The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell -The Toast

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Originally.

KING ARTHUR: Sir Gawain you are the noblest knight in my court
in the board room AND in the bedroom if you all catch me, drift-wise
anyhow I killed a deer recently and the man who saw me do it hates us both
but in exchange for not killing me he’s willing to let me off if I can explain to him what women like most
and you can’t just say what field women like either
it has to be both field and town women together
by the way
his name
like his actual God-given name
is Sir Gromer Somer Joure

SIR GAWAIN: fuck outta here

KING ARTHUR: fuck IN of here, you mean
any old how
the point is I have to figure out what women want to not get murdered
so you go out and ask everybody
and I’ll look at every book I own
and between the two of us we’ll probably come up with something
probably someone has written it down somewhere

SIR GAWAIN: okay I’ll go talk to literally everyone, wish me luck

A LOATHLY LADY: heard you were looking for a gal to answer a question

KING ARTHUR: no I’m pretty set actually

LOATHLY LADY: if you give me Sir Gawain I will 100% answer your question for you
and before you say no consider this
even owls get married
so

KING ARTHUR: how does that relate to what our situation is

LOATHLY LADY: just think about it
both my offer and owls

SIR GAWAIN: I would marry anyone to help out a friend
I’ll double marry her just to show how serious I am

KING ARTHUR: just tell me the answer

LOATHLY LADY: WELL
some people think women want to have a lot of “sex” or “husbands” or hats or whatever
but what we actually want is just basic autonomy

KING ARTHUR: ahh tytyty
[to SIR GROMER] I think women want to be able to control men

LOATHLY LADY [faintly, offstage]: that’s not exactly how I put it but ok

SIR GROMER: Goddamnit
you must have met my sister, Dame Ragnell
she is the only bitch alive who knows the answer to that mysterious question

LOATHLY LADY: I honestly think a lot of people could have told you that
primarily people whose gender rhymes with “boman” and “shoman”

SIR GAWAIN: I’m still willing to marry you

LOATHLY LADY: oh my god
that’s amazing
you’re amazing
God I wish I was hot, just to reward you for being willing to marry me
[eats three chickens]
[that’s literally in the poem you guys]
okay heads up I can turn hot whenever I want
so as a puzzle and also a reward I can be hot for exactly half of the day
and you get to decide when, so either everyone can see how hot I am, or just you can see it when we have sex

SIR GAWAIN: how is this a reward for anything
what does this have to do with women wanting to be able to pick out their own crop rotation or whatever
I don’t want to make this weird night-time face call on your behalf

LOATHLY LADY: ohoho
you have chosen wisely
now I am beautiful all the time, because of your wisdom has broken my stepmother’s curse

SIR GAWAIN: I
okay
this sounds fake but okay

NARRATOR: Sir Gawain turned into a total fucking coward and stopped jousting just so he could nail his hot wife
then she died
a valuable lesson for us all

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Fuck IN of here to all this.
Sir Gawain: an okay dude, who was constantly being set bizarre moral conundrums
8 replies · active 461 weeks ago
Mallory, you slay me. Delightful.
[that’s literally in the poem you guys] I wish all texts were annotated like this
3 replies · active 457 weeks ago
This is one of my favorite weirdo stories. I did not recall the chickens. I hope they were delicious because it didn't sound like she had much of a life.
1 reply · active 462 weeks ago
This is the most beautiful thing I have ever read.

Now have good daye!
"Sir Gromer Somer Joure"

Ah yes, the legendary smith who forged the mystic artifact, the Boomerang Toomerang Soomerang.

Gawain really has no room to criticize this guy's name, though, given the various permutations of his own moniker throughout history. Wikipedia can't even be bothered to deal with it: "-- also called Gwalchmei, Gualguanus, Gauvain, Walwein, etc." You know, just "etc." And so forth and what-not. It just goes on and on, my friend.

Also:
Gwawaurian
Gowanwicha
Gorn
Granwiches
Worwauk
Garwagler
Wawa
Gruenwald
Greenosaurus
Gamergate
Ganglewick
Gwen
25 replies · active 459 weeks ago
I feel like I would probably marry a man who gave me three chickens to eat all on me onesie and did not judge me for eating said three chickens.

(In my head, the chickens are fried, but like, the GOOD kind of fried that your aunties made for the church potluck.)
1 reply · active 462 weeks ago
So I'm a literature teacher and everything but I honestly did not know that the Wife of Bath straight up stole that story and now I feel hopelessly inadequate help me please
6 replies · active 462 weeks ago
Ooooh man I had an illustrated version of this as a kid. Why you pick this particular one for a kid I can't tell you, but CHECK OUT the Loathly Lady:
http://lesliekenton.com/health/into-the-bliss/wp-...

Ur-queen of Crone Island (Crone Island is where the women of Metafilter go when they want to Ban Men). Here she is getting married:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/6140TJ7Q2WL...

Hoooly damn. I was not a critical reader as a kid but even I knew this was some straight up weird "WOMEN WHAT ARE THEY WHO CAN UNLOCK THEIR SECRETS" bullshit at age 7 or so.
4 replies · active 461 weeks ago
You guys, Sir Gawain was always my fav. Him or Sir Gareth, I could never decide. GIANT HEARTS.
9 replies · active 461 weeks ago
"but what we actually want is just basic autonomy"

Yes!

ORTBERG FOR PREZ 2016
2 replies · active 461 weeks ago
I am bemused to discover that there was evidently an entire medieval literary genre which was basically the equivalent of that point in the movie where the librarian takes her glasses off.
1 reply · active 462 weeks ago
"Oh my God, you sound just like my stupid sister. But I suppose since you, a powerful man, are saying what she says ALL THE TIME it must be true."
Ah, this will be missed. There is no place for this, or monks creating art, anywhere else on the Tubes.
1 reply · active 461 weeks ago
How are we all supposed to go on without this?! I will miss it so much. And poor, dear, Sir Gawain, with "what does this have to do with women wanting to be able to pick out their own crop rotation or whatever."
I told this story to my neighbor's kid this weekend to help him understand why he should just go ahead and call his girlfriend "Girlfriend" and not her name or any nicknames since it's specifically what she asked him to call her. I should mention that he's 9. He thought it was a great story.
I zeroed right in on the second half of the sentence-- "women want to not get murdered"-- King Arthur, the answer was in you all along!
SIR GAWAIN: I
okay
this sounds fake but okay

It's Sir Gawain's reactions that make these pieces so great. Like, he's along for the ride just like the rest of us.
Not quite the same, but so much fun https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XJCOmcKadQ
"May Christ send us all husbands as meek and young and hale. And the grace to break them"
Joe in Australia's avatar

Joe in Australia · 461 weeks ago

Now I want the entire cycle of stories this way, particularly something that explains why everybody called Iseult (Isolde) is basically interchangeable BUT NOT.
2 replies · active 461 weeks ago
I feel like my answer to every question today should be: "even owls get married / so"
Damn I know you're leaving us but I still want Mallory rewrites Malory in book form for my reading pleasure. Please. I'll pay you full book price for it.
2 replies · active 435 weeks ago

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