Organize Thyself!
Yesterday Younger Girl and I went to a Renaissance Faire in Golden Gate Park. It has been more than fifteen years since I went to one--I used to perform at the NY Renaissance Festival in Sterling Forest, NY, so for a long time it felt like a busman's holiday. But friend (and friend's lovely nine-year-old daughter) were in town, and it seemed like the thing to do. To no one's surprise, YG adored it. I had to buy her a bodice (despite the fact that I could perfectly well make her one myself) and sworn to make her a skirt and chemise and cloak to complete the look. They did some sword-fighting, saw jugglers, saw a joust and made our curtsy to the Queen (it's always a queen, not a king. Go figure) and YG, who had tried to have me arrested for gossiping, got arrested and put in the pillory herself (the form one uses to swear out the complaint was not clear as to whose name went where, see, and once her name was on the form they wouldn't listen to her protests of innocence). A good time was had by all.
Today was the first day of school. YG has been dancing with impatience to get back to school (while thoroughly enjoying everything that was happening in the now) whereas Sarcasm Girl has been doing a more dignified shuffle about the prospect of starting 10th grade. This morning YG's alarm clock went off at 6:25; I was busy assembling breakfasts and otherwise prising SG out of her aerie, as she had to be at school by 7 for her journalism class. By the time I came in to see how YG was progressing, she was dressed and in the midst of packing her backpack. She had a long list of To-Dos by her bed. My favorite of the list was: 7:00am - Brush thy teeth; 7:03 - Brush thy retainer.
When I asked her about her language she smiled the smile of a kid who knows she's been funny. "The Renaissance Fairy must have made the list in the night..."
Today was the first day of school. YG has been dancing with impatience to get back to school (while thoroughly enjoying everything that was happening in the now) whereas Sarcasm Girl has been doing a more dignified shuffle about the prospect of starting 10th grade. This morning YG's alarm clock went off at 6:25; I was busy assembling breakfasts and otherwise prising SG out of her aerie, as she had to be at school by 7 for her journalism class. By the time I came in to see how YG was progressing, she was dressed and in the midst of packing her backpack. She had a long list of To-Dos by her bed. My favorite of the list was: 7:00am - Brush thy teeth; 7:03 - Brush thy retainer.
When I asked her about her language she smiled the smile of a kid who knows she's been funny. "The Renaissance Fairy must have made the list in the night..."
posted by Madeleine Robins at 8:30 AM
2 Comments:
Heh.
The best time I had at a Renn Faire was with a world-weary 13-year-old and his 11-year-old brother. The double-entendres of such humor as Wenchworkers ("keep the wenches on the street where they belong" as the hat was passed) delighted Older Boy despite himself (they went over the head of Younger Boy). And then I paid a passing insultmonger to insult Older Boy, and he was, shall we say, gobsmacked. (Younger Boy then wanted to pay the monger for more insults to his brother, but the man had passed into the crowd.) At the end of the day, Older Boy was no longer quite so worldweary -- both he and Younger Boy were merely weary.
---L.
What we had was fog. Lots of fog, until about noon, when it whisped away. Then we had wind, off and on, and lots of sunshine. Then more fog in the afternoon. We left at about 4, just before it started getting really chilly.
In my Ren-fest working days, I usually played a village wench (sometimes strolling around with a guitar singing songs like "The Five Constipated Men in the Bible"--Cain, who was not Abel, etc.) who sang with a choral group, fought in the Living Chess Game, and--at least one year--had a running set piece where I was a former maiden, wronged by one of the Queen's guards. The last day of that year, I made a soft-sculpture belly, a friend made a soft-sculpture baby, and during the afternoon I showed up pregnant and then with a newborn, suing the guard for breech of promise.
I did banter pretty well. Of course, there are hazards to being a village wench--one drunk guest decided I was toothsome and slung me over his shoulder and headed for the gate. I yelled "Hey, Rube!" the time-honored carney call when you're in trouble, and from no where three or four of the Queen's Guard (big guys in black leather with big broadswords) removed me from the guy and invited him to chill out elsewhere.
This made me a little homesick for the olden days. But only a little bit.
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