 |
 |
CHARLEMAGNE HOMEPAGE - My collection of Carolingian materials and work, more or less up-to-date.
Charlemagne and the Admiral of Spain. A book based on one of the original stories from the Carolingian cycle. This page includes some of the introduction, together with cover photos. (WARNING: The cover photos are large and the page may be relatively slow to load).
The Artist's Tale. This is one of my favorite stories, in part because it's supposed to be true. Allowing for the differences from the Viking Age to Renaissance Italy, it shares a number of similarities to The Head Ransom. Did it really, truly happen in just this way? If you went back in a time machine and watched, is this what you'd see? No one can say. It's enough that it could have happened. [Note that this story isn't really a "written" tale. All I did was transcribe the tale from the way I tell it. You can hear this story, as well as a number of others, at my "Hear a Story" page.
Blondel the Minstrel. A famous legend about Richard the Lionheart and his minstrel.
Egil Skallagrimson's Head Ransom. This is a particularly famous excerpt from Egil's Saga, which is arguably the most famous of the great Icelandic epics. The saga is presented as history, was accepted as such for many years, and is certainly true in at least its general outlines. There's no doubt that the supporting characters are real, for example: Eirik Bloodaxe really was the King of Norway and then of Northumbria (you can go to the city of York and buy T-shirts saying "Eirik Bloodaxe was here"), he really did have a feud with Egil Skallagrimson, he really was married to Gunnhilda, etc. The facts beneath that general layer are more debatable, of course, and have been the subject of endless debate. Did Egil really do what the story says? It's enough for me that he might have. A talent that titanic deserves a good story or ten.
The Gift of Odin. The only story that ever came to me in a dream. It's a wonderful, beautiful tale that weaves together elements from various scattered parts of the Norse mythos. I half believe that it's a story I channeled more than created. As near as I can tell it's exactly the sort of thing that might have been told a thousand years ago when the gods of Asgard were still being worshipped for real.
Kveldulf's Curse. An original tale of terror. Scary as all get-out too, even though it's based on what the Vikings thought was funny. No wonder they're remembered as being a little grim!
The Lily Maid. Another original story drawn from threads of legend. This is pretty much the only Arthurian story I tell, but it's a good one.
Loki and the Dwarfs (a poem). A poem rewritten from a piece attributed to Longfellow. It tells a well-known story from Norse myth. Did Longfellow really write the original? I just don't know. Neither the poem nor anything like it appears in the "Collected Works" volumes, but I did find a trustworthy reference saying that Longfellow had translated a German poem about this story in his "Poets and Poetry of Europe". It would be easy to see why he'd consider it unfinished, though; the original is in REALLY bad shape. I usually use the word "adapted", but this time I did enough to say "rewritten".
Naked Truth. One of the all-time great short-shorts, the frame is as good as the story. "Once there was a great rabbi who made his reputation by traveling up and down the land telling stories. Finally the other rabbis took him aside and said, 'Why is it that we teach people the actual words of God, straight from the Torah, and they seem to learn nothing, but when you come along and tell your little stories they come away with a clear understanding?' He thought a moment and then said, 'That reminds me of a story . . .'"
Needleworker's Curse (a poem). My first original effort at verse. Needleworker's Curse is a story from Castle Plumov in Moravia that I've told for years. But it's a long story, and therefore one that I rarely get to use. So it occurred to me that maybe the answer was to convert the thing to verse, that being inherently shorter than prose. And voila!
The Passing of Beowulf. Everyone knows the tale of Beowulf and Grendel. Syd Lieberman does a version that may be the best adventure story I know. This is my take on the third part of the story, transcribed pretty much verbatim from how I tell it. The final image of the twelve white horses riding round in a ring may be my all-time favorite from classic literature.
The Peddler of Rumsais. This is a well known folktale that I've adapted for my own use and set in Central Europe near where my wife grew up. The name of the town is a private joke, but you'll find the famous Charles Bridge exactly as I've described it. The story also comes with two interesting pieces of background. First, there is an ancient religious tradition of "holy fools" that fits this story too well to have happened by chance. If you're interested, have a look at one of my favorite mysteries - To Play a Fool by Laurie R. King. I highly recommend it. Second, thanks to input from Mr. and Mrs. Michael Greenstein I have recently learned that the final image of the peddler is exactly the same as the "Fool" card in your classic tarot deck. Coincidence? I highly doubt it!
The Two Brothers Who Shared A Farm. This, I would argue, is the best short-short in the world. I understand that it's at least 5,000 years old, and I've made a game of asking people why they think it would last that long and what it's really "about." The true answer may lie in the fact that I've gotten at least 20 different responses, all of them viable. You can hear a spoken version at my"Hear a Story"page.
Thomas Glam. I left the "author's name" blank for the sake of versimilitude, but yes, I wrote it. It's dedicated fondly to the 10,000 good friends who go camping with me at the Pennsic War each year. The story comes from a scene in the Icelandic "Grettir's Saga." If you're a ghost story fan you may notice that it has an odd and somewhat distinctive 'flavor' to it. That's the taste of a Viking ghost story; the chill you get from "Thomas Glam" is the same one you'd have heard when someone decided to tell a scary story to the family in an icebound Icelandic winter circa 1100 or so. You can hear an excerpt from my recording of the story at the "Hear a Story" page.
Truth on the Mountain. This one is a lot trickier than you think. At first it seems like a simple "Gotcha!" tale, but the more you study it the more complicated and profound it gets. Sort of like Truth and Beauty, both of which may be in the eye of the beholder.
The Warmth of a Fire. This may be my wife, Katerina's, favorite short-short. It's one of those stories you find in every culture, an archetypical "wise judge" tale. "The Sound of Money" is another well-known story along the same lines. I've chosen to set my version in the 'clever wife' genre that's typical to central Europe (after all, my wife is Czech so I've got to cover my bases), but I based it on at least three or four versions that featured Solomon, one about Nazrudden, and one that I seem to remember hearing from the Far East.
|
|
|
