The Aldens brought the new swords to Hannah as soon as they got back to the park.
“These are great,” Hannah said as Jessie handed her the money that was left. “You’ve saved the show.”
“Any more news about the real sword?” asked Henry.
“No,” said Hannah grimly. She checked her watch. “The show starts soon. I’d better get you all started.”
Hannah had found them all costumes to wear so they would look as if they were from the Middle Ages.
“Boys your age would be training to be knights,” Hannah said to Benny and Henry, handing them light cotton pants with tunics over them. “In the Middle Ages, you would really have worn tights, not pants, under your tunics.”
Both boys made faces.
“Tights! Those are for girls!” Benny cried.
“I had a feeling you might be more comfortable in pants,” Hannah said.
“Thank you,” Henry told her.
“Whew!” said Benny.
Hannah gave Jessie and Violet long dresses to wear. The girls changed into their dresses excitedly. They took turns braiding each others’ hair, and in no time they looked just like ladies-in-waiting for a princess.
“Another night you can be a musician and a jester,” Hannah said, holding up some colorful checkered tights and tunics. “But for now you look just right.”
Hannah sent Henry off toward the stable to help dress the horses in the elaborate gear they wore for the show. Violet and Jessie went to Annie’s tent to help her dress. Benny walked off toward the knights’ tent to help Jonathan. He was carrying one of the swords they’d bought.
When he entered the tent, Benny was surprised to find Jonathan whistling happily. Everyone else at the fairgrounds seemed to be feeling bad because of the stolen sword.
“Hello!” Jonathan said brightly when he saw Benny.
“I brought you this sword to replace the one that was stolen,” Benny said.
“Thanks,” Jonathan said, taking the sword. He looked at it briefly. “Nothing like the other one, but it will do for the show.”
“Can you believe the other sword was stolen?” Benny asked.
“It’s terrible, isn’t it?” said Jonathan. But he still didn’t really seem bothered. “Let’s get going, my young page.” He pointed to a pile of clothing and armor he needed to put on before the show.
“What is a ‘page’ anyway?” Benny asked.
Jonathan was changing from his regular clothes into gray padded long underwear. As he dressed he told Benny all about the Middle Ages. “You know what a knight is, right? Someone who protected the king and the noblemen. If you wanted to be a knight, first you became a page in a wealthy lord’s manor. Boys about your age would start off as pages, living with a noble family.”
“At my age?” Benny asked. He couldn’t imagine being sent away from his own family when he was still so young. He thought for a moment. “What would I do as a page?”
“You’d serve meals and help the lord get dressed each morning,” Jonathan said.
Benny made a face. “That doesn’t sound like much fun.”
“You’d also learn how to ride on a wooden horse and fight with a wooden sword,” Jonathan went on.
“Now that’s better,” Benny said, grinning.
“Then, when you got to be about Henry’s age, you’d become a squire,” said Jonathan. “Squires were like assistants— they followed their masters into battle and looked after the horses and armor.”
“Henry would like that,” Benny said.
“And once you were about twenty-one, you’d be made a knight,” said Jonathan.
“How do they make you a knight?” Benny wanted to know.
“There’s a special dubbing ceremony,” Jonathan said. “Kneel down. I’ll show you.”
Benny knelt in front of Jonathan.
“Now bow your head.”
Benny did as Jonathan told him.
“Now the lord would lightly tap your shoulder with a sword.” Jonathan picked up the new sword Benny had brought him and touched it to Benny’s shoulders.
“Rise, Sir Benny. You are now a knight!” Jonathan and Benny both laughed. Then Jonathan looked at his watch. “I’d better hurry up—the show starts in half an hour.”
“It won’t take you that long to get dressed,” said Benny.
“Not with your help,” Jonathan agreed. “But you know it used to take knights as long as an hour to put on all their armor.”
“You sure know all about knights,” said Benny.
“I did a lot of reading on the subject,” Jonathan said.
“Just for this show?” Benny asked.
“No, actually it was because—” Jonathan began. Then he stopped himself. “We’ve been talking too much. Come on, help me get ready, or I’ll be late.”
Benny wondered what Jonathan had started to say. But there was no time to ask. There was too much to do to get Jonathan ready for the show.
First Benny helped Jonathan strap on his leg armor over his long underwear. Next came the breastplate and backplate.
“This is heavy,” Benny said.
“And this isn’t even real armor,” said Jonathan. “Back in the Middle Ages a suit of armor could weigh as much as forty or fifty pounds! I’m glad my costume doesn’t weigh that much. It’s actually pretty flexible. Even back in the old days it was. It had to be so that the knights could move around in battle.”
“Why did they wear the armor, anyway?” Benny asked.
“To protect themselves from their enemy’s weapons,” Jonathan explained as Benny helped him put on the pieces covering his shoulders and arms.
Next, Benny helped Jonathan strap on his silvery cape, which fluttered behind him as he walked. Jonathan smiled in the mirror as he combed his hair. “Noble knights of the Round Table, here I come,” he said to himself. Last, Benny helped Jonathan put on his long metal gloves and helmet.
“Hand me my sword,” Jonathan said just before leaving the tent.
Benny handed him the new sword.
“See you after the show!” Jonathan called out cheerfully.
Benny couldn’t believe Jonathan was in such a good mood. Wasn’t he at all worried about the stolen sword? After all he’d been the last one seen with it. But for some reason, Jonathan seemed to be happier than ever. Benny couldn’t help wondering why.
That night, again the show went well. The two swords the children had bought worked fine, although they lacked the sparkle of the missing sword.
When the show ended, the children changed out of their costumes and left them in Hannah’s office. Grandfather came to pick up the children since it was dark out. They piled wearily into the car.
Jessie told their grandfather about the missing sword.
“How terrible,” Mr. Alden said. “Hannah must be very upset about the sword.”
“Yes, she is,” said Violet.
“We promised to help her,” Jessie recalled. “Tomorrow we’ll have to get to the park a little bit earlier so we can look around. Maybe we can find the sword, or at least get an idea of who might have taken it.”
“Good plan,” Henry said. “We’ll go over there first thing.” |