Gods Save the Queen
by Steven French
So, gather round my lovelies and let me tell you a tale. Yes, I know the evenings are short and there’s still light out, but stories aren’t just for long nights and the dark. They keep us close and remind us not to wander too far, lest we get nabbed by the Border Patrol or worse, stolen away by the faery folk.
And this night, as we turn towards midsummer, I want to explain some history to you ... No, don’t make that noise Arfa, that’s not becoming, not becoming at all. And sometimes explaining history is useful and helps us understand where we stand in time as well as space.
Some of you know, because you were paying attention, that it was at this time of the year, when the sun stands high well into the evening, that there were sometimes special celebrations to worship the Queen of Inland, who ruled over all and loved dogs and horses especially but gave laws to the people so they knew what they should and shouldn’t do, all this in the times before...
And here I have an old image from those long-ago times, brought out to show you just for this story, an image of one of those celebrations. You can see folk jumping up and down to the music, just as we do today. But some of the musicians have pieces of metal through their ears and noses. Now, why do you suppose they did that? No, Gen, it wasn’t so’s they could have something handy to dig out wax and boogers. Let me tell you why.
Back before the time when this image was made, one of the music makers, who was known as Rot, used to go out into the fields outside his village to play. Why? Because his mum and dad and their friends and neighbours didn’t want him practising and making noise when they had come back from working wherever they used to work in them times and they just wanted to sit and look at images till they fell asleep. Because that’s what everyone did in those days.
So, one evening after he started making some music that was even louder than usual, he was told to go far away, somewhere his mum and dad couldn’t hear him over the noise their favourite images made. Yes, in those days the images could speak. They were times full of wonders and marvels.
So Rot walked far away until he came to the road that was reserved for the King, who was the husband of the Queen but who couldn’t make laws. He was only allowed to ride about in a carriage pulled by horses and he tried to make jokes to keep everybody happy, only he wasn’t very good at that either.
Across that road was a place they called the end of the world, because before even those olden times that was as far as the people then would go, even though Rot and his people know there was more world beyond.
And so, Rot sat at the end of the world and played his music and he liked it so much he began to dance himself, with his eyes closed because he was having so much fun. And then he sensed that someone was watching so he suddenly opened his eyes and there was a man sat in front of him, listening to the music and smiling. He was a funny-looking man with wild hair and, when Rot stopped playing, he jumped up and said, “You must come and play for my people! They will love your music and will love you as well.”
Now, Rot wasn’t sure, because although he thought of himself as a lad who knew the world, he hadn’t actually walked very far beyond the bounds of the village. But the wild-haired man was very charming and persuasive and kept saying how wonderful Rot’s music was and how much his people would like it, and so Rot followed him down the King’s road to where a great number of people were gathered. And they all wore strange clothes, of all different shapes and colours and patterns, and the one who wore the strangest clothes of all was introduced to Rot as Vi from the West Wood. And so Rot played his music for these strange people, and they all danced and jumped until the short night passed and the sky began to glow again.
And then Rot said he had to go home because he had work to do, and the wild-haired man begged him to return the next night to play more music for them. Now, Rot was tired already and still had a day’s work ahead of him, but he agreed to go back to the end of the world on the next night and play for these people and Vi from the West Wood. Which he did. And the night after that and the night after that.
Until Rot was so tired during the day he could barely lift his feet, much less do the work he was supposed to do. He looked so worn out that his best friend, Seed, took him to one side and asked him what was wrong. Now the wild-haired man had told Rot not to say anything about playing music for his people through the night, because Rot’s friends and family would be afraid because of the way they dressed and jumped up and down to the music.
But Rot was really tired, and Seed kept asking him until finally he told his friend what had been going on. Seed was so shocked he stepped away from Rot, then he went back and said, “Don’t you know who those people are?”
Rot just shook his head and Seed told him, “Those are faery folk. They love to hear all kinds of music but if you keep playing for them, they’ll lure you away to their land beyond the end of the world, and you’ll never be heard of again.”
Rot was shocked to hear this. “What can I do?” he asked. So, Seed told him that what the faery people hated most of all was iron and anything made of that metal. Most likely because it entered the land with Rot’s ancestors and was used in the weapons that drove the faeries out. But to keep from being taken away himself, Rot had to use some iron to tie himself to the earth.
“How?” Rot asked. Seed looked around and, finding an old pin that Rot’s mother had dropped on the floor, he held it in the fire for a minute then stood up and before Rot could react, he stuck it through Rot’s ear. Rot let out a fearful shout and glared at Seed, who said, “That’ll pin you to the earth and stop the wild-haired man from luring you away.”
So that night, Rot went away from the village to practice his music, with his ear still sore from what Seed had done. Sure enough, the wild-haired man turned up and waved at Rot to go with him but, although Rot felt a tugging and a pulling on him as the faery urged him to go back to the end of the world, the pin fixed him to the ground so he couldn’t move.
At that, the wild-haired man became furiously angry and jumped up and down, shouting all sorts at Rot. Finally, the wild-haired man gave up and, making a dreadful sign with his fingers, he turned away and went off on his own, although that didn’t stop him from trying to lure away other young men and women of the village. Rot and Seed spread the word and told them all about the pin, so some stuck one in their ears, others through their lips or noses and, because they did, all were saved from being taken by the faeries.
And when the Queen of the Inland heard of this, she was so pleased that she named Rot one of the Greatest of All Her People. And to give thanks to her, Rot wrote a song calling on the gods to forever save the Queen and keep her safe. But that’s another story and now it’s time to go and jump up and down and shake our iron to keep the faeries away.
Copyright © 2022 by Steven French
