Power – This Jolly Beggar

Oracle: Henry I’s Daughter Speaks

A daughter born on the wrong side of the blanket
given to a Count in marriage
a political alliance for my father
who gave my daughters away as hostages
and another king’s son held as bond
in my hands: my hands! O servants of the air!
Promptly did I have his eyes put out.
As promptly did Henry allow my daughters’
eyes blinded, their noses cut off as revenge –
Do you wonder? So power-hungry progenitors
bequeath the sacrifice of the innocent
to this day.

Henry I was king of England from c. 1100– 1 December 1135. Historian Charles Spencer describes this brutally cruel event in his book The White Ship

The senex stared at the garlic, the little cast-iron pot. Should she summon the Old One? What would it demand this time? But half her staff had been taken, the other half, turned. The chorus-women deserted. Once again the child zealots had led them astray.

She removed the pot, chanting:

The Outsider’s here, siddle-siddle, hiss
Lay the garlic in the pan, make yourself a wish
Round about it go, dance in despair
I’m the one who betrays with a siddle-siddle, kiss.

If only there were some other way to be re-elected.

But at what cost? At what cost??

word count: 100  
written for Rochelle's Friday Fictioneers  
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