Naran Numuchi - Fountain (Atlantia)

Naran Numuchi's acclaimed and adored   

And shows preference toward arrows over sword

He’s been seen getting plaiting crafts begun

Threading string to a multitude of chord

Today His Majesty the King Cuán

With his Queen Signy under the bright sun 

That shines over Our Atlantian views. 

The Fountain is earned, and so it is done

At Coronation, AS 52 

In Border Vale Keep his esteem accrues 

We are pleased that he receives this award 

October 7th, We'll ever enthuse 

Wordcount 79

VERSE STRUCTURE COLOR KEY

AABA
BBCB

CCAC

A Naran Numuchi's acclaimed and adored   

A And shows preference toward arrows over sword

B He’s been seen getting plaiting crafts begun

A Threading string to a multitude of chord

B Today His Majesty the King Cuán

B With his Queen Signy under the bright sun 

C That shines over Our Atlantian views. 

B The Fountain is earned, and so it is done

C At Coronation, AS 52 

C In Border Vale Keep his esteem accrues 

A We are pleased that he receives this award 

C  October 7th, We'll ever enthuse 

INTERKINGDOM SHENANIGANS, BLOG-STYLE!!!

This is the second time I've gotten to sink my teeth into the Rubáiyát Quatrain. The scribe Hua Meilan put out a call for a wordsmith familiar with Persian writing in the 12th to 13th century. In 2020 I had written a Maunche scroll in the Rubáiyát Quatrain, by the poet Rūmī of 13th century Persia, and I was delighted to have the opportunity to work with this verse form again! 

This was my first scroll written for a different kingdom, as well as a backlog scroll.  Backlogs usually take a bit of research to find all the information required, but on the other hand, the deadline pressure is much less.  I had the award, the recipient and the event date. Thankfully, the recipient had a wonderfully full and detailed SCAdian Wiki entry. The Atlantia Kingdom Wiki and the Atlantian Order of Precedence page for awards were also an enormous help.   The Fountain is a non armerigious award, specifically for service to the kingdom.  The only note I had on why they received it was that they had, “made 100 kumii cords for kingdom awards.”

 

With that information at hand and my writing form chosen, I set to work.

I set up the page with my rhyme guide, and started filling in the blanks. I’d write one sentence, look up a number of rhymes, and start playing with the following sentences. It's like working on a jigsaw puzzle with words, and often I'd have to throw out completed sentences in favor of another rhyme.

I confirmed the pronunciation of the name of His Majesty Cuán ends in an “un” sound, which allowed me to use Sun/done/none as appropriate rhymes.

For the line where I named the award I originally used:

The Fountain is earned, above and bar none! 

However, something about “bar none” struck me as off. I decided that a side quest was in order to learn more about the phrase.

The wiktionary link didn’t give me the history of the phrase. Another source indicated the phrase was derived from stories of the American West of the 1800s, but had no citations to back that up. Writing Explained, and the Language Log indicated the first use of "bar none” was in a Victorian era novel.

 
Now, while I have used the occasional Victorian era words in scrolls, I try hard to avoid them, and so I chose the phrase, “and so it’s done.” That meant I had to go back and change two earlier lines. It takes a lot of juggling to get the rhymes and language choices to line up on the ephemeral paper.

A Naran Numuchi's acclaimed and adored   

A And shows preference toward arrows over sword

B He's been noticed getting plaiting crafts done 

He’s been seen getting plaiting crafts begun

A Threading string to a multitude of chord

B Today His Majesty the King Cuán

B With his Queen Signy under the bright sun 

C that shines over Our Atlantian views. 

B The Fountain is earned, above and bar none! 

And so it is done!

So my Second foray into the Rubáiyát Quatrain did not produce new research into the verse form itself - but I did get to compose a piece for a different Kingdom and examine and research the history of my own language. Totally a win, in my book!