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The Invisible Knight

There was once a young man who every day went to work in the fields near his home - and there he dreamed about what might be.

A main highway led through the fields where he worked and the young man would look up from his planting, hoeing, pruning and picking, to watch the kingdom's travelers, the weird and wonderful people that passed by, and he dream of being more than he was.

He would sigh and imagine leaving his boring existence and journeying to adventure and glory. But he never did. For those passersby that inspired him the most, the warrior knights, who he longed to emulate, also served to bury him deeper in self-doubt. Indeed when he looked at them, he seemed to see his face and being reflected back in their shiny armour, and this served to remind him how low he was. He would bend his head back to his work, ever determined that he had nothing to compare to their glory.

But inside his heart, his dreams dreamed on.

One day it happened that the lord, in whose fields he worked, sent word that he needed an errand taken to the next town. The overseer came looking for a messenger and fate led to the young man. And so he was given his instructions and within a twitch of life's tale found himself a traveler on the King’s road.

As he traveled his heart pushed his dreams up into his mind, and his head was filled with ambitions. So much so, that through the very power of these thoughts it came about that the first person he should meet in the new town was the blacksmith who made the armour for all the knights thereabout.

The young man stood and stared in wonder at the marvelous suits, all gleaming in the sunlight as if beacons to a dozen new worlds. The blacksmith was kindly man and although knowing from the stance and appearance that the young man was no potential customer, he nonetheless was pleased to stop his work and chat awhile. And so learnt of the young man's dream to be a knight.

In time the blacksmith felt moved, he knew not how, to help the young man realise this dream. He retreated into the dark depths of his workshop and reappeared with a suit of armour long forgotten. It was by no imagination the best he had; in fact, it was quite possible that it had saved every other suit from decay, by accepting all the world's rust for itself. But when the blacksmith offered it as a gift to the young man, he joyfully accepted, telling himself that even he was not too low to wear a suit so old and decayed. He thanked the blacksmith warmly and thrust it into his sack before any saw him.

On saying goodbye to his new friend and swiftly dispatching himself of his message, the young man found himself with a dilemma. He could not return to his home and work with the armour, for no knight worked in a field. So, he resolved to travel on, to leave the town in the opposite direction.

Once out of sight he pulled the rusty armour out of his sack and reverently put it on. He was delighted to find that it fitted him perfectly and this further made him feel it should be his. Indeed, by the time he had entered the next town he’d never felt so at home as he now did, encased in his thick armour. However, he was not prepared for the reaction of the folk in that town. When they saw the grubby, rusty knight that walked into their square, they simply laughed.

The young man felt mortified, but knowing he was unable to give up his dream of being a knight. He would not take the armour off, and instead left the town swiftly by the next road. Once alone again he vowed that before he met another soul his armour would be faultless.

And so each day the young man passed his time repairing and restoring the straps, cleaning and polishing the metal. And with little other interest or focus for his time, the armour was quickly transformed. Encouraged by the results of his efforts the young man worked even harder, so that it became not only like new, but no less than the shiniest suit ever seen by human eyes. When at last he decided it was good enough, and he showed himself in another town, the people stared in amazement. Moreover, they followed him like disciples, straining over each other’s head just to see the light dance in reflection around him.

And so began a curious turn of events for the young man. He found the people were so eager to look into the shiny clear depths of his armour, that they would bring him gifts just for the privilege. He found he needed to do nothing but sit, and a comfortable living was brought to his feet. The young man believed he had found the answer to his dreams, to all his yearning, to life itself. So confident and content was he with this new life, that he never thought to question what it was the people were really looking at.

Then one day the young man was called upon by a servant of the town's lord, telling him that the master had requested he come to the castle. Nervous but excited, the young man followed the servant through the town, hoping against hope that now at last he was to receive the title of Knight, as well as the life of one. And this hope was not in vain either, for no sooner was he brought before the lord than he was offered a position among the lord’s own men.

The young man opened his mouth to give his agreement, when he noticed a strange thing: no matter which way he moved, or how he tried to catch the eye of the lord, he found the man was only looking at his armour. Shocked he looked at the others in the room, the other knights and servants, and saw they were doing the same. Suddenly the truth crashed down on him: so shiny, so luminous was his armour, that all who looked upon it were unable to see the man inside – in truth he had become invisible to the people around him.

Distressed and unsteady from this knowledge, he stumbled from the lord's chamber, and found himself in the castle hall. And it was there, for the first time, that he saw a real mirror – and he stared in disbelief at what he saw. For the mirror reflected only his armour, and his armour, only reflected the mirror. The young man staggered backwards in shock. He ran from the castle, and then from the town. For days he wandered aimlessly in the countryside, growing weaker, and lost in his confusion. His armour started to rust again, and grew heavy and stiff around him. It seemed to weigh him down more and more until eventually it caused him to slip and fall at the edge of a slope. Tumbling in a bone juddering ball, he fell into a deep ravine, and, landing with his head against a rock, he felt himself slip into unconsciousness - and into the world of dreaming.

In his dream, he saw himself lying hidden in bushes in the bottom of the ravine, near to a small pond of stagnant water. In time a small group of knights rode into the ravine. They quickly looked nervously about to ensure they are unseen, before starting to undress. They took off their gleaming armour, placing it carefully to one side, before stepping timidly into the cold water. The young man watched the knights in horror, for now he could seeing the pale, twisted and withered bodies that the armour had hidden. He knew the knights would not dare remove it in company. The men cleaned themselves in silence before rushing back to their protection. Once dressed they become relaxed and loud again, and with much shouting and forced rowdiness, they rode quickly from the ravine.

Left alone again the young man painfully pulled his own armour from his broken and bleeding body. In his dream he thrust it angrily into the water, and fell backwards exhausted. He knew no more until he woke - naked, but much healed.

Leaving the ravine the young man discovered himself to be on a road different from before. It seemed narrower and windier, and at first he was afraid to walk it. But then he remembered the past and all that had happened, and he felt a weight lift from him. He knew he had no will to go back, that nothing in his former life, not the glory and luxury, nor the safety and certainty, appealed to him now. He felt freed from responsibility of success. And so he walked forward, with a lightness he had not felt before.

Soon the young man came upon small child. Immediately he felt a surge within him that said he should pick up the child, to protect and care for it. But then he remembered that he no longer knew how to care for himself. In truth, he felt, there was little difference between them. So instead he sat down and started to talk to the child.

At first, the child was frightened and wary, but when he saw that the young man was gentle company, he began to relax. Indeed with a new friend so open in heart to all the child said, so accepting of his ways, he became happy and playful. The two talk and play for many hours until, quite suddenly, there was blinding flash and little child disappeared.

The young man was mystified, but he was still filled with the infectious wonder and laughter of the child so he merely shrugged at the strangeness of it all, and got up and continued on his way.

Further down road the young man met a mother. She was distressed and it was apparent to him that she was looking for something. The young man was afraid that it was the child he met so recently, and told her what happened with trepidation. But instead of becoming angst by his words, the woman was first intrigued then delighted by them. She told him that he must have given the child exactly what he needed to remember how to get home, as that was why he disappeared. She told him that the child was hers but that now she was at peace, and knew where to find him. The young man was puzzled and wondered what she meant; he asked her to walk with him a while, so that they might talk. As he did she smiled with a deep knowing that mystified him, but agreed and they set off down the road, talking and laughing as they went.

As they walked, the woman told him her story, how she was given the child but seemed constantly to be losing him. How no matter what she did she could never seem to remember where he was and had grown to think of herself as a terrible mother. It wasn't until she heard the young man's story that she realised her mistake. All the time she had been expecting her child to follow her, and yet every time she turned around he had wandered off. Now she saw that it was her who should follow the child; that the child knew where to go, and her job was to know what to do once they'd got there. She thanked the young man for guiding her to this knowledge, but when he turned to her to ask her what she meant, he was met by another flash of light and her disappearance too.

The young man shrugged to himself for a second time, and believing she had left to join her child, he walked on. But as he did he felt her peace and knowing continue to hang around him.

For many days after that, the young man continued to meet all kinds of people. He rarely understood them, but nonetheless they all seemed to be helped in some way by his company. And as for him, each meeting seemed to fill him more and more, sometime with knowledge, but more often with joy.

In fact so entranced was he with the many new faces he now felt to greet as friends, that the miles passed quickly, and the road, which had once been narrow and twisty, became broad and straight.

One day, just after a particularly pleasant fellow traveler had left him, he found himself approaching a magnificent castle, and as the drawbridge was down, the doors open, he walked in.

Finding himself in a long corridor the young man walked slowly along it until he came out into a large hall. Around it were many tables where large numbers of men sat talking and laughing. The young man heard a gentle cough and looked around to see an old man standing beside him. He asked where he was and learnt that he was in the Hall of the Knights of Elysium.

The young man looked back with surprise, for no one present wore armour; he asked how they could be knights. The old man chuckled, commenting that if a man was to wear armour in Elysium he would probably fall through the floor. Then he paused before answering the question seriously. None needed it, he told the young man, for in truth the men's hearts encompassed too much to be separated, and too much to be protected.

At these words the young man felt a shiver run through him that he could not explain, and, looking again a the knights around him, who were all now watching him with welcoming smiles, he found that though they were all strangers, he could say that he knew each one, no less than he did himself.

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