EMARÉ DRUNKEN MESSENGER - MODERN VERSION

Excerpt of Emaré
Retold into modern language by Marijane Osborn

He sent a messenger in a hurry.
With the king's mother he stopped to tarry
when past her castle he rode.

The messenger being cordially
received, she asked him hastily 
[···]
She gave for the news he brought to her
forty shillings and a cloak of fur,
so he was richly clad.
She filled his cup with ale and wine,
and when she saw that it was time
upstairs she led the lad.

The moment he began to snore,
the queen came through his chamber door.
Wicked was her desire!
She took the letter from his cloak
and sent it quickly up in smoke
that rose through the bedroom fire.
And then she wrote an evil letter,
[···]

In the morning, when it was day,
the messenger went on his way
by roads both low and high
(This tale is true!), arriving where
the good king and his armies were, 
bearing his lord a lie.

[···]

The messenger took it from his hand
and rode by the same route over land
where the old queen liked to dwell.

Again he stayed there overnight,
received so well and treated right. He let the old queen ply
the wine that stole away his reason.
But never did he think of treason
as that long night went by.
When he was deep into his dreams,
the wicked queen began her schemes.
She sought until her eye
lit on that letter. She wrote another [···]

The messenger, who knew no guile,
went riding home for many a mile
past forest, farm, and field.

[···]

Then for the messenger they sent.
The king asked him which way he went
to make delivery.

"Right past your mother's house," said he.
"Alas," said the king, "that there could be
a woman so unkind!
For treason she shall be burnt! I give
this judgment, that she may not live,
and that is my command!"
The great lords modified between
themselves this judgment on the queen
who wickedly purloined
the letters. They sent her from her nation
and seized all her accumulation
of castle, tower, and land.

When she had fled across the foam,
the noble king remained at home
and heavy was his air.



The trick of the birth letter is perfectly paralleled in the "Man of Law's Tale," and in both the queen/mother-in-law uses wine to get the messenger drunk so as to substitute the letters.   What is the poet telling us about wine and truth?  As in the MoLT, there's a second switched letter, and another drunken messenger incident.