The Princess and the Hood: Reflections of the Wine Bottle

King Fergus' Leg

MERIDA

HAHA! I'd finally done it! My first bullseye with the bow I was just given for my sixth birthday!

I'd spent hours each day with it after schooling with mum. Following my lessons I would immediately grab my bow and quiver, running straight for the target range on the castle green and not come inside until sunset. After days of this routine, I finally landed my first centre shot. It was somewhere between ten and fifteen feet away from me (Hey, I was just a little girl at the time).

I was so proud, I couldn't wait to show dad! So with my bow in hand, the target still full of scattered arrows, I ran from the archery range back inside the castle. I hurried up to mum and dad's room and knocked on the door.

"Dad!" I called. "Dad, ye'll never guess what!"

No response. At least, not from inside the room.

"Princess?"

I turned around to see Maudie, the stout castle maid, walking to the bedroom with a stack of folded sheets.

"Maudie? Are they sleeping?" I asked.

"I saw your father go downstairs a few hours ago." the woman shrugged. "Other than that, I don't know."

"Downstairs? Thank yeh." She must have been talking about the cellar where he kept those big barrels and bottles, the place he liked to brag about to his big strong friends.

Well, there was no time to waste! I made my way back the way I came, past the hearth that warmed the great hall, this time pushing the heavy cellar door open.

"Dad?" I called, my voice echoing through the dim stairwell and into the cellar itself. All of a sudden came the sound of wood hitting stone, and then glass breaking.

"EH? HUH? WHAT?"

Was that dad? I hurried down the stairs, worried. Did he hurt himself?

"Dad? Are yeh alright?"

"Who's...? Merry?" he slurred. Something was definitely wrong here.

When I got to him, dad was lying on the floor next to a toppled stool and a broken glass bottle. Its contents formed a large puddle on the floor near his left side. More specifically, the stitched and bandaged remains of his left leg.

I looked at the stump sadly. Everything from the knee down had been lost to the monstrous black bear, Mor'du. He came to the small camp we'd set up in the woods on my birthday outing, and my dad fought him along with several other men-at-arms. Mum picked me up and we rode away to safety on her horse. I remembered hearing my dad yell, "COME ON, YOU!" and then the roar of the bear. Soon enough I could hear his screams through the trees. Something bad had happened! I was scared.

After we got back home, I locked myself in my room and waited for dad to make it back to us. But it was hours before he arrived, and even longer before I was allowed to see him. When I finally did, he was asleep in his and mum's bedroom. The man was paler than normal with a strip of leather binding the end of his thigh. With it were bandages tightly wrapped and red-stained.

Here in the cellar, he still needed to keep it in bandages since it wasn't fully healed. They couldn't take the stitches out yet. His mangy red hair was even messier than usual, his beard grown out longer and dripping with whatever he'd just spilled. The solid staff he used for walking lay on the floor. I watched him strain as he reached for it desperately, trying to grab the one thing that allowed him to stand up. So I picked it up, with both hands due to my size, and brought it over to him.

"Here."

"Ah, thank yeh, my wee darlin'." he sighed with a tired smile. "Did Maudie send yeh down here with more?"

"More?" I repeated, confused. "More what?"

"More wine, o' course!" he laughed. "Or ale. We're almost out of everything here. 'EY MAUDIE! WE'RE SHORT ON WINE!"

The man wasn't himself. Ever since losing his leg, something was wrong with him. I looked at where he lay, trying to think of what else had happened since then...

"Fergus!"

Startled, dad looked past me. We both saw mum standing in the doorway with clenched fists.

"Drowning yourself in wine and ale is one thing, but in front of our child?!"

"Mum? What does that mean?" I asked, not fully understanding.

"Merida, go back upstairs."

"But I want to show dad my first bullseye."

"Yeh hit the centre ring?" Dad sat up, surprise written all over his sweaty face. "HAHAH! That's me daughter! I knew yeh could do it! Keep on going till yeh never get it wrong, that's what I always say!"

"Fergus, do not change the subject. Merida, go upstairs now."

"But—"

"NOW!"

I recoiled, scared of mum now that she'd yelled at me. So scared, in fact, that I didn't realise until after leaving the room that I had dropped my bow. With whatever was going on downstairs, I was conflicted on whether or not I should go back down to get it.

"Merida!" dad's voice called. "Wait, Merry, yeh left yer bow behind!"

"Do not bring her back down here," said mum.

"I just wanna give the lass her bow back." he said pleadingly.

"Fine."

Hearing them, I ran back down into the cellar where dad was still lying on the floor, holding my bow out to me.

"Here yeh go. Don't worry, I didn't spill anything on the string." he said. He handed me the weapon and I took a few steps back toward the stairs. "Listen to your mum, right? I don't want you to see me like... like this."

This was all wrong. I'd never heard mum and dad fight before or even understood what it was about. Left with no other choice I left the cellar again. It wasn't until I was out of sight that they continued their loud conversation. Amidst their words was sobbing from my father.