Siri Mitchell - Chateau of Echoes

I demanded of my lord if the hermit had not one friend.

My lord replied to me no.

But if he were such a simple kind soul, surely someone would have wanted him as a friend.

My lord says me that everyone avoided him.

I told him that did not make sense. If he were a kind man then people would have been near.

My lord says me that perhaps he was mean.

At this, I climbed from under the covers and pulled back the curtain at the foot of the bed. I told him that then in that case he would not have been called kind.

My lord turned in his chair to face me, but then rose and sat on the rail of the bed in front of me. He says me that perhaps the hermit warned people away.

I told him that if he were repeating Ave Marias without ceasing, then he would not have had time to speak to anyone.

And then my lord replied to me that the men he knew had better things to do than to repeat Ave Marias.

I do not think this story makes sense and this I told him.

He told me that if I did not want to hear his stories, that there were others who would gladly. He commanded me back to bed, and began to replace the curtain, but then stopped and demanded of me how many years I have.

I told him. Fourteen. I feel I do not please him. I told him he does not have to tell me stories. I had never demanded of him to.

He replied to me something I could not hear. It seems to me it was, “You demand of me nothing at all.”

two days after Assomption

Agnès says me that the trades people come to see Anne.

This seems to me normal.

Agnès says me that they should come to see me. I am the chatelaine. It should be me to make decisions on who to buy from.

I am ignorant of trades and the people who do them. It does not interest me. Anne has done well since four years, and I am certain does still.

Agnès recalled to me that the tasks of a wife are dictated by God and that in all my studies perhaps I should study this also.

Perhaps I will do.

five days after Saint Augustin

I occupied myself this day in copying expenses into the accounts. I should have done since three months. And God who all sees, the things I will not do and the things I do not do, will see this also. And tomorrow I shall see the priest and these confess.

day of Saint Etienne

My lord had promised to tell me of Arthur King of Bretons this night. But he began by telling me of a king called Marc’h, which is ‘horse’ in Breton. This king had a palace in Plomarc’h near Douarnenez. King Marc’h had the most handsome horse the world has ever seen. He walked on the sea also as well as he did on the land. And mountains made the same to him as valleys. The horse was called Morvarc’h and there was nothing the king liked more than to hunt with this horse.

It arrived that one day, as the king was hunting with his nobles, that he saw the most beautiful white hind the world has ever seen, and he turned with his men to pursue her. Morvarc’h was the only horse that had speed enough to chase her and even he could not catch her. The chase finished as the hind ran up a rock that rose above the sea.

The king drew an arrow from his quiver and fit it to his bow. The hind let forth a pitiable cry and then the king let fly his arrow. At the moment when it would have hit the hind, the arrow turned in its path and flew back toward the king. It hit Morvarc’h in the chest and the horse threw the king and hurtled off the cliff into the sea.

In a rage complete, the king drew his dagger and advanced upon the hind. At this moment there, the voice of a woman cried out. And in the place of the hind there is a beautiful girl.

To punish the king for having pursued her, this girl gave the king the mane and the ears of his horse. King Marc’h drew his cloak over his head and returned to Poulmarc’h. He had a wall of gold bricks as high as the head of a man built around his throne and commanded that no one would look upon him or they must die.

He has a coiffeur come to cut his mane, but so that no one may know the secret of the king, the tongue of the coiffeur is cut out the moment he has cut the last hair. But the hair grows, and in two weeks when he calls the coiffeur to come back, he cannot be found, for he has taken his wife and his children and has fled the kingdom in fear. So the king calls another coiffeur and when he is finished, his tongue also is cut out and when the coiffeur is called back in two weeks time he also cannot be found, for he has fled the kingdom the same as the first. And soon all the coiffeurs in the kingdom have fled in fear of the king, save one: Yeunig. This is the favorite of the king and the one who has cut his hairs always before this happening. And so the king does not wish to cut out the tongue of this coiffeur. And so he will wait and wait. But the hair must keep growing and soon it is too heavy to bear. And so the king will call Yeunig.

And seeing the mane and the ears of the king, Yeunig demands of him, why did you not send for me more quick? I have the enchanted scissors and whatever hairs the scissors cut will never grow again. But if I will cut your hairs, then you must promise not to cut out my tongue.

And the king will do this, only Yeunig must never tell anyone that the king has the mane and the ears of a horse. And Yeunig swears this. And the hairs are cut and Yeunig leaves.

But all the world has envy to know the secret of the king, and so they offer Yeunig money and women and power if only he will repeat it to them. He refuses all. But he fears he must speak the words aloud or he will explode.

For that no one may hear, he goes to the beach and digs a large hole and puts his head into this and screams, The King Has the Mane and the Ears of a Horse! And then he covers up this hole. And he feels himself much relieved: he has spoken these words and no one has heard them.

But three reeds begin to grow from the hole.

King Marc’h takes the decision to marry his sister to the King of Léon, who is Rivalen. But there must be a big fête with all of the royalty of Bretagne. And how will King Marc’h be the host and yet not be seen? Yeunig counsels him to wear a hood about his head and tell all the world that he has a maladie. The musicians arrive to make the music and as they play their instruments, they have great hunger and thirst. And they go about the palace eating and drinking whatever they find. And that, the food left for the korrigans.

And at this moment here, I demanded of my lord who are the korrigans.

My lord replied to me that they are small creatures, like dwarves, who are very secret and only appear at night. Some are friend to humans and some are foe. The korrigans are of different types: some belonging to the woods or the lakes, some to the houses.

And I commanded my lord to continue.

When the korrigans have come at midnight, to clean the palace, they find there is neither food nor drink for them. And so, they have taken the reeds from the binious and all the bombardes of the musicians. And the next day, when the musicians must give the branle and the other dances, they have realized they have no reeds. And so they search something that can be made into reeds. At this moment here, a small boy says them that he has seen three reeds which grow on the beach. And so he is sent to take them and give them to the musicians. And new reeds are made and given to each musician. And so they make ready to play. But the first note is not music, but this: The King Has the Mane and the Ears of a Horse!

And all the world demands of King Marc’h if this is true and he removes the hood and declares it so. And as all the people know now his secret, the king can no longer reign. And he must disappear from Bretagne.

At this point here, I found that my eyes would not stay open. When I woke myself in the morning, my lord had already gone.