Sir Alane's Lesson: A Summary

The sun was hot, the air was dusty, and the spirits were high. Horses whinnied from left to right and shouting was heard from across the encampment. A knights tournament was always quite the sanguine event, with people from all across the land gathering to share in the festivities. A horn was blared to signify the events were beginning and the crowd rushed to get seats for the jousting match. The most highly praised knight of the tournament was Sir Alane. His rakish behaviours were quite the crowd pleaser and he had never lost a match. As he rode up to assume position, his opponent made his appearance. It was Sir Bertram, the most burley and ignoble man to grace the field. He had unhorsed many of his opponents and took great revenge in those who managed to knock him

The horn sounded again and the riders were off, dust blowing up behind the pounding hooves of the beasts they rode. The jousting spears were aimed, the shields a protective aegis arranged, the men ducked down ready for impact, and then, at the last moment, Bertram shifted his aim in an attempt to obfuscate and strike Alane. Their lances met head on instead with Alane’s devious perspicacity paying off , and they threw each other off balance, both men to falling to the ground in a plume of amorphous dust. The crowd, such altruistic folk, leapt to their feet to make sure each man was unhurt. Bewildered, the knights lie on the ground for several seconds, stuck in ephemeral awe of being possibly defeated by the other, before jumping to their feet. Both men began shouting out their opinions of who had fallen first, causing quite the factious uproar. It was clear on Alane’s face that the outcome was quite the non sequitur compared to the way he had imagined his glory. In the end however, it was decided that Alane was the champion and throughout the camp, elegies of Bertram’s loss were told until