Chivalrous Acts and Unwise Challenges: The Story of the Legendary Monster of Cudgel War Lake - Herr Egil Drakhufvud, Squire to Sir Brendan

The truth of this story was witnessed by many including the Queen of Drachenwald and the Princess of Nordmark, so it must be true. Once upon a time, there was a monster in the lake. It had eaten children for several years, but when it bit a child in the foot this year, a mighty warrior stepped up and proclaimed that he would slay the monster.

First he dived down into the lake, and started to dig the monster out of its lair with his bare hands, but the monster did not yield, and neither did our warrior.

He brought rope and many mighty lords and ladies down for a second attempt. This warrior was from Frostheim, and they are not the kind of people to ever give up! He dived down into the muddy water and found the monster again. He put several loops of rope around its neck and the whole crowd tried to strangle the monster. But the monster did not yield, and being from Frostheim, neither did our fierce warrior.

At this point, people told him to give up, but he did not! A old and rusty saw was brought to him and he swam down once more and this time, he stayed under the water for a long, long time. But then he broke the surface with the monster's head in his fist, and he yelled:

“Behold the monster's head! The lake is safe for us again!"

Even though the monster was dead, its eyes were terrible to behold, so our warrior picked them out with his blade and replaced them with two fine carnelian gems from Nordmark. The monster's head was later presented to the Baron and Baroness of Aarnimetsä as a gift.
And the moral of this story is that sometimes you just have to keep trying, and you will find a way to achieve your goal. And if you need to retell this story for someone outside the SCA, you could say: there was a sharp pole in the water under the bridge where children got hurt all the time. A stubborn guy dug a half meter down in the mud and sawed it off. But that does not sound as fun, does it?

This story took place at Cudgel War XVII in the Barony of Aarnimetsä, in A.S. LIII/53. The written version is by and the hero in the story is Herr Egil Drakhufvud, squire to Sir Brendan the Tired. The magical version where the story is told and shown to you through the ether with wonderful pictures (video) is narrated by Jarl Peregrine MacKay and the illustration, illumination and calligraphy for the book it features were by Aislinn O'Faelan.