Based -VERY closely on Chaucers 2nd speech from “A Knights Tale”
Video courtesy of Arlyanna van Wyck
Your Majesties, Your Highness,
And everybody else here NOT sitting on a cushion:
Today, today, you find yourselves equals.
For you are all equally blessed.
For I have the pride, the privilege, nay, the pleasure
Of introducing to you a woman about to be elevated, sired by generations of Pelicans before her,
A woman who can trace her lineage back to before the founding of the Society! Or, at least, to Master Harold.
I first met her atop the snow capped lands of Stonemarche, Palio if you will,
Working her hands in soil, mud, sweat and blood
Never asking for help, asking only for forgiveness that her flesh and bones could not labor beyond the bounds of human endurance.
Next, she amazed me still further at Harper’s
When she saved a lame duckFrom the would-be demolishment of a multi-remove feast.
Bashing away forks, knives, spoons all utensils with her bare hands
This duck? It may have been her own
At Birka, she spent a day sitting still, never moving an inch, or clattering an item
Just to better understand what stillness felt like.
And so, without further gilding the lily,
And with no more ado,
I give to you the Seeker of Service,
The Ambassador of Aide ,
The Matron of Maintenance
The One —
The Only —
Tessa Martini D’agnostino!
Start at 1:34- 3:41
Meddlings of the Minnesinger 