The Tale of Sir Eamon and the Serpent
|The Tale of Sir Eamon and the Serpent|
“The Tales of Sir Eamon and the Serpent” was a play written by David Soucy in 283 AC, shortly before the beginning of the Chrysant War. It was widely performed in both the streets of the Holy City of Regalia and the trading ports across the Empire. It was created to help inform the people of the “true evils” of the Allar race. The play itself is rather short in nature, and features an amalgamation of goals created by the Iron Bulwark to fuel national fervor against the Essa Empire. However, despite its popularity, the play was not well-received in Anglia due to its negative depiction of their beloved Blue Crown Dragon. The play was taken and later adapted into a commonly available children’s story without many of the political overtones of the original play.
The Tale of Sir Eamon and the Serpent
Narrator: Our stage is set; Ithania, the land of romance and chivalry is in peril this day. Sir Eamon rides his trusty steed, Concord, through the countryside while in the distance, smoke begins to rise from a quaint town. Sir Eamon, accompanied by his ever-faithful page Auf, rides closer to aid the humble villagers.
[Villagers are grieving as Sir Eamon, and Auf rides in stage right]
Sir Eamon: Alas dear villagers, pray tell, what has happened to your land? I see around me smoke billowing, flames fanning, and I heard cries to the Everwatcher many a mile away. I beseech you, fair citizen, tell me what has happened here!
Villager #1: O brave sir knight, it's a story so sad it moves me to tears to recount.
Auf: Come now you lot, can you not see to whom you speak? My master, Sir Eamon, hath slain an Ogre, a Troll, and countless other heathen beasts found across this great Ailor realm. If anyone can help you, tis he!
Villager #2: Is-is that true? Mayhaps you can help...
Villager #3: You see sir knight, there is a river that runs near our town here. We once fished it oft, but grew complacent, and the fish grew fat and plenty. Oh how we curse our foolishness now, we focused on the fields and the plants instead of the rushing waters’ bounty. In this foolishness and as the fish grew fat, we attracted a foul Serpent!
Sir Eamon: A-ha, a serpent you say...but surely it is just a serpent? Is it not a simple task for any farmer with trap and knife in hand to end the life of such a pest?
Villager #2: Oh m’lord no, for you have yet to behold the creature. It sharest not a common serpent’s design! This, brave sir knight, is a Water Serpent, a monster of the sea, and, dare I even utter the name of those Old Gods but...practically a servant of Nidda her-
Sir Eamon: Pah, Nidda. I highly doubt that even that manifestation of the Everwatcher would so torment this quaint town with a monster as you so claim...unless there was a reason. Have you searched under every rock, in every cave, and beneath each tree to seek out evildoers? Have you cast out all the sinners, the irredeemables, and the sodomites?
Villager #1: Yes, yes we have m’lord! We even had to cast out our mayor for his crimes; he was a filthy stable boy despite having a wife and daughter but...the Serpent continues to plague our village!
Villager #3: We have not been idle, O good sir knight, we have tried to defend ourselves, but the beast is too fast for us! It slithers and cracks like a whip across the land, as it would so easily swim in the sea, it continues to plunder our town. We have tried to give it tribute as well, for all the good it has done. Some days it takes the offering, other times it ignores it to attack us!
Villager #1: Oh strong sir knight, we beseech you, please save us from this monster! It hoards our wealth, our former glory, all of it is yours if you simply rid us of the Serpent!
[All Villagers kneel to Sir Eamon, begging in several different ways]
Sir Eamon: Rise smallfolk, rise. This does not befit my eyes to see my fellow Ailor grovel in such fear. I shall ride out and slay your monster, and you may keep the gold to yourselves. For I do my duty, not for wealth, but for honor! Where doth this filthy leviathan of the sea claim its den?
Villager #4: Oh good sir, thank you! It hides among the rocks of our river bank. There are hollows in these rocks you see, and the Serpent finds its home well protected. Please sir knight, thank you and the Everwatcher for your help!
[Villagers exit stage right as Sir Eamon and Auf proceed to stage left. Both stop before exit.]
Auf: Sir Eamon, this creature...as sure as Hero Jimena wove beautifully, it will surely be as deadly as they say. What am I to do if you fall in battle to this creature?
[Sir Eamon places a hand on Auf’s shoulder and sighs]
Sir Eamon: Auf my faithful squire, you must save yourself. You are but a young boy, a scant 18 years to your name, and have a life ahead of you. No, my trusty squire, do not protest, it is not cowardice. You must ride back into town and tell them of my passing. But be sure to tell them that other help will come. Make leave for the capital and see the Princess, my name alone will grant you entry to the beautiful halls of her summer palace. Tell her of the suffering and have her send out her strongest knights to deal with this foul creature. Some are even greater men than I. So if I die today Auf, press on with your life and live the way the Everwatcher wishes. If I am to die today, it will be as a shield for the defenseless, and in servitude of the Great Way.
[Sir Eamon and Auf exit stage left]
[Sir Eamon and Auf enter stage right. Maiden is lying on a nearby rock, in a state of half undress and looks as though she is high on opium.] Sir Eamon: We have reached the lair of the monster but...who is that upon yonder rock? It beith a maiden most fair. Dear maiden of the highest beauty, where is the monster we are told resides amongst these rocks?
Maiden: Of what monster do you speak, sir knight? I know of no such creature here among the rocks. All that lives here is me and my darling, sweet, tender beloved. Oh, how he makes me feel so happy…
Auf: [Stage Whisper to Sir Eamon] Sir, she looks bewitched! Look at her state of undress, how fluttering her eyes, how vague her smiles, the Serpent must have taken her for his own!
Sir Eamon: [Stage Whisper to Auf] Keen observation Auf, stay back a bit. [Clears throat and approaches the Maiden] O maiden, your beloved certainly sounds like a most interesting man, yet where is he? I cannot see him anywhere near, and a woman of your virtue should not be left alone at the side of such a swift river.
Maiden: Oh, he is always-
[Serpent leaps out from stage left]
Serpent: My my, what sssilly visssitorsss have come to try and fassse me! How dare you sssir, to come and try to sssteal away my...prizesss…
Sir Eamon: Foul beast, I am Sir Eamon the brave, and I have come to free this hamlet from your clutches, you dreaded monster! You have bewitched this maiden here and defiled the land of the Everwatcher, for this you shall be purged back to the dark pit from which you spawned!
Serpent: Fool! You fassse me, a sssingle man, no one hasss ssurivied againssst me in sssingle combat! Prepare to meet you end!
[Combat ensues, see Choreography Part Two on Page 14 for details]
[Sir Eamon wins, and the Serpent falls as the Maiden snaps out of her revere]
Serpent: [Cough] You might have besssted me knight but know, I am not the lassst of my kind! We have ssspread everywhere, we children of the godsss mossst gloriousss and divine, to feassst upon thisss lazy world…[Cough] You have not heard the lassst...of me…[Dies]
Maiden: [Leaps down off of rock] O good sir knight, I thank thee from the deepest recesses of my young heart! That vile creature captured me and filled my head which such hideous thoughts as he caressed me, oh how I am so ever thankful!
[Villagers enter stage right]
Villager #2: Oh sir knight, we were watching from afar and your bravery...it inspired us! We all came to aid you, but it seems that was all without need for you have won!
Sir Eamon: Verily, I may have won this battle, but there may be many more to follow. I worry about what that beast said; of his siblings rising from the waves across the world, threatening the right people of the Everwatcher in their homes! Townspeople, I beseech you, stay vigilant! Return to the river for your food, fish it well and clear so that its wealth does not attract the vile or the wicked. These creatures are not as weak as their thin form at first says, and even I am tired after such a skirmish. Take pains men, be wary of the creatures of the sea!
Villager #3: Oh sir knight, if you are tired, do come back with us where we can care for you. Come one and all, let us depart and praise the actions of this hero!
Villagers, Maiden, Auf: Huzzah!
Narrator: In the end, Sir Eamon stood victorious over the serpent, and the enemies of the good people of the Regalian Empire were killed. But was the Serpent lying? No! For even now, the beast’s dark siblings crawl forth from the sea they now dominate. Heed the wise words of Sir Eamon, oh audience true, heed them well!
- In Ithania, this play is highly divisive. The rural people of the land find it highly insulting as its Ithanian adaptations often slaughter the Villagers’ grammar and generally makes them appear much weaker than most normal peasants are.
- David Soucy was an interesting playwright, a Ithanian whose patron was House Medavinci, one of the main forces in the Iron Bulwark Faction of the Regalian Senate. He was found murdered on a ship back to his homeland shortly after the Chrysant War ended.