GERARD
CARPENTARIUS
Wording for Thank-You Scroll from the
Ealdormerean rapier community
Commissioned by KRM THL Albrecht Stampfer June
14, 2009
Story:
The golden bird roosts in a magical tree on
the border between night and day, the boundary between the real world and the
unseen world. The river is jealous of the bird, whose beauty it mirrors but can
never possess.
Gerard pined to own the bird and tracked it
until he found the tree and the nest. He caught the golden bird with a silver
net of fish-scale, and would have bore it away but the bird said, “If you let
me go I will grant you great wisdom”.
Gerard agreed, but as he let go of the bird
it vanished. In his surprise he fell out of the tree, catching a branch to help
break his fall, which broke.
When he rose to his feet, the branch became
a silver sword which he found he could wield with great skill, and he had
gained the power over all wood.
But his heart still yearned for the golden
bird. So he made his home in the grove surrounding the magical tree. From time
to time he roams Eastward, sharing his sword knowledge with other warriors and
delighting the small clan with his wooden toys and gentle games, waiting for
the bird to return to his hand and be tame.
Golden the bird. Its roost of flames,
Door of undoing for evil men,
Guarding the boundary of day.
Jealous water below.
Fleeing the hunter, its shining feathers
fall
And sink into the ground.
All nets are ash, all spears a brand,
But not the weave of the water-children.
Chained in silver, sky-jewel’s ransom
An empty hand. A fall.
So great the hunter’s laments,
Water-diamonds silver the broken branch.
And Loki’s gentle twin is born.
Hold fast to Odin’s prize.
While light’s thirst still compels
Gerard will never forsake
The fire-martin’s home.
The rapier community of Ealdormere
Thanks Gerard Carpentarius for his
generosity,
His wisdom and his teaching.
May your games and sword-skill never abate.
By THL Asa Gormsdottir
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