To be known for mischief well made
While getting down
Going to town
On composing scrolls above grade
Montgomery Josh fills all his days
Creative on paths We will praise
Known to use quills
With many skills
Writing prose to plotting trebuchets
Our Majesties East! Mohammad!
Corotica! Adverse of sad!
Are before us
To award thus
The Silver Brooch, done by Our hand
His arms he can wear, when they come
Cause at Mudthaw, these rights, they got done
With Silver Brooch
Above reproach
In Our Settmour Swamp, therefrom
Done AS 57
Word Count 103
AABBA
A9 syllables
B6 syllables
B4 While getting down
B4 Going to town
A8 Montgomery Josh fills all his days
A8 Creative on paths We will praise
B4 Known to use quills
B4 With many skills
A8 Our Majesties East! Mohammad!
A8 Corotica! Adverse of sad!
B4 Are before us
B4 To award thus
A8 The Silver Brooch, done by Our hand
A8 His arms he can wear, when they come
A8 Cause at Mudthaw, these rights, they got done
B4 With Silver Brooch
B4 Above reproach
A8In Our Settmour Swamp, therefrom
Done AS 57
The scribe, Ellesbeth Donofrey, approached me to write this scroll. My acumen for writing funny scrolls is getting noticed!!! The scroll was specifically requested to be written in limerick form, a form I have experience with. I came to the conclusion that while the poem was first recorded in the early 1800s, the cadence and pattern of the form has been around for ages before it was ever written down. While I usually eschew Victorian poetry for scrolls, there are exceptions to every rule!
VERSE ONE
A8 We've heard of one who's not afraid
A8 To be known for mischief well made
In researching for this scroll I was enormously pleased to discover that the recipient was one of the two people at Pennsic who dressed up in T-Rex Inflatable Costume (one was in a kilt!) and had a mock battle in the middle of one of the hottest days. I happened to be in the food court at the time and got to watch it happen. It was delightfully silly and certainly raised spirits on that very hot afternoon.
I know the illuminator was planning on adding dinosaurs to the scroll, and I had to reference the dinosaurs somehow! “Mischief” seemed the perfect word to encapsulate the entire situation. It also kept it a bit neutral, as I am sure there are other such mischievous incidents in the recipient’s history and future.
B4 While getting down
B4 Going to town
A8 On composing scrolls above grade
As a fellow solo wordsmith I definitely wanted to emphasize that in the scroll. As well as slipping in more praise for their work.
VERSE TWO
A8 Montgomery Josh fills all his days
A8 Creative on paths We will praise
The second verse starts with the naming of the recipient and an indication as to which award they are going to receive. The Silver Brooch covers all the Arts and Sciences within the East Kingdom, as such is most commonly associated with “creative.”
B4 Known to use quills
B4 With many skills
A8 Writing prose to plotting trebuchets
There are many ways to use the quill (as it were) in our society. Composing scrolls is one of them. Drafting siege weapons is another! The opportunity to praise pen work here that was not actually calligraphy was intriguing, and fairly unique in the A&S world.
As it stands, “trebuchets” was a lot easier to rhyme than I expected.
VERSE THREE
A8 Our Majesties East! Mohammad!
A8 Corotica! Adverse of sad!
Being able to praise TRM with effusive vocabulary is not always possible within the limits of the poetic form that is used. The phrase “Adverse of sad” was chosen simply for the rhyme Mohammad/sad. While it doesn’t particularly add anything to the scroll, it doesn’t detract either and does carry the rhyme scheme in this verse.
B4 Are before Us
B4 To award thus
A8 The Silver Brooch, done by Our hand
The award is named in the second to last verse. Since the placement of all the required information is completely up to the scribe, the information gets moved about entirely randomly. There have been times during a reign that I realize I have started too many with Their Majesties names, so the next scroll I go out of my way to place it somewhere else in the body of work. It's a balancing act not to sound repetitive and to still get the required information out.
A8 His arms he can wear, when they come
The recipient has no registered arms, and that got worked into their words. Once registered the heraldic latin can be added to the scroll.
A8 Cause at Mudthaw, these rights, they got done
While come/done is not a full hit rhyme, it all works together when the final rhyme of the scroll, therefrom is added.
B4 With Silver Brooch
B4 Above reproach
A8 In Our Settmour Swamp, therefrom
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, therefrom has been in recorded use since the 13th century. Even though this scroll uses a primarily Victorian verse form, I did make an attempt to look up the words used in it, to see if they were within the SCA time periods.
Done AS 57
The Anno Societatis year is tacked on at the end. It couldn’t fit it into any of the limmerics. Hopefully the Herald will just not read it. But it is information that needs to be on the scroll somewhere.
In final regards to this scroll: any day one can successfully rhyme trebuchet, is a good day indeed. Dinosaurs were an added bonus!
Calligraphy by Anne de Basillon
