AndⒶemendation so I’mⒶalteration in the MS proprietor of some knights,” said I, as we rode off. “Who would ever have supposed that I should live to list-up assets of that sort. I shan’t know what to do with them; unlessⒶemendation I raffle them off. How many of them are there, Sandy?”
“Seven, please you sir, and their squires.”
“It is a good haul. Who are they? Where do they hang out?”
“Where hang they outⒶrejected substantive Ⓐtextual note?”
“Yes; where do they live?”
“Ah, I understood thee not. That will I tell thee eftsoons.” ThenⒶalteration in the MS she said musingly, and softly, turning the words daintily over her tongue: “Hang they out—hang they out—where hang—where do they hang out; ahⒶrejected substantive, right so: where do [begin page 173] they hang out. Of a truth the phrase hath a fair and winsome grace, and is prettilyⒶalteration in the MS worded withal. I will repeat it anon and anon in mine idlesse, whereby I may peradventure learn it. Where do they hang out. Even so! already it falleth trippingly from my tongue; and forasmuch as—”
“Don’t forget the cow-boys, Sandy.”
“Cow-boys?”
“Yes; the knights, you know. You were going to tell me about them. A while back, you remember.Ⓐalteration in the MS Figuratively speaking, game’s called.”
“Game—”
“Yes, yes, yes! Go to the bat. I mean, get to work on your statistics, and don’t burn so much kindling getting your fire started.Ⓐalteration in the MS Tell me about the knights.”
“I will well; and lightly will begin. So they two departed and rode into a great forest. And—”
“Great Scott!”
You see, I recognized my mistake, at once.Ⓐalteration in the MS I had set her works agoingⒶemendation Ⓐrejected substantive; it was my own fault; she would be thirty days getting down to those facts. And she generally began without a preface, and finished without a result.Ⓐalteration in the MS If you interrupted her, she would either go right along without noticing, or answer with a couple of words, or goⒶrejected substantive back and say the sentence over again. So, interruptions only did harm; and yet I had to interrupt, and interrupt pretty frequently, too, in order to save my life; a person would die if he let her monotony drip on him right along all day.
“Great Scott!” I said, in my distress. She went right back and began over again:
“So they two departed and rode into a great forest. And—”
“Which two?”
“Sir Gawaine and Sir Uwaine. And so they came to an abbey of monks, and there were well lodged. So on the morn they heard their masses in the abbey, and so they rode forth till they came to a great forest; then was Sir Gawaine ware in a valley by a turret, of twelve fair damsels, and two knights armed on great horses, and the damsels went to and fro by a tree. And then was Sir Gawaine ware how there hung a white shield on that tree, and ever as the damsels came by it they spit upon it, and some threw mire upon the shield—”
“NowⒶalteration in the MS, if I hadn’t seen the like myself in this country, Sandy,Ⓐalteration in the MS I [begin page 174] wouldn’t believe it. But I’ve seen it, and I can justⒶalteration in the MS see those creatures, now, parading before that shield and acting like that. The women here do certainly act like all possessed.Ⓐalteration in the MS Yes, and I mean your bestⒶalteration in the MS, too, society’s very choicest brands. The humblest hello-girl along ten thousand miles of wire could teach gentleness, patience, modesty, manners, to the highest duchess in Arthur’s land.”
“Hello-girl?”
“Yes, but don’t youⒶemendation ask me to explain; it’s a new kind of girl; they don’t have them here; one oftenⒶalteration in the MS speaks sharply to them when they are not the leastⒶalteration in the MS in fault, and he can’t get over feeling sorry for it and ashamed of himself in thirteen hundred years, it’s such shabby mean conduct and so unprovokedⒶalteration in the MS; factⒶrejected substantive is, no gentleman ever does it—though I—well, I myself, if I’ve got to confess—”Ⓐalteration in the MS
“Peradventure she—”
“Never mind her, never mind her; I tell you I couldn’t ever explain her so you would understand.”
“Even so be it, sith ye are so minded. Then Sir Gawaine and Sir Uwaine went and saluted them, and asked them why they did that despite to the shield.Ⓐalteration in the MS Sirs, said the damsels, we shall tellⒶalteration in the MS you. There is a knight in this country that owneth this white shield, and he is a passing good man of his hands, butⒶalteration in the MS he hateth all ladies and gentlewomen, and therefore we do all this despite to the shield. I willⒶalteration in the MS say you, said Sir Gawaine, it beseemeth evil a good knight to despise all ladies and gentlewomen, and peradventure though he hate you he hath some cause, and peradventure [begin page 175] he loveth in some other places ladies and gentlewomen, and to be loved again, and he be suchⒶrejected substantive a man of prowess as ye speak of—Ⓐalteration in the MS”
“Man of prowess—yes, that is the man to pleaseⒶalteration in the MS them, Sandy.Ⓐalteration in the MS Man of brains—that is a thing they never think of. Tom Sayers—John Heenan—John L. SullivanⒺexplanatory note—pity but you couldⒶalteration in the MS be here. You would have your legs under the Round Table and a ‘Sir’ inⒶalteration in the MS front of your names within theⒶalteration in the MS twenty-four hours; and you could bring about a new distribution of the married princesses and duchesses of the court in another twenty-four. The fact is, it isⒶalteration in the MS just a sort of polished-up court of Comanches, and there isn’t a squaw in it who doesn’t stand ready at the dropping of a hat to desert to the buck with the biggest string of scalps at his belt.”
“—and he be such a man of prowess as ye speak of, said Sir Gawaine. Now what is his name? Sir, said they, his name is Marhaus, the king’s son of Ireland,—”
“Son of the king of Ireland, you meanⒶemendation; the other form doesn’t mean anything.Ⓐalteration in the MS And look out and hold on tight, now, we mustⒶemendation jump this gully. . . . . . . There, we are all right, now. This horse belongs in the circus; he is born before his time.”Ⓐalteration in the MS
“I know him well, said Sir Uwaine, he is a passing good knight as any is on live,—”
[begin page 176]“On live.Ⓐalteration in the MS If you’ve got a fault in the world, Sandy, it is thatⒶemendation you are aⒶemendation shade too archaic. But it isn’t any matter.”Ⓐalteration in the MS Ⓐalteration in the MS
—“for I saw him once proved at a justs where many knights were gathered, and that time there might no man withstand him. Ah, said Sir Gawaine, damsels, methinketh ye are to blame, for it is to suppose he that hung that shield there heⒶrejected substantive will not be long therefrom, and then may those knights match him on horsebackⒶemendation, and that is more your worship than thus; for I will abide no longer to see a knight’s shield dishonored. And therewith Sir Uwaine and Sir Gawaine departed a little from them, and then were they ware where Sir Marhaus came riding on a great horse straight towardsⒶrejected substantive them. And when the twelve damsels saw Sir Marhaus they fled into the turret as they were wild, so that some of them fell by the way. ThenⒶalteration in the MS the oneⒶalteration in the MS of the knights of the tower dressed his shield, and said on high, Sir Marhaus, defend thee. And so they ran together that the knight brake his spear on Marhaus, and Sir Marhaus smote him so hard that he brake his neck and the horse’s back—”Ⓐalteration in the MS
“Well, that is just the trouble about this state of things, it ruins so many horses.”
“That saw the other knight of the turret, and dressed him toward Marhaus, and they metⒶrejected substantive Ⓐtextual note so eagerly together that the knight of the turret was soon smitten down, horse and man, stark dead—”
“Another horse gone; I tell you it is a custom that ought to be broken up. I don’t see how people with any feeling can applaud andⒶemendation support it.”Ⓐalteration in the MS
* * * * * * *Ⓐalteration in the MS
“So these two knights came together with great random—”
I saw that I had been asleep and missed a chapter,Ⓐalteration in the MS but I didn’t say anything. I judged that the Irish knightⒶalteration in the MS was in trouble with the visitorsⒶalteration in the MS by this time, and this turned out to be the case.
“—that Sir Uwaine smote Sir Marhaus that his spear brast in pieces on the shield, and Sir Marhaus smote him so sore that horse and man he bare to the earth, and hurt Sir Uwaine on the left side—”
“The truth is, Alisande,Ⓐalteration in the MS these archaics are a littleⒶalteration in the MS too simple; the vocabulary is too limited, and so, by consequence, descriptions suffer in the matter of variety; they run too much to level Saharas of factⒶalteration in the MS, and not enough to picturesque detail; this throws about them a certain air [begin page 177] of the monotonous; in fact the fights are all alikeⒶalteration in the MS: a couple of people come together with great random—random is a good word, and so is exegesis, for that matter, and so is holocaust, and defalcationⒶalteration in the MS, and usufruct, andⒶalteration in the MS a hundred others, but land! a body ought to discriminate—they come together with great random, and a spear is brast, and one party brake his shield, and the other one goes down, horse and man, over his horse-tail and brake his neck, and then the next candidate comes randoming in, and brastⒶalteration in the MS his spear, and the other man brast his shield, and down he goes, horse and man, over his horse-tail, and brake his neck, and then there’s another elected, and another and another and still another, till the material is all used up; and when you come to figure up results, you can’t tell one fight from anotherⒶalteration in the MS nor who whipped; and as a picture, of living, raging, roaring battle, sho! why, it’sⒶrejected substantive pale and noiseless—just ghosts scuffling in a fog. DearⒶalteration in the MS me, what would this barren vocabulary get out of the mightiest spectacle?Ⓐalteration in the MS—the burning of Rome, in Nero’s time, for instance.Ⓐalteration in the MS Why, it would merely say,Ⓐalteration in the MS ‘Town burned down, no insurance; boy brast a window, fireman brake his neck!Ⓐemendation’ Why, that ain’t a picture!”
ItⒶalteration in the MS was a good deal of a lecture, I thought, but it didn’t disturbⒶalteration in the MS Sandy, didn’t turn a feather;Ⓐemendation her steam soared steadily up again, the minute I took off the lid:
“Then Sir Marhaus turned his horse and rode towardⒶrejected substantive Gawaine with his spear. And when Sir Gawaine saw that, he dressed his shield, and they aventred their spears, and they came together with all the might of their horses, that either knight smote other so hard in the midst of their shields, but Sir Gawaine’s spear brake—”
“IⒶalteration in the MS knew it would.”Ⓐalteration in the MS
—“but Sir Marhaus’s spear held; and therewith Sir Gawaine and his horse rushed down to the earth—”
“Just so—and brake his back.”Ⓐalteration in the MS
—“and lightly Sir Gawaine rose upon his feet,Ⓐalteration in the MS and pulledⒶalteration in the MS out his sword, and dressed him toward Sir Marhaus on foot, and therewith either came unto other eagerly, and smote together with their swords that their shields flew in cantels, and they bruised their helms and their hauberks, and wounded either other. But Sir Gawaine, fro it passed nine of the clock, waxed by the space of three hoursⒶalteration in the MS ever stronger and stronger,Ⓐalteration in the MS and thrice his might was increased. All this espied Sir Marhaus, and had great wonder how his might increased, [begin page 178] and so they wounded other passing sore; andⒶalteration in the MS then when it was come noon—”
The pelting sing-song of it carried me forward to scenes and sounds of my boyhood days:Ⓐalteration in the MS
“N-e-e-ew Haven! ten minutes for refreshments—knductor ’ll strike the gong-bell two minutes before train leaves—passengers for the Shore-line please take seats in the rear k’yar, this k’yar don’t go no furder—Ⓐemendation ahh-pls, aw-rnjz, b’nanners,Ⓐalteration in the MS s-a-n-d’-ches, p——op-corn!”
—“and waxed pastⒶalteration in the MS noonⒶalteration in the MS and drew toward even-song, Sir Gawaine’s strength feebled and waxed passing faint, that unnethes he might dure any longer, and Sir Marhaus was then bigger and bigger;—”
“Which strained his armor, of course; and yet little would one of these people mind a small thing like that.”Ⓐalteration in the MS
—“and so, Sir knight, said Sir Marhaus, I have well felt that ye are a passing good knight, and a marvelous man of might as ever I felt any, while it lasteth, and our quarrels are not great, and therefore it were pityⒶrejected substantive to do you hurt, for I feel yeⒶrejected substantive are passing feeble. Ah, said Sir Gawaine, gentle knight, ye say the word that I should say. And therewith they took off their helms and either kissed other, and there they swore together either to love other as brethren—”
[begin page 179]But I lost the thread there, and dozed off to slumber, thinking about what a pity it was that men with such superb strength—strength enabling them to stand up cased in cruelly burdensome iron and drenched with perspiration, andⒶemendation hack and batter and bang each other for six hours on a stretch—should not have been born at a time when they could put it to some useful purpose. Take a jackass, for instanceⒶalteration in the MS: a jackass has that kind of strength, and puts it to a useful purpose, and is valuable to this world because he is a jackass; but a nobleman is not valuable because he is a jackass. ItⒶemendation is a mixture that is always ineffectual, and should never have been attempted in the first place. And yet, once you start a mistake, the trouble is done and you never know what is going to come of it.Ⓐalteration in the MS
When I came to myself again and began to listen, I perceived that I had lost another chapter,Ⓐalteration in the MS and that Alisande had wandered a long way off with her people:
“And so they rode and came into a deep valley full of stones, and thereby they saw a fair stream of water; above thereby was the head of the stream, a fair fountain, and three damsels sitting thereby. In this country, said Sir Marhaus, came never knight since it was christened, but he found strange adventures—”
“This is not good form, Alisande.Ⓐalteration in the MS Sir Marhaus the king’s son of Ireland talks like all the rest; you ought to give him a brogue, or at least a characteristic expletive; by this means one would recognize him as soon as he spoke, without his evenⒶrejected substantive Ⓐtextual note being named. It is a common literary device with the great authors. You should make him say, ‘In this country, be jabers, came never knight since it was christened, but he found strange adventures, be jabers.’Ⓐalteration in the MS You see how much better that sounds.”
—“came never knight but he found strange adventures, be jabers. Of a truth it dothⒶalteration in the MS indeed, fair lord, albeit ’tisⒶemendation passing hard to say, though peradventure that will not tarry, but better speed with usage. And then they rode to the damsels, and either saluted other, and the eldest had a garland of gold about her head, and she was threescore winter of age or more—”
“The damsel was?”
“Even so, dear lord—and her hair was white under the garland and—Ⓐrejected substantive Ⓐtextual note”
“CelluloidⒶalteration in the MS teeth, nine dollars a setⒶalteration in the MS, as likeⒶemendation as not—the loose-fit kind, [begin page 180] that go up and down like a portcullisⒶemendation when you eat, and fall outⒶalteration in the MS when you laugh.Ⓐalteration in the MS”Ⓐemendation
“The secondⒶalteration in the MS damsel was of thirty winter of age, with a circlet of gold about her head. The third damsel was but fifteen year of age—”Ⓔexplanatory note Ⓐtextual note
Billows of thought came rolling over my soul, and the voice faded out of my hearing!Ⓐemendation
FifteenⒶemendation!Ⓐalteration in the MS Break—my heart! oh, my lost darling!Ⓐalteration in the MS Just her age who was so gentle, and lovely, and all the world to me; and whom I shall never see again! How the thought of her carries me back over wide seas of memory to a vagueⒶalteration in the MS dim time, a happy time, so many many centuries hence, when I used to wake in the soft summer mornings out of sweet [begin page 181] dreams of her, and say “Hello, Central!”Ⓐemendation just to hear her dear voice come melting back to me with a “Hello, HankⒶalteration in the MS!”Ⓐemendation that was music of the spheres to my enchanted ear. She got three dollars a week, but she was worth it.Ⓐemendation Ⓐtextual note
I could not follow Alisande’s further explanation of who our captured knights were, now —I mean, in case she should ever get to explaining who they wereⒶalteration in the MS; my interest was gone, my thoughts were far away, and sad. By fitful glimpses of the drifting tale, caught here and there and now and then, I merely noted in a vague wayⒶalteration in the MS that each of theseⒶemendation three knightsⒶalteration in the MS took one of theseⒶemendation three damsels up behind him on his horse, and one rode north, another east, the other south, to seek adventures, and meet again and lie, after year and day. Year and dayⒶrejected substantive—and without baggage. It was of a piece with the general simplicity of the country.
The sun was now setting. It was about three in the afternoon when Alisande had begun to tell me who the cow-boys were; so she had made pretty good progress with it—for her. She would arrive some time or other, no doubt, but she was not a person who could be hurried.
We were approaching a castle which stood on high ground; a huge, strong,Ⓐalteration in the MS venerable structure, whose gray towers and battlements were charminglyⒶalteration in the MS draped with ivy, and whose whole majestic mass was drenched with splendors flung from the sinking sun. It was the largest castle we had seen, and so I thought it might be the one we were after, but Sandy said no. She did not know who owned it; she said she had passed it without calling, when she went down to Camelot.
best] follows canceled ‘very’.
way. Then] originally ‘way—” ’, followed by an additional paragraph which was revised then canceled, followed in turn by ¶ ‘ “Then’; the dash and quotation marks following ‘way’ and the quotation marks preceding ‘Then’ canceled when the intervening paragraph was canceled; the period following ‘way’ added. The canceled paragraph is reproduced below. The superior numbers refer to Mark Twain’s revisions, which are listed following the passage.
‘ “It’s1 just like that kind;2 rush, scamper, scream, tumble; why it’s like children that have flung a stone at a dog.” ’
2. kind;] followed by canceled closing quotation marks; the semicolon mended from a period.
“Just . . . back.”] squeezed in to replace a paragraph which was revised then canceled. The canceled paragraph is reproduced below. The superior numbers refer to Mark Twain’s revisions, which are listed following the paragraph.
‘ “Same old trip. No change of cars.”1 ‘N-e-e-ew 2 Haven! ten minutes for refreshments—knductor3 ’ll strike the gong-bell two minutes before train leaves—passengers by the Shore-line please take seats in the rear k’yar,4 this k’yar5 don’t go no furder6—ah-pls, aw-rnjz, b’nanners, sand’ches, p——op-corn!’’
2. ‘N-e-e-ew . . . p——op-corn!’] canceled separately from, and apparently before, the preceding sentence.
3. knductor] originally ‘conductor’; ‘kn’ written over ‘con’.
4. k’yar,] originally ‘car,’; ‘k’’ interlined and ‘y’ written over ‘c’.
5. k’yar] interlined above canceled ‘car’.
6. furder] interlined above canceled ‘further’.
charmingly] interlined above canceled ‘densely’.
CHAPTER 15] At the top of the manuscript page beginning here, Mark Twain wrote and canceled three sets of planning notes. In the upper left corner he noted the improvements he intended to have Hank bring to Arthur’s kingdom. (Chapter 10, which introduces many of these changes, had not yet been written.)
Paid Fire Co. (after a fire in the palace.
Electric light.
Telegraph,
telephone
aluminum.
Next to the last three items Clemens drew a wavy line and wrote “Steam.” His second set of notes, in the upper right corner of the page, sketched plans for the continuation of Hank and Sandy’s quest. Most of the outlined episodes were used in the next eight chapters.
Raid to be contin through.
abbey of monks.
convent (?) of nuns.
Castle of Morgan le Fay.
Day or two with Hermit.
(who is also a leech.
Opposition hermit comes to measure austerities with him. B Bet on our hermit.
Monks teach catechism & legends of Saints only.
These are the extent of Sandy’s accomplishments.
A Harper comes along—at Castle. Horrid music these two words added in pencil
We become a poet & steal from Tennyson.
Making use of Tennyson’s Arthurian verse had occurred to Mark Twain earlier (see the textual note at 118 title ). Although he never did incorporate it into the book, the idea continued to intrigue him. The plan recorded here was given its fullest expression in the autumn of 1888, when Mark Twain included it with other working notes for A Connecticut Yankee in his notebook:
Competition of bards. Break, break, break; the Fair Maid of Astolat; some exploit of Launcelot, (to curry favor with Queen) from Idyls. Sensation. Hint that I was “prepared.” I demand an instant competition. The bard breaks down, showing that his barbarous previous effort had been memorized. I whirl in some more Tennyson, with a touch of Shak & Browning & take the cake. King says, “Strike the lyre”—I lay him out. ( N&J3 , p. 420)
Finally, perpendicular to the other two sets of notes, in pencil, Mark Twain wrote “Get some out of Lecky.” All three sets of notes are canceled in pencil.
