People would respect them, women would admire them, children would dream of becoming one of them. To become a knight meant years of training, a lot of sacrifices and behaving in a proper way. In the Middle Ages there was no written “code of chivalry”. Looking at the great examples of knights (the ones who really lived like Roland, Sir William Wallace, El Cid and those from poems and songs like King Arthur, Sir Percivale) people listed some essential knightly virtues. Some of the most recognized were courage, justice, mercy, generosity and faith. Of course, knightly virtues can be practiced nowadays both by men and women. Today’s knights generously share time, attention, wisdom and energy with others, faithfully keep their promises, do the tasks which are difficult, unexciting or involve sacrifices. Faced with opposition, shame or discouragement they are brave enough to act rightly. They oppose to the things which are unjust and evil, regardless of the possible consequences. Maybe nowadays we could also add the sense of humour to the knightly virtues?
During the dictatorship of Juan Perón in Argentina, a famous writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges refused to hang the tyrant's portrait in his office. As a result, he was expulsed from the presidency of the Society of Writers. One zealous follower of Peron even called Borges's mother late one night, threatening to murder her and her rebellious son.
“Well”, she replied, “if you want to kill my son, it's very easy. He leaves home for his office every morning at eight. All you have to do is wait for him. As for myself, sir, I am more than eighty years old, and I advise you to hurry up if you want to kill me, because I might die before you come”.
Karolina Pluta
Konsultacja językowa: Ryszard Piękoś
Dictionary/słownik:
code of chivalry – kodeks rycerski
knight – rycerz
virtue – cnota
mercy – litość
regardless of – bez względu na
dictatorship – dyktatura
zealous – gorliwy
to expulse – wydalić
tyrant – tyran
rebellious – buntowniczy
to threaten – grozić
Anecdote adapted from: www.anecdotage.com
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