ARCH - Fw: [Middleford-Ansteorra] Hi-Tech meets the 13th century

[Mike Harkness]

----- Original Message -----
From: <sylvrfalcn at aol.com>
To: <Middleford-Ansteorra at egroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2000 8:07 PM
Subject: [Middleford-Ansteorra] Hi-Tech meets the 13th century


>   Today I headed to the range for Tiw's* Day archery practice.  The range
was
> abuzz with compound bow archers tuning up for this weekend's deer season
> opener.  After I had been shooting a while, one of these fine fellows came
> over to me and said;"you know you're making some of these guys sick,
they've
> got all the latest gizmos and you're outshooting them with that crude
looking
> thing, and at twice the distance".  I answered him something like this; "I
> would be a discredit to the Shire if I shot poorly, we are widely known
for
> our archers".  His puzzled look launched us into a long conversation about
> the SCA and medieval archery.
>   Looking skeptically at my little 30 lb. bow he asked, "yeah, but how far
> can you accurately hit a man with that thing?". "Oh, 50 yards, and a wee
bit
> more, is no real challenge to a proper archer", I answered (perhaps a bit
> cocky).  Now he was fit to be tied, "this I gotta see!".  So, together we
> measured off the fifty paces (geez did the target look little from there).
> Plucking an arrow from my quiver, I drew with great care, calculated the
> trajectory, and let it fly.  And fly it did, and fly, and fly, until with
a
> resounding THUMP it struck the center ring about an inch and a half from
dead
> center!
>   Jumping Jehosephat! Talk about a magical moment, I thought the poor
guy's
> knees were going to buckle in his astonishment.  In fact I was a bit
wobbly
> myself at being blessed with such fantastic and well timed luck (well, you
> know it was luck, mostly). Nonchalantly I set my gear aside and went to
fetch
> my arrow (before he could regain his senses enough to ask me to do it
> again!).  My "wheel bow" shooting aquaintance now grinning so hard I
thought
> he'd hurt himself, asked,"holy crap, do all you guys shoot like that?".
> "Heck no", I answered, "I'm just a wee rooky, I practice the bow hard as I
do
> in hopes of someday being as good as them".
>   You could have knocked him over with a feather!  Mumbling under his
breath,
> he stumbled back over to his place on the shooting line.  As he did he
kept
> looking over his shoulder at me, as if he half expected me to vanish in a
> swirl of vapor like some phantom from a fairy tale.  Picking up his five
> hundred dollar compound bow, he looked at it as if seeing it for the very
> first time.  Unless I miss my guess, here was a man with a new
understanding
> and appreciation of the archery of long ago, when archers had no "gizmos"
but
> only their eyes, their hands, and their hearts to guide their arrows.
>
>   In Service,
> Lord Robert of Yorkshire
>
> *Tiw (pronounced tew, as in church pew) is the Anglo Saxon pagan god for
> which Tuesday is named.  Wednesday (Woden's Day) is for their chief god
> Woden.  Thursday is, of course, Thor's Day.  And Friday is a toss up
between
> Freyja, a Vanir fertility goddess, and Frigga, wife of Woden.  What about
> Saturday, Sunday, and Monday?  Saturday is a carry over of Romanized
Britain,
> and honors their god Saturn.  Sunday is the day of the Sun, and Monday is
the
> day of the Moon.
>   The names of the months are all Roman including a god, some emperors,
and
> even Roman numerals, e.g. January, for the god Janus, August for Augustus
> Ceasar, September,October, November, December, equal seven, eight, nine,
and
> ten (which in fact they were until the emperors started changing things
> around).
>   Fascinating stuff eh?  We stand not so far from our past as all our
recent
> technological advances would have us believe.  If I don't see y'all at
> archer's practice come Thor's Day, then hopefully you can make it out on
the
> morning of the day of the Sun.
>
>  Cheers again,
>    Robert
>
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