The Saga of the Mantle

I found this story to be peculiar in its context. The messenger is described as ornately handsome, which is something we are not used to from the other texts, and he comes into Arthur's court bearing this beautiful crafted robe on which he offers as a gift to the one women whom it fits best. The context behind the cloak's magical powers is then given and the women of the court each must try their hand at wearing the garment. Where this man came from and why he is making all the court's women try on this deceptive cloak is not clear. Which seems to be a reoccurring story telling tool during this era. The authors seem to keep things ambiguous almost on purpose for reasons the reader may or may not later discover. When moving from the strange context of the story to the actual oddities within the narrative i believe a good place to begin is when the queen tries on the cloak. It is strange that the king was not angered by the fact that he learns that his queen has not been exactly faithful in every way. The queen skillfully plays off her shame by making all her ladies of the court put on the cloak next so as to show that her infidelity is much less than many of the unfaithful women there. The whole concept of this garment is well devised and yet strange that its almost a test of your virginal and courtly behavior. It shows that these ideals in women were extremely important and highly regarded in society during this time. I found it slightly unfair though that after all of the women are put through this shame, why is it that the men get away without so much as a test of their fidelity? This also shows that being bound to just one woman perhaps wasn't something expected of men during that time. Men obviously followed much different moral codes than their women and were expected to uphold different values.