I Am Mordred
By Mrs. Watt
What would you do if your father hated you?
More importantly—what would you do if you hated your father?
Answer these two questions, and you’ll just begin to touch the tip of the iceberg
of the stark cold rage I feel. Perhaps the better metaphor would be to reach the bottom of
the bottomless pit in Hell that drives me.
“It is hatred that courses through my veins not blood. I am wild and untamed in
my madness, more animal than human. I seek to kill. I am the predator, one with my
prey,” I chant aloud every morning at dawn, every evening at dusk and under my breath
throughout the day.
My name is Mordred, “more dread” or “more dead,” if you prefer. Get it? Now
listen again to the sounds of the four main letters, and you may hear “murderer.”
Who am I exactly? You might ask. I have a complicated history with a direct
bloodline, but all you need to know is that my father is also my uncle. Just think about
that for a moment. Let the strangeness sink in.
My father is King Arthur, and my mother is Morgause, his half-sister. They both
have the same mother, Queen Igraine, but different fathers. And because of that twist of
fate, a very twisted fate, indeed, King Arthur tried to kill me the day I was born. He set
me in a coracle, a small boat, as an infant without water or food to drift out to sea to die.
But an old fisherwoman found me in the boat that had beached, and she raised me
as her child. She called me “Tad” for the tadpoles I liked to search for on the shores,
playing carefree and innocent. Isn’t this a definitive argument that I was not born “bad”?
Yet how quickly did I become so bad and very, very bad, indeed!
Unfortunately, although I was living in obscurity as a fisherwoman’s son, the
Powers of the Dark Side knew I was not dead, and soon they found me and identified me
by the scar behind my left ear, a Celtic X, the birthmark of my birthright. I was brought
to the castle where my destiny was determined, a dark, dank, devious, and dangerous
destiny.
But before you jump to any conclusions, let me tell you my side of the story, and
maybe you won’t find me so bad after all. I mean if you were to put yourself in my shoes,
would you have done the same thing? Will you empathize with me, I wonder?
You see, all I ever wanted was the love of my father, King Arthur, but it was not in
his heart to love me. My unreturned love soon mutated into hatred with the driving force
of murder thriving just below the surface of my delicately imbalanced nerves.
You see there is another major motivating factor in my psyche to fathom. I crave
power! King Arthur’s power to be exact! This is not the power that comes with land,
castles, and knights in shining armor on fine steeds protecting lovely courtly ladies. I
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want the money, the riches, the gold, furs, diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds,
every brass farthing.
You see I had a dream once, a recurring dream, highly insightful in analyzing my
wily ways. I dreamed that I killed my father with his own sword, because as you may not
know I have no sword. Yes, my aunt Morgan le Fay, my mother’s sister, cursed Arthur’s
sword to whop off his proud thick head. You see my aunt wants him dead as much as I
do. Although she is a confidante and co-conspirator, she too wants the power and the
money so I have to be careful around her. She could help me or hinder me, but that’s
okay. I may have to manage this on my own. I do not have the luxury of time to wonder
if I will succeed or not because I must also keep an eye on Aunt Morgan. She could beat
me to it.
Back to my delicate nerves, though. I am finely attuned to my surroundings,
sniffing around every room and every nook and cranny of the castle, smelling secrets and
listening for the rumors and scandals like a cat after a rat, not just any cat either, a
malicious cat with evil eyes and daggers for talons, a witch’s familiar.
I am a born spy, more at home with treachery and deceit than with honorable feats.
I hate to fight with anything but my words and wit. Believe me my tongue is sharper
than any dagger in the kingdom. I can reduce the bravest knight to tears with my insults.
Of course, he runs and hides to cry, but I know I’ve plunged my dagger to the very core
of his being. Then with a triumphant leer, I pursue him and taunt him further, twisting
the dagger deeper. It’s quite a skill, and I’m proud of it. Far more deadly than sword
fights!
Honestly, some of these knights are real dolts. They can joust and jab all day and
all night, but they cannot think straight or crooked, as the case may be. They are not
shrewd. They are without spite and guile, without an ounce of malice too. They wear
their hearts on their sleeves. I can mold them like clay with one not-so-innocent rumor,
and off they fly to seek refuge in the stables with the horses.
Speaking of which, I am an excellent horseman. I saddle up and gallop off after
them, chasing and cursing at them. Pushing them along with the wind that blows no one
any good. It’s a game I play, and I always win.
Take Lancelot. Oh sure, he’s handsome and a fabulous swordsman, but he doesn’t
get it. How stupid to fall in love with the Queen when he could have any fair maiden in
the land. But that’s what makes his case so very interesting. He’s going to break Arthur’s
heart, and I intend to help him do so. Here’s how.
You see, I whisper in Lancelot’s ear informing him where the king is within the
castle walls. Then I pull him into the darkest corner of the Great Hall while the others are
imbibing in ale, and I mention offhandedly where Guinevere is at the same time. I clear
the way for him acting as his scout and guide.
Once he has gotten together with the Queen, I whisper in the King’s right ear to
search the hall for Lancelot. The King notes that he’s missing. I quietly whisper in his left
ear, asking why the Queen is not in attendance. Sometimes he is preoccupied, but more
often than not, he sends his best servant to search for Lancelot. In the meantime, I make
sure that the two lovebirds are together in the same chamber or in the garden alone and
whisper in the servant’s ear where they are to be found. Works like a charm or should I
say spell every time?
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Unfortunately, the King has a blind eye when it comes to the two of them. He can
think no ill of his beautiful “loving” wife and no wrongdoing of his handsome “faithful”
knight, his very favorite knight, as a matter of fact, the knight I long to be. The King
actually makes up excuses for them, “Oh they were reading poetry together” or “They
were simply walking and talking in the garden.”
Finally, when Arthur pushes me away in disgust, I can take this cat and mouse
game no longer. I go hunting myself for proof, not just whisperings or hearsay. As luck
would have it (or was it Black Magic?) I find something that will ruin all three of them.
I find the brooch! The brooch that Guinevere has left behind in Lancelot’s
chambers, pure solid gold incriminating evidence! Now I shall take it to the King and
explain very carefully in his ear where I found it.
Let’s see what happens next, shall we?
Finish the story from Mordred’s point of view:
***Add a character from your idea for a legend: another knight, a servant as messenger, a
horse, Morgause, Queen Igraine, a hawk, a cat that spies, a Mordred who turns good, or a
Morgan le Fay who turns good.
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What would you do if you were Mordred?
What happens next?
What will Morgan le Fay do?
Will Morgan le Fay help Mordred incriminate Lancelot and Guinevere?
Will Morgan le Fay help for her own selfish goals?
Will Mordred succeed in ruining King Arthur’s trust in Lancelot?
What will Arthur do to Lancelot?
What will become of Guinevere? Will the king take her back or let her burn at the
stake?
9. Will Arthur ignore Mordred’s rumors or not?
10. Who will be left to rule Camelot?
11. How will your story end? Will it be a cliffhanger?
12. Who will win the good or the bad?
13. Will Mordred and Morgan le Fay be the heroes?
14. Will King Arthur pardon Lancelot and forgive Guinevere?
15. Will Lancelot go into a monastery and become a monk?
16. Will Guinevere take her place as queen beside her king?
17. Will Mordred succeed in killing Arthur?
18. Will Morgan le Fay help him do so?
19. What part will Merlin play?
20. What will happen to Morgan le Fay?
21. What will happen to Mordred?
22. Who will win the power?
Requirements:
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1.
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5.
You must have ten elements from the list.
You must have five historical facts (see my web page with websites)
You must have an Arthurian legend.
You must have a moral.
You must have a quest, an important journey on behalf of your king or witch as
the case may be.
6. You must have a problem to solve and figure out how to solve it.
7. You must have a significant dream sent by Merlin (see Dream Book and list).
8. Use colors, symbols, and feelings to analyze the dream.
9. You must have ASSAP.
10. Anecdotes:
11. Snapshots:
12. Similes/metaphors:
13. Alliteration:
14. Personification:
15. You must draw/trace a colored pencil picture for this story.
16. Close your eyes and picture what Mordred, Morgan le Fay, or the cat look like.
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