Who, when, where?

Lancelot, King’s Son, Galahad, Red Knight, Black Knight, Le Chevalier Malfait, Jenner Sapper – whoever he was supposed to be at this particular present moment – was pacing in the writing room of Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies. There was not much room to pace – five steps – turn- five steps- turn. The fifth step in one direction inevitably brought him to the window. And every time he reached it he felt a strong urge to climb over the bookshelf and exit the cabin through that window. Of course it would be much simpler to leave through the door. But at some point in his character arc he would be required to jump out of a window into a rose garden and run away into the forest. Was this the moment he was meant to do it?

He was feeling unsettled and disoriented because he was not at all sure where he was currently positioned in the overall plotline and on his personal character arc. Every time the Artisans in Residence in Cloudbank Cabin retold the tales of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, all the characters were required to reenact the scenes as they were written or painted. It was confusing enough that there was little consistency in the order and style the various artisans used. Lancelot had his Hero’s To Do List and usually relied on his cousin Sir Bors to know where each action would fit in the version currently being created.

But Elaine (formerly Elaine of Astolat) in her new identity as The Lady Charlotte-Elaine, the entrepreneur owner of Charlotte’s Web Weaving had thrown his timeline into disarray. He had died in the poplar grove without receiving her nursing care and without having completed all the tasks on his To Do list. And now he had returned as part of Elaine’s new story at the time she had first seen him from her tower. He was a young man again. But he had no way of knowing what he had been about to do when Elaine saw him riding by singing ‘tirra-lirra’ !

Another cause of his nervousness was that Little Plump Jo, the current Artisan in Residence, was playing Johari’s widows with her characters, hoping to discover the secrets they most wanted to keep hidden.

Now it was Elaine’s turn to play. She was sitting very demurely on the couch next to Jo, prattling on about her business plans and divulging as many of Lancelot’s secrets as she divulged of her own. She was confiding how in the previous tellings of her story she had nursed Lancelot for months and the things he said when he was feverish were shockingly scandalous, maybe even amounting to treason!

The Johari’s windows game sought to discover information about the person.

1. Something everybody knows about them. The Open Arena

2. Something which the person does not know about themself but others do know. The Blind Spot

3. Something they know about themselves but do not want to reveal. The Facade

4. Something unknown by others or themself which can be discovered. The Unknown Arena

“So Elaine, Question 1 What do you know, or think you know, or hope that everyone knows about you?” asked Little Plump Jo.

“Well,” replied Elaine, curling a lock of her hair around her finger, “everyone knows that my business, Charlotte’s Web Weaving is widely recognised and has been commissioned to create tapestries for the court and several grand manors.”

“For Question 2 we need input from a few others,” said Jo. “So we will skip to Question 3 for now. What do you know about yourself that you do not want to reveal?”

“I’m not daft or simple! I am not going to tell you that!”

Little Plump Jo could see that the Johari’s Windows game was not going to be of much help to her for compiling a character profile card for Elaine!

Lancelot was still pacing five steps- turn, five steps – turn – five steps - back to the window. Heureux, his battle companion/assistance dog had now joined him and was tugging on his sleeve, pulling him away from the window.

“It must not be time to jump out the window yet,” declared Lancelot. “You do not have a rose garden!”

“That’s good!” said Jo. “Could you maybe sit down and answer a few questions for me?”

“Question 1 What do you know, or think you know, or hope that everyone knows about you?”

“I do not know what everyone knows about me! I mean, I won a few major tournaments but people would not know that was me. They would think it was The Red Knight or The Black Knight. It really depends on where we are up to in my story. You are the one who is organising that! And when you have decided you need to tell my cousin Bors about it. He will come and get me. I must say this time it seems to be Elaine’s story and I have no idea what I was going to do when she saw me the first time. So I do not know what I am supposed to have accomplished by now and I do not know who knows what about me. And I do not know what I am supposed to do next!”

Little Plump Jo sighed. This was not how it was meant to be at all! The way she understood it she was just supposed to observe the actions of the characters, research background information and cite relevant supporting quotations from authors and academics and then write her own version of the epic tales.

“This is Elaine’s story that I am writing at the moment,” she told Lancelot, “but in my retelling your story has intersected with hers several times already.”

“What source is this based on? Is it Vulgate Cycle, Cretien de Troyes or Malory’s Morte d’Arthur?” asked Lancelot.

“I am following Malory’s Morte d’Arthur I have a rendition in modern idiom by Keith Baines with an introduction by Robert Graves Published by Bramwell House New York.”

“Good girl! I approve of that one!” muttered Malory Tennyson from his own dimension.

“I ask because, although I have ticked off a number of items from my Hero’s To Do List, I do not seem be where I am usually at this point of time. It is as if I did things in the wrong order or in the wrong context,” Lancelot stated.

Lancelot produced a long parchment scroll and started to point out all the deeds he had so far accomplished.

“See here –

Go with The Lady of the Lake (my foster mother) to Camelot ✓

Be knighted by King Arthur ✓

Leave next day on quest ✓

Go to sleep under apple tree ✓

Get imprisoned by four witch queens✓

Get freed by daughter of King Bagdemagus in order to fight a land dispute for her father✓

Save Sir Kay from three knights and swap armour with him✓

Free the captives in Dolorous Garde and rename it Joyous Garde ✓”

“Then there are a whole lot of other things listed that I have not done yet but then there are some things further down the list that are ticked already but they were done in amongst those first deeds but the context was not right. Will I have to redo those later at the right time?”

“What deeds do you mean specifically?” asked Jo. She had a sinking feeling that the confusion had arisen because of Elaine’s rebellion and refusal to play her traditional role.

“Well, I did not ever meet The Lady of Shalott, the occupant of the tower, before but this time the Lady Charlotte-Elaine owner of Charlotte’s Web Weaving was living in the tower.. Her door was jammed shut and I needed to get a battering ram to open it. But I went to sleep under her apple tree. When I returned with the battering ram, she was trapped in her bathtub in a steam filled room and a wyrm dragon was prowling round her garden. That matched to do’s from further down the list. So I went to get King Pelles to say I was about to free his daughter from the tower, kill the wyrm, lift the gravestone and see my true name and identity engraved there. I was thinking ‘Oh well, I missed a few deeds on the way through but never mind!’

But then when the lady was freed she said she was not King Pelles daughter and I did not get to lift the gravestone and learn my true parentage. You can see why I am confused to say the least!