A Dark, Knight's Tale

Once upon a time, there was a young knight who lived in a small village and was in training for the king's service. He met a girl with stunning red hair and a captivating smile from a neighboring village. The young man was smitten by this red-haired beauty and after courting this maiden several years, he married her.

Soon after marriage, they moved from their small village as his services to the king took him to other parts of the kingdom. They were madly in love and after a couple years of marriage, they were blessed with baby boy.

The king called the young knight to the southern part of the kingdom. And the knight and his tiny family moved south. It wasn't long after their arrival in the southern part of the kingdom that they were blessed with a baby girl. Life was good. They were in love. And they had two healthy children.

But a sickness came upon the fair maid, and she was dying. This was no ordinary sickness. It was the result of a dark spell cast by the most evil of creatures. A foul demon of hell itself. The knight wept bitterly. Their families wept. There seemed to be nothing they could do.

As the months dragged on, both the knight and the maid fell into despair. All their dreams were shattered and their life together seemed to slip past them like sand through your fingers. All was dark in the land. The young knight felt old, sad, and weary.

In his weariness, the young knight was weak. He tasted forbidden fruit and he mourned. He mourned for himself and he mourned for the death of his bride that was sure to come. He mourned that he was not stronger. He mourned that he was not wiser and could stop this curse and this sickness.

One night, his dying bride went to church and there met her Lord. The Lord healed the maid of her ailment and ended her curse. She hurried home to tell her husband. He was asleep after looking after his two active children. When she woke him, she told him of the miracle healing. This made the young knight happy and he vowed to then and there be stronger for his wife.

Yet, the curse had a lingering affect. Neither the knight nor his bride were ever the same. The knight became jealous and untrusting. The wife became withdrawn and selfish. Their children were not immune and they as well suffered. And in their suffering, they added to the chaos.

Still, the knight was quite happy. He was happy to have his wife and his children, and he was happy to work in the king's service. But the wife was not happy. The curse had both robbed her of something and yet left something behind. It is not quite clear what it was. Dark curses are never specific, never fully known. And over time, she became bitter and more selfish.

The knight, though try as he might, could not mend his wife. He left the south region and took his family to the western region of the kingdom to work in the king's service. The knight thought this may help his aging bride to regain her youthful love and compassion. But the knight did not know it was too late.

For years the bride had been exchanging secret messages with other knights and even peasants and soldiers. She sought a relief from her lingering curse. She could not accept that her husband could help her. She could not accept that she was under the curse still. She decided to do something about it herself.

One day the knight had to travel back to the south region in service to the king. He was to be gone for months. Upon his return, his wife had forsaken him. She had been in the bed of another knight and no longer held any desire for her husband. She thought him weak. She thought him an impotent shadow of himself. She wanted him gone from her life.

Again, the knight mourned. But now he was much older, and somewhat wiser, and he bitterly mourned. He felt so much older, so much sadder, and more weary than ever in his life. And yet this time, he vowed that he would be strong. And he was. He did not succumb to temptation now. His courage was mustered, and his mind steeled against all attempts to move him from the straight path.

The knight bravely faced his wife, his children, and their past, and vowed to God to stand for what was right. And though he made some tactical errors along the way, he did as he vowed. His wife could not believe it. Her weak husband had not reacted as she thought. Where she expected weakness, there was strength. Where she expected defiance, there was remorse. And where she expected hatred, there was love.

In frustration and desperation, she fled. She left the knight and her children and ran away. She ran to a neighboring village and sought shelter in an inn. And from there she petitioned the king to be released from her vows to her husband.

Over the months, the knight ceased his mourning. He awoke one morning and saw that the darkness had lifted from the land. It had been over a decade since he had seen the sun shining so brightly on the world. His spirit was filled with vigor, strength, and resolve. He looked after his children, and he continued his service to the king. He saw each new dawn as another start. He felt younger. He felt stronger. And he felt more alive.

Finally, one morning, without fanfare, without regalia, the wife went to the king's court to obtain the release from the marriage to her husband. It was granted. Quietly and swiftly, as easily as a candle is snuffed out, so ended the marriage of the knight and his wife.

Do not mourn gentle reader. The knight lived on and with his children, built a new foundation for their tiny family. And by God's grace, they grew stronger and wiser. We know not what happened to the wife. Perhaps this story is not complete. Perhaps she has her own story yet to write.

A happy ending it does not appear to be. Yet a happy ending cannot so easily be determined by mortals. Rest yourselves dear reader. God is in control and all His endeavors are good. We must simply wait for them to be displayed. And we must be ready to wait, even unto the Last Day, in order that we may see it as He would have us know it.