The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett [308]
It was a hot day in late August. Aliena was wearing sandals and a light linen dress. The forest was still and silent but for the tinkling of the waterfall and the rise and fall of Jack’s voice. The story began in a conventional way, with a description of a brave knight, big and strong, mighty in battle, and armed with a magic sword, who was assigned a difficult task: to travel to a far eastern land and bring back a grapevine that grew rubies. But it rapidly deviated from the usual pattern. The knight was killed and the story focused on his squire, a brave but penniless young man of seventeen who was hopelessly in love with the king’s daughter, a beautiful princess. The squire vowed to fulfil the task given to his master, even though he was young and inexperienced and had only a piebald pony and a bow.
Instead of vanquishing an enemy with one tremendous blow of a magic sword, as the hero generally did in these stories, the squire fought desperate losing battles and won only by luck or ingenuity, generally escaping death by a hair. He was often scared by the enemies that he faced—unlike Charlemagne’s fearless knights—but he never turned back from his mission. All the same, his task, like his love, seemed hopeless.
Aliena found herself more captivated by the pluck of the squire than she had been by the might of his master. She chewed her knuckles in anxiety when he rode into enemy territory, gasped when a giant’s sword barely missed him, and sighed when he lay down his lonely head to sleep and dream of the faraway princess. His love for her seemed of a piece with his general indomitability.
In the end, he brought home the grapevine that grew rubies, astonishing the entire court. “But the squire did not care that much,” Jack said with a contemptuous snap of his fingers, “for all those barons and earls. He was interested in one person only. That night, he stole into her room, evading the guards with a cunning ruse he had learned on his journey east. At last he stood beside her bed and gazed upon her face.” Jack looked into Aliena’s eyes as he said this. “She woke at once, but she was not afraid. The squire reached out and gently took her hand.” Jack mimed the story, reaching for Aliena’s hand and holding it in both of his. She was mesmerized by the intensity of his gaze and the power of the young squire’s love, and she hardly noticed that Jack was holding her hand. “He said to her, ‘I love you dearly,’ and kissed her on the lips.” Jack leaned over and kissed Aliena. His lips touched hers so gently that she hardly felt it. It happened very quickly, and he resumed the story instantly. “The princess fell asleep,” he continued. Aliena thought: Did that really happen? Did Jack kiss me? She could hardly believe it, but she could still feel the touch of his mouth on hers. “The next day, the squire asked the king if he could marry the princess, as his reward for bringing home the jeweled vine.” Jack kissed me without thinking, Aliena decided. It was just part of the story. He doesn’t even realize what he did. I’ll just forget about it. “The king refused him. The squire was heartbroken. All the courtiers laughed. That very day the squire left that land, riding on his piebald pony; but he vowed that one day he would return, and on that day he would marry the beautiful princess.” Jack stopped, and let go of Aliena’s hand.
“And then what happened?” she said.
“I don’t know,” Jack replied. “I haven’t thought of it yet.”
All the important people in Kingsbridge joined the parish guild. It was a new idea to most of them, but they liked the thought that Kingsbridge was now a town, not a village, and their vanity was touched by the appeal to them, as leading citizens, to provide a stone church.
Aliena and Alfred recruited the members and organized the first guild dinner, in mid-September. The major absentees were Prior Philip, who was somewhat hostile to the enterprise, although not enough to prohibit it; Tom Builder, who declined because of Philip’s feeling; and Malachi, who was excluded by his religion.