the romance of me and medieval fight scenes

when i applied to universities i checked off a different major on each application. this is pretty much how i handle things in life, leaving a lot to chance. i ended up at the school where i checked off "english literature". i was excited, i loved the smell of libraries and imagined my dorm room being filled with old creased books and getting that same odor. it didn't, but i still got my fix at the top of campus in the multi leveled library - at least five floors of that smell, i was in heaven.

i took a lot of shakespeare classes during those four years. i actually ended up getting moved to a graduate class as an undergrad, i remember thinking it was weird that one could be good at reading. at some point i read a book called "the romance of tristan and iseult". i fell in love with that book, that story. it reminded me of shakespeare's writing, but different and new. new to me, of course, old to the world. the story was tragic and beautiful and i never forgot my vow to name my future dog after the dog it in. pticru (prounounced "pee-cru"). i, of course, have yet to get a dog.

yesterday i went to see the movie version of this book, which honestly i was surprised to see had made it on to celluloid. i enjoyed the movie a lot, but it will never match how i felt when i first read the story. i think that's because pticru was missing! here is the passage from the book where the magical pup is introduced:

One day, as he sat by the young Duke's side, his spirit weighed upon him, so that not knowing it he groaned, and the Duke, to soothe him, ordered into his private room a fairy thing, which pleased his eyes when he was sad and relieved his own heart; it was a dog named Pticru, and the varlets brought it in to him, and they put it upon a table there. Now this dog was a fairy dog, and came from Avalon; for a fairy had given it to him as a love-gift, and no one can well describe its kind or beauty. And it bore at its neck, hung to a little chain of gold, a little bell; and that tinkled so gaily, and so clear and so soft, that as Tristan heard it, he was soothed, and his anguish melted away, and he forgot all that he had suffered for Queen Iseult; for such was the virtue of the bell and such its property: that whosoever heard it, he lost all pain. And as Tristan stroked the little fairy thing, the dog that took away his sorrow, he saw how delicate it was and fine, and how it had soft hair like samite, and he thought how good a gift it would make for the Queen.

as karen is pointing out to me on IM right now - the book didn't have a hot james franco in it. so i guess it all works out. the movie also had some amazing fight scenes, which i'm usually not that into. but they're so sneaky those medieval fights! who knew there could be so much action in a scene where you only have two fast runners and a rope with a spiked ball on the end of it. who knew?!

Comments

[lawrence]

I think they eliminated any fairy stuff 'cause it makes it more realistic. The ball with the spikes is called a mace.

[jen]

i thought "a rope with a spiked ball on the end of it" sounded funnier! smart ass.

[T4]

I went to that school and Jenny was totally the make out queen of that library!!

[Christie]

I read "the romance of tristan and iseult" in a sci fi/ fantasy course I took in University. I loved that book. I think you might be the first person outside of that class to ever mention it. I can't wait to see the film.