Day 96: A lord who tamed a wild shieldmaiden

phyloxena wondered what is the literary situation in Gondor? Do they have writers, new books, some sort of circulation, pulp romance, pulp moralistic tales in comic-strip style? Or just archives of Elven tragedy?

Since we know books - like the Thain's Book, a version of the Red Book - are still hand-copied I imagine Gondor in the early fourth age as being somewhat like 13th century Europe. Literacy is starting to increase, but printing is still limited to woodcuts or carved block-prints rather than moveable type. That would necessarily limit the kind of printed material in circulation, but satirical ballads very quickly became a staple of the early printing presses.

Hence: Day 96

as part of the Handy With A Sword series.

A lord who tamed a wild shieldmaiden

Faramir enjoyed finding excuses to visit the market. Today: commissioning a birthday present for his wife from the goldsmith.

Crossing the square, he noticed a gaggle of people laughing while one read from a piece of paper. Further on was another group. And a little further on, a hawker carrying a whole sheaf – who turned pale on seeing the Steward and hastily dodged out of sight. But not before he let drop one of the papers.

Faramir, curiosity pricked, picked it up. A block-printed ballad. He read the first stanza and began to laugh.

Some men love a noble lady....

Author's Note: I didn't have room to put in the whole first stanza, but I know some of my flist will recognise the ballad Faramir has stumbled across as When she's handy with a sword by the talented Michael Longcor. I can easily imagine this might have been penned by some wag in the Ithilien Rangers:

Some men love a noble lady, bred so prim and tight.
Some go for a tavern wench who's good for all the night.
Some men love a sorceress who sees with second sight.
Me, I fall for any girl who beats me in a fight.
I've known me many a willing girl who left me cool and bored
But I'm always hot and bothered when she's handy with a sword.

You can hear an mp3 of the first stanza here.