ANST - Cloved Watermelon

[John Ruble]

> Heck, I remember when Lady Rowena from Blacklake gave a cloven
> WATERMELON to
> one of Sir Ian's squires and told him he had two events to use it
> up....he
> did, too.  Of course, he was cute and many of us ladies took "pity"
> on him!
> 
> Ulrica
> >
> >I will attest that in more youthful and less serious times many of us
> >participated in the curious social rituals of the "cloven fruit".
> >However, I can not recall an occasion in the past ten years when a
> >cloved lemon has appeared (it probably has, I just wasn't there).  In
> >its heyday, "cloven fruit" appeared at nearly every revel in the form
> of
> >lemons, oranges, zuccini, hats, and, at least once, a pumpkin.
> >
> >Bear
> 
As for the scarcity of this fruit, I see one about every other event, in
the North, in the South, or anywhere in between.  Some of you who have
voiced your dislike of this custom may not see cloved lemons anymore
because people know of your dislike, and are respecting it. Usually when
I see one, it's because some lady hands it to me and says "Ulf, get rid
of this. Somewhere.  Anywhere. Just don't let it be found."  Cloved
lemons make good eating...

As for the watermelon, the original occurrence (to the best of my
knowledge).  Master Ivar and Master Orm were at an event.  Ivar walked
up to a lady with a cloved watermelon in his hands and a mischievous
grin on his face.  Her initial horror at the thought of wandering around
with this huge watermelon, looking for someone to give it to next, must
have shown on her face.  So Ivar looked over and say Orm walking nearby.
"Orm, my friend," he said, "Could you hold this watermelon for the lady
while we exchange the clove?"  "Oh, but of course, Ivar," replied Orm.

Now the exchange of the clove took some time, as Ivar has trouble with
these things, but kept after it until it was done satisfactorily.  But
when he and the lady looked up, Orm was gone!  Ivar said, "Pray, lady,
let me find where my friend Orm has wandered off with your watermelon,"
and off he went.

It was long until he was walking by just as Orm was presenting the
watermelon to another lady.  He looked up at Ivar and said, "Ivar, my
friend.  "Could you hold this watermelon for the lady while we exchange
the clove?"  "Oh, but of course, Orm," replied Ivar...

This went on for some hours before the ladies started talking and
realized that not a one of them had got the watermelon all night.  Two
Norsemen very nearly died that night...


Ulf Gunnarsson
*---These are my opinions only, and not the opinions of my employers,
*---spouse, or family doctor.  So there.  Contents may settle during
*---shipping.  Send spelling complaints to ulf at urocor.com



============================================================================
Go to http://www.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.