[Darkwood-SCA] Bard of the Mists winner

John Rossignol giguette at pacbell.net
Sun Sep 11 12:25:39 PDT 2005


Huge congratulations to our own Na'arah bat Avraham, who bested Brigit 
Thornwielder and Duke Frederick of Holland to emerged victorious in 
yesterday's Bard of the Mists competition.  The highlight of the day was 
her entry in the "Entertain the Entertainers" category.  Her delightful 
retelling of the Biblical story of Esther, a la Dr. Seuss, had the 
audience splitting their sides with laughter, and our Prince and 
Princess enthusiastically led the traditional hissing and noisemaking 
whenever the name of the evil Haman was mentioned.  The ability to 
engage an audience so thoroughly, to take them out of themselves, is a 
great gift, and the hallmark of a true bard.

Na'arah's entry in the "Piece in a Period Style" category was a 
finely-crafted piece of medieval Jewish wine poetry.  Although it was 
not as much of a show-stopper as her "Story of Esther", it was in fact a 
far nobler work.  In the weeks preceding the contest I had a few 
glimpses into the research she did for this piece, so I can appreciate 
her scholarship as well as her poetic talents.  I also thank her for 
introducing us to this multifaceted genre.

Of course, Na'arah is my friend and I was rooting for her all the way, 
but it was sooo much fun to congratulate her by shaking my head 
reproachfully at her, after all her worrying, and say, "I told you so." 
 You see, dear, I too like being right.  <g>  Very well done, Na'arah, 
and congratulations on your well-earned victory.  I am so very proud of 
you.  You will be a wonderful Bard of the Mists.   :-)   :-)   :-)

By the way, could you please publish your wine poem on the Darkwood list 
so we could all enjoy it again?

Applause also to BJ and Aidan, who did the pictures in Na'arah's 
"Esther" scroll.  Those pictures and captions were hilarious, guys! 
 Some people were laughing so hard they almost fell out of their chairs. 
 Well done!   :-)

John




More information about the Darkwood-SCA mailing list