, meaning a snake covered in feathers.

 

 

Creatures that match this description appear in many places in WoW.

 

 

Let's travel from Zul'Drak and Latin America to the Storm Peaks and the Norse.

 

 

This zone is perhaps the most obvious portrayal of mythology in World of Warcraft – they barely even changed the names! First you have the val'kyr, servants of the Lich King who raise the dead to join his evil army. In Norse mythology the valkyrie are choosers of the slain. They raise worthy dead warriors to a hall called Valhalla, where they have a huge drinking party until the end of days.

Perhaps the most amusing nod to mythology in this zone are the characters of Loken and Thorim. Loken is a nefarious trickster trying to bring down Thorim. Thorim has a hammer named Krolmir.

 

(Thorim with Krolmir)

 (Thor with Mjolnir)

Hmm.

I'd like to look at another genre influenced by mythology: Fairy tales.

How many of you have seen or read Sleeping Beauty? You know the story: a girl is cursed and falls into a 100-year sleep; a wall of roses grows up around her; a dashing prince finds her and wakes her up with a kiss.

Now let me tell you the story that I think inspired Sleeping Beauty – an old Norse saga called the Story of Sigurd.

I mentioned valkyries when I was talking about WoW. In addition to being choosers of the slain, valkyries were also able to influence the outcomes of mortal battles. When the Story of Sigurd begins, a young valkyrie named Brynnhilda has been ordered by Odin, king of the gods, to let one specific side win a battle. Instead, she allows the other side to win.

Not a good mistake to make when your boss is king of the gods.

To punish Brynnhilda, Odin locks her away in a castle and curses her to sleep until a man comes along and wakes her up. She will then marry this man. Odin does take some pity on Brynnhilda – he raises a wall of fire around the castle, so that only a truly brave man will be able to reach her.

That's right. Odin is Maleficent.

 

 

(They even have matching birds!) 

Brynnhilda is eventually woken up by a man named Sigurd, and the two fall in love. Unfortunately, unlike in Sleeping Beauty, the duo do not live happily ever after. Sigurd is given a potion that makes him forget about Brynnhilda. He marries someone else, and his brother-in-law finds and marries Brynnhilda. The jealous valkyrie talks her husband's brothers into killing Sigurd. She then kills herself by jumping onto Sigurd's funeral pyre.

Yeah, Norse stories aren't really known for their happy endings. If it makes you feel any better, a horse was found missing from the stables and a stablehand said he saw Sigurd and Brynnhilda riding off into the sunset together.

But I digress. The Story of Sigurd differs vastly from Sleeping Beauty in its ending, but the core concepts are pretty darn similar.

 

 

Let's look now at one of my favorite parts of modern pop culture: Star Wars.

Is anyone else totally psyched for the new movie? Because I sure am!

Anyway, Star Wars has some of its roots in Arthurian legend. You have a bunch of knights running around trying to save the galaxy from evil. They help the innocent, protect the weak, and are generally seen as virtuous – at least, until they turn evil themselves. That's pretty similar to King Arthur and his knights, right?

Well, Star Wars also has heavy ties to Buddhism. Let's take a look at the Jedi Code, which states:

There is no emotion, there is peace.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.

There is no death, there is the Force.

In Buddhism there is a concept called The Four Noble Truths. These truths state that:

1. There is suffering.
2. Suffering is caused by desire and ignorance.
3. Suffering can be ended by putting aside one's desires.
4. The fourth noble truth details an Eightfold Path to enlightenment, which leads to the end of suffering and desire. This path includes moral conduct, meditation, and wisdom.

I see a lot of Buddhism in the Jedi Code. If you give up emotion, you will not suffer, so you will be at peace. Ignorance can cause suffering, so it follows that knowledge can prevent suffering. Without passion, one will not desire, so one will not suffer from their desires.

So...I guess the Jedi are a sort of Knight/Buddhist monk hybrid?

 

I hope you guys found this interesting! I really love seeing how mythology influences pop culture, and the way that pop culture adapts mythology to suit its own needs. What have you watched (or read, or played, or heard) that you can see mythological ties in?

The Ladies of the Lake

Hey there! How are you? I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

I mentioned in an earlier post that there was more than one Lady of the Lake in Arthurian legend. In this post I'm going to take a closer look at them.

The Lady of the Lake is a figure who shows up quite often in Arthurian Legend. The Lady is almost always a helpful figure to King Arthur. It was a Lady of the Lake who gave Arthur the magic sword Excalibur, which helped grant him the right to rule. (Of course, to quote Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail: "strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government".) Upon King Arthur's death, Excalibur is returned to a Lady of the Lake by one of his knights. A Lady of the Lake is also responsible for helping Lancelot rise to such prominence in King Arthur's court – although, given his eventual betrayal of King Arthur, that might not be such a good thing. King Arthur's body is escorted to the mystical land of Avalon by several women, one of whom is a Lady of the Lake.

Interestingly, women with the title of the Lady of the Lake are also sometimes quite nefarious and evil. I mentioned in my post about Merlin that a Lady of the Lake named Nimue used Merlin to learn magic and then trapped him in a tree, leaving him to die. Not something you'd think an ally of Arthur would do, right? Before that happens, another figure called the Lady of the Lake shows up at King Arthur's court and is beheaded by a knight named Balin. According to Balin (whose tale is backed up by Merlin), the Lady of the Lake had killed his mother. According the the Lady of the Lake (before she was killed), Balin had killed her brother. The best part? The Lady who gets decapitated is the same Lady who gave Arthur Excalibur! So who, exactly, is the sword returned to after Arthur's death?

As you can see, the Lady of the Lake is a figure who seems to have multiple aspects. Shortly after one dies, another woman with the same title appears. To me, the simplest explanation of the many Ladies is that there's more than one lake in Britain; ergo, there might be many Ladies of the Lake. These ladies go by quite a few names as authors attempt to differentiate them from one another. The names I've heard most often are Nimue, Nineve, Vivianne, and Elaine.

One of my favorite stories about a Lady of the Lake is about a knight named Pelleas. Pelleas had fallen in love with a woman of noble blood named Ettard, but she spurned him and wanted nothing to do with him. The knight was so in love that he allowed himself to be taken captive by Ettard's guards every day. They took him back to her castle and beat him, but Pelleas thought the pain was worth it because each day he got to see Ettard for a few minutes.

It happened that a knight named Gawain, one of King Arthur's knights, came upon Pelleas as Ettard's guards were capturing him. Gawain fought them off and asked Pelleas why he was allowing himself to be so beaten. Upon hearing Pelleas' story, Gawain was moved and promised to go and woo Ettard for the other knight. Gawain swore that he would win Ettard's favor and her hand in marriage, and then give her to Pelleas to marry.

Well, the first part of Gawain's plan worked out alright. He won Ettard's favor. Unfortunately for Pelleas, Gawain fell in love with Ettard and completely forgot about his oath. He wooed the woman for himself, not for Pelleas.

After a few days had passed without word from Gawain, Pelleas went to find out what was going on. 

He walked in to find Gawain and Ettard asleep in one another's arms. Filled with rage at the betrayal, Pelleas drew his sword and prepared to kill the duo – but he couldn't bring himself to do it. His love for Ettard was too great. Instead, the knight left his sword beside them and went home. He dismissed his servants and resolved that he would starve himself to death.

When Ettard and Gawain woke up, she immediately recognized Pelleas' sword. Both were ashamed by their betrayal of the knight.

As it happened, one of Pelleas' servants happened across Nineve, a Lady of the Lake. She asked where he was going, and the servant explained everything that had happened to his master. Nineve was enraged and demanded that the servant take her to Pelleas. Upon seeing his sorrow, she cast him into an enchanted sleep. Nineve then went and fetched Ettard, and shamed her for having broken Pelleas' heart.

(This version calls her Nimue, for some reason.)

But Nineve was not done. She cast a spell on Ettard that made her love Pelleas as much as he had loved her. Ettard flung herself to her knees beside Pelleas, crying for the pain she had inflicted upon her beloved. This woke up Pelleas, who opened his eyes and found that he quite hated Ettard for her treatment of him.

The story ends with Ettard dying of a broken heart. Pelleas leaves the country along with Nineve. He falls in love with the Lady of the Lake, and the two marry. They have a son together, and live happily ever after.

I'm not sure why I like the story so much. I think it might be because Nineve was so furious at the way Ettard had been messing with Pelleas' heart. It just makes me happy!

What did you guys think?

I'm sorry to post and run, but NaNoWriMo has begun and between that and school I am crazy busy.  (Don't know what NaNoWriMo is?  It's short for National Novel Writing Month.  During the month of November writers are challenged to write 50,000 words.  I've done it for four years now - both of my books were written during NaNoWriMo.)  I've got posts planned for the rest of the month, but I'm not sure how many more will be about Arthurian legend.  I'll keep you posted as I learn more!

I'll see you next week!