| PART I: THE COURTSHIP OF PRINCESS GWEN |
| THE SETTING
It is Britain, the middle
of the fifth century, A.D., twilight of the Age of Heroes. The Romans
have withdrawn, leaving behind their stone structures and a patchwork of
independent kingdoms and fragile alliances. It is an heathen age.
Individual glory outweighs any considerations of nationality, but, especially
with the influx of the Saxons, tribal identification remains important. |
| The principal action
takes place in Galwalk, a fictional kingdom set in north-east Wales.
For our purposes, English will be the common tongue, but accents are Irish,
Scottish, German, and Welsh, recreating the wealth of tongues and tribes
that characterized the era. Roman-style dress is still favored by
Celtic women. Swords and spears are the weapons of choice for the
nobility. Armor is of leather, with fittings of bronze, silver or
gold and there is a fondness for enamel ornamentation in both sexes. |
| The "Three Kingdoms"
are Galwalk, Fellsgard and Osterlaw, Westles being more distant.
"Kingdoms", by modern standards, is an overstatement. The "kings",
(a Saxon word), are little more than landlords, tribal chieftains...robber
barons, if you prefer. They are settlers, noble lords who, with their
warbands, hold territories of their own. That they used to, on occasion,
raid their neighbors, was merely reflective of the Celtic/Germanic notion
of sport, a notion profoundly disturbing to the legal-minded Romans who
conquered and reorganized most of Britain, even importing the various factions
to keep a check on each other's piratical tendencies. |
| This, then, is the true
setting for the most popular legend in the western world; the tale of King
Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. But LONG-GRIN, for all
the elements of fantasy, for all the richness of the Celtic imagination,
is also a true story — "true" in the sense that it is a re-examination of
the culture and times of Britain's greatest hero, and "true", because it
captures the essence of the mystery, sacred symbolism and magical thought
that have made the Arthurian legend so compelling to this day, and placed
the Red Dragon on the Flag of Wales. |
