BillyBones Posted July 4, 2024 Posted July 4, 2024 Roland Paladin of Charlemagne fell in battle against the Saracens in late 700's AD lodged his sword into the stone cliff face Rocamadour France. The sword was said to contain several Holy relics including a bit of Mary's robes, unbreakable, and always sharp. Legend says that before he died he treid breaking the sword against rocks to no avail. So he hurled it into the air where it flew, some accounts say 100s of miles, and lodged itself in the rock face. Where it has been resting for 1300 years. The sword was stolen just days ago. Ok, now enough with the myths and legends. The priest of the Church there has said this is the "umpteenth" replica that has disappeared. So no that sword has not been there for 1300 years. While it is a tourist attraction and pride of the town it is not Durendal. A loss for the town in any sense. Being as how we are blacksmiths and bladesmiths here, who also many seem to have a love of lore and history along with metal work i thought this may be a story of interest. Quote
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted July 4, 2024 Posted July 4, 2024 I read about that several days ago, interesting although not historical in the true sense of the word. https://www.yahoo.com/news/french-excalibur-sword-vanishes-1-004900612.html I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s. Semper Paratus Quote
Scott NC Posted July 6, 2024 Posted July 6, 2024 On 7/4/2024 at 1:23 PM, BillyBones said: The priest of the Church there has said this is the "umpteenth" replica that has disappeared. Time for a absolutely terrifying, yet relatively harmless boobytrap. Quote
Frosty Posted July 6, 2024 Posted July 6, 2024 That'd be fun. How about a blood fountain from the slit in the rock? It'd be a lot safer than the blade bursting in flames with a loud voice cursing the thief. Be a fun video and profitable, though I'd keep it secret till I found out if anyone was injured. Frosty The Lucky. Quote
Scott NC Posted July 6, 2024 Posted July 6, 2024 I was thinking of an air raid siren and floodlights connected to a motion sensor. I guess not so terrifying.... I suppose it's hard to stop a determined thief. They should concrete it into the rock and chain it. Quote
Frosty Posted July 6, 2024 Posted July 6, 2024 I thought the effect of having the special effects triggered when someone touched or pulled on the sword would make it more personal than a motion detector. An air raid siren would be frightening up close. I was thinking of a Godlike voice thundering down on the miscreant from on high might scare the poop out of them. Lights like lightning bolts and up close crack BOOM thunder to go with. Would it be going too far to put put a trigger mechanism and super glue oozer in the handle? That way if they tried to draw it from the cliff they'd end up hanging around until the monks could get there to . . . minister to them. Maybe Nun's ministrations would be more effective? Frosty The Lucky. Quote
George N. M. Posted July 7, 2024 Posted July 7, 2024 if it were possible I would favor an electrical approach. enough low amperage high voltage to give a mild tingle when the hilt is grasped but the jolt increases as the sword is withdrawn. God like voices would be nice too. Quote
Nobody Special Posted July 7, 2024 Posted July 7, 2024 I was thinking electric, and maybe a hidden peg in the stone to anchor it. Maybe the Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came and got it back? I mean, if he could yeet a sword from Roncevaux to Rocamadour, he's certainly a likely candidate to "lay me down and bleed awhile" in Avalon. Quote
Scott NC Posted July 10, 2024 Posted July 10, 2024 So we have a thief stuck to a super glued handle of a chained, hidden pegged, concreted in sword with a electric shock running through it, getting drenched in a fountain of blood with flood lights and an air raid siren blaring and booming voices from above. I was going to add fire ant's but that may be going too far...... Quote
Frosty Posted July 10, 2024 Posted July 10, 2024 Yeah, that might be a bit much, the blood fountain could drown the ants. I'll bet it would only have to happen once or twice and nobody would try to steal the sword again. Maybe need to mount video cameras? Frosty The Lucky. Quote
Nobody Special Posted July 10, 2024 Posted July 10, 2024 I've tried, but first you have to make the tiny harnesses and then the ants seem to find them too heavy and stop walking around. Quote
Scott NC Posted July 10, 2024 Posted July 10, 2024 3 hours ago, Frosty said: once or twice Twice? Quote
Frosty Posted July 11, 2024 Posted July 11, 2024 Gotta allow for slow learners and thieves aren't known for smarts. Frosty The Lucky. Quote
JPH Posted September 13, 2024 Posted September 13, 2024 Oh man...here I thought it could be the once and future king came back to claim the sword and set the world right.. oops..wrong legend...sorry. seriously now..there is always some square nut that just has to screw things up and be an idiot.. Geeze.. JPH Quote
Frosty Posted September 13, 2024 Posted September 13, 2024 No problem Jim. The once and future King wouldn't have a problem drawing the sword no matter how we booby trapped it against theft. I don't know about the second point. How is screwing things up being a square peg if the person is an idiot to start with? Frosty The Lucky. Quote
JHCC Posted September 13, 2024 Posted September 13, 2024 23 minutes ago, Frosty said: The once and future King wouldn't have a problem drawing the sword From The Once and Future King by T. H. White: Quote "How does one get hold of a sword?" he continued. "Where can I steal one? Could I waylay some knight, even if I am mounted on an ambling pad, and take his weapons by force? There must be some swordsmith or armourer in a great town like this, whose shop would be still open." He turned his mount and cantered off along the street. There was a quiet churchyard at the end of it, with a kind of square in front of the church door. In the middle of the square there was a heavy stone with an anvil on it, and a fine new sword was stuck through the anvil. "Well," said the Wart, "I suppose it is some sort of war memorial, but it will have to do. I am sure nobody would grudge Kay a war memorial, if they knew his desperate straits." He tied his reins round a post of the lych-gate, strode up the gravel path, and took hold of the sword. "Come, sword," he said. "I must cry your mercy and take you for a better cause. "This is extraordinary," said the Wart. "I feel strange when I have hold of this sword, and I notice everything much more clearly. Look at the beautiful gargoyles of the church, and of the monastery which it belongs to. See how splendidly all the famous banners in the aisle are waving. How nobly that yew holds up the red flakes of its timbers to worship God. How clean the snow is. I can smell something like fetherfew and sweet briar—and is it music that I hear?" It was music, whether of pan-pipes or of recorders, and the light in the churchyard was so clear, without being dazzling, that one could have picked a pin out twenty yards away. "There is something in this place," said the Wart. "There are people. Oh, people, what do you want?" Nobody answered him, but the music was loud and the light beautiful. "People," cried the Wart, "I must take this sword. It is not for me, but for Kay. I will bring it back." There was still no answer, and Wart turned back to the anvil. He saw the golden letters, which he did not read, and the jewels on the pommel, flashing in the lovely light. "Come, sword," said the Wart. He took hold of the handles with both hands, and strained against the stone. There was a melodious consort on the recorders, but nothing moved. The Wart let go of the handles, when they were beginning to bite into the palms of his hands, and stepped back, seeing stars. "It is well fixed," he said. He took hold of it again and pulled with all his might. The music played more strongly, and the light all about the churchyard glowed like amethysts; but the sword still stuck. "Oh, Merlyn," cried the Wart, "help me to get this weapon." There was a kind of rushing noise, and a long chord played along with it. All round the churchyard there were hundreds of old friends. They rose over the church wall all together, like the Punch and Judy ghosts of remembered days, and there were badgers and nightingales and vulgar crows and hares and wild geese and falcons and fishes and dogs and dainty unicorns and solitary wasps and corkindrills and hedgehogs and griffins and the thousand other animals he had met. They loomed round the church wall, the lovers and helpers of the Wart, and they all spoke solemnly in turn. Some of them had come from the banners in the church, where they were painted in heraldry, some from the waters and the sky and the fields about—but all, down to the smallest shrew mouse, had come to help on account of love. Wart felt his power grow. "Put your back into it," said a Luce (or pike) off one of the heraldic banners, "as you once did when I was going to snap you up. Remember that power springs from the nape of the neck." "What about those forearms," asked a Badger gravely, "that are held together by a chest? Come along, my dear embryo, and find your tool." A Merlin sitting at the top of the yew tree cried out, "Now then, Captain Wart, what is the first law of the foot? I thought I once heard something about never letting go?" "Don't work like a stalling woodpecker," urged a Tawny Owl affectionately. "Keep up a steady effort, my duck, and you will have it yet." A white-front said, "Now, Wart, if you were once able to fly the great North Sea, surely you can co-ordinate a few little wing-muscles here and there? Fold your powers together, with the spirit of your mind, and it will come out like butter. Come along, Homo sapiens, for all we humble friends of yours are waiting here to cheer." The Wart walked up to the great sword for the third time. He put out his right hand softly and drew it out as gently as from a scabbard. Quote
Frosty Posted September 13, 2024 Posted September 13, 2024 "Gently as from a scabbard," does that remind you of someone running into left handed threads for the first time? Of course if I ever stopped remarking on literature I haven't read I might not have to think of ways to pull my foot out of my mouth so often. What fun would that be? Frosty The Lucky. Quote
JPH Posted September 14, 2024 Posted September 14, 2024 Ya know...this is what I like about this place... a lot of us have our heads filled with a whole bunch of what most folks would call useless knowledge..then again most folks are more or less useless...but to those of us that know this "useless knowledge"...the world is still a marvelous place.. JP (call me Sir Superfluous) H Quote
LarryFahnoe Posted September 14, 2024 Posted September 14, 2024 Related: "loose track of the mystery at your own risk", something an old friend said occasionally & one I've always thought of as good wisdom. --Larry Quote
Frosty Posted September 14, 2024 Posted September 14, 2024 I don't recall who said it but to paraphrase, "There are no uninteresting subjects, just uninterested people." Get into much Mr. Superfluidius? A rabbit hole once lead me to liquid helium. It's the only known liquid that can flow two opposing directions in the same container without interacting. I don't recall the isotope, there are a number of them, more than any other element as of the time I fell down that rabbit hole. Frosty The Lucky. Quote
Scott NC Posted September 15, 2024 Posted September 15, 2024 5 hours ago, Frosty said: "There are no uninteresting subjects, just uninterested people." Spot on. Quote
George N. M. Posted September 15, 2024 Posted September 15, 2024 Yes, my head is a lumber room of odd, obscure, random, and unusual facts but it is FUN to make connections that other folk can't. If I read something in the news and make a connection to some medieval or classical reference I really enjoy it because it is a cool connection and I know most folk wouldn't be able to do it. One of the reasons I like IFI is that there are a lot of kindred souls. I don't have to dumb down many of my comments. GNM Quote
Frosty Posted September 15, 2024 Posted September 15, 2024 I random associate everything I see, hear, read, etc. at some level everything is connected if you look. So I don't limit myself in what I observe. Something like that George? Fun isn't it. Frosty The Lucky. Quote
JPH Posted September 22, 2024 Posted September 22, 2024 Speaking of "Connections"..there was a series by the BBC in the late 1970's (?) if I remember correctly that was called "Connections"..It was..very interesting to watch.. JPH Quote
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted September 22, 2024 Posted September 22, 2024 On 9/15/2024 at 1:57 AM, George N. M. said: my head is a lumber room of odd, obscure, random, and unusual facts Mine is more like someone emptied the junk drawer on a trampoline. I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.~ Semper Paratus Quote
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