A Classic Tale

Let me tell you the beginning to one of my favorite stories, abridged and phrased in my own words (a) so as to not confuse you and (b) so as to ensure you actually read this.

Wallace was a knight loyal to King Edward. Robin was Sir Wallace's former ally; but, in 1159, Robin staged a coup d'état and abducted the king. Normally such an act would have been seen as treachery against the Crown; however, King Edward spoke not one word during the entire process. (Because he was not going to throw his support behind one family or the other until a clear winner had been decided.) As for the kingdom, their loyalties were split right down the middle. Half of the peasants supported Sir Robin, believing that Sir Wallace had hoodwinked King Edward and that Sir Robin was trying to restore His Royal Highness to authority. The other half of the peasants believed that Sir Wallace was King Edward's truest and most loyal servant, as evidenced by his actions both before and after the coup, and that Sir Robin was indeed a traitor worthy of death.

Robin's coup fell apart; King Edward threw his support behind Sir Wallace; and Robin, on the run, was murdered by his own men on the outskirts of the kingdom. King Edward rewarded Sir Wallace by giving him the fiefs previously entitled to Robin and his kin. As for Sir Robin's wife and surviving children, their fate was in Sir Wallace's hands. And he had their lives spared; but, he banished all save the infant, Luke, to monasteries spread throughout the kingdom. Luke was permitted to remain with his mother until the age of 7. As for Luke's mother, Sir Robin's widow, she became Sir Wallace's favorite mistress.

Because of these circumstances, the young Luke came to think of Sir Wallace as his biological father; and neither Luke's mother nor Sir Wallace himself were about to correct the boy. Indeed, Sir Wallace came to love Luke more than his own son, Geoffrey. And Geoffrey, only too aware of this favoritism, grew to hate Luke once the two childhood friends became separated (with Luke's being sent off to a local monastery).

It was about one year after Luke was sent to live in the monastery that he had a chance meeting with one of Robin's few remaining relatives, his brother Erik. Erik was the one who told Luke the truth about his parents: his real father was Robin, the man he had grown up believing to be a traitor to the Crown, the man whose life had been brought to a grisly demise by Sir Wallace; and not only was Sir Wallace not Luke's real father, but he was the man who killed Luke's real father! Who stole Luke's father's wife! Who banished brothers Luke never even knew he had! Luke was so confused by this revelation. He had believed until this day that Sir Wallace was his father and a hero, and that Sir Robin was the traitor that Luke's father had gallantly defeated. Now his entire world was turned upside-down.

Luke grew up into a fine young man. He studied in the monastery but had no intention of becoming a priest. Instead, he spent most of his afternoons reading texts on military strategy and leadership. He spent most of his nights training in the martial arts with the animals of the forest and specters of his mind's own making.

And then ... Luke was finally forced to confront the question that had been eating at him ever since he met his uncle all those years ago -- what should he do? On the one hand, honor dictated that he avenge his father's death. On the other hand, did he not owe Sir Wallace his very life? How could he take the life of a man he had long believed to be his father? a man who, in hindsight, he now recognized loved Luke more than he loved his own flesh and blood?

I'll stop here. If this doesn't get you interested in the Heike Monogatari, I'm afraid nothing will. :p :)

Legend: Robin = Minamoto no Yoshitomo, Wallace = Taira no Kiyomori, Edward = Go-Shirakawa, Luke = Minamoto no Yoshitsune (alias Ushiwaka, alias Shanao), Geoffrey = Taira no Munemori, Erik = Yoshitomo's brother