2) What do women want? The Story of Sir Gawain and the Hag Renell. A story re-told by Ralph Metzner

Getting back to our story of "Sir Gawain and the Hag Ragnell," and recalling the riddle of the black knight (see blog #1), Sir Gawain told King Arthur: "We will send people all over the country; north and south, east and west. And we will write all the answers down in a book. We will do a survey." (Today Sir Gawain's solution to answering the black knights question would be considered the work of a social scientist, whole job it is to go around collecting information by asking people questions).

Meanwhile, about a year has now passed since King Arthur had his fateful encounter with the black knight. Sir Gawain has been busy travelling the country asking people the question: What do women want? And King Arthur is feeling fairly confident that things are looking up. Then one day King Arthur happened to be taking a walk in the woods, thinking about his up-coming appointment with the black knight. During this walk he met a hag or a witch.

The witch was horribly ugly. She was old and bent over, and had greasy stringy grey matted knarled hair. Her skin was pock marked. She had warts and oozing sores. Her teeth stuck out of her lips, which caused her to drool and slobber. Her eyes were bloodshot, yellowish and sickly looking. Her clothes were disgusting tatters and rags. She smelled, she stank, she was easily the most horribly ugly person anyone had ever had the misfortune of seeing.

Calling out to King Arthur, the witch said: "I know the thoughts that you are thinking that are causing you such anguish and suffering, and I know the answer that you are looking for, and I know that you ain't got it. And I know that you are in big trouble, and you do not know it. Because you think you have the answer to the riddle that you have been asked and writing down in that book of yours, and I know you don't. And you may wonder how I know, but you can just take my word of it--I do. And if you do not manage to get the answer to the black knight's question, and I know the correct answer, then you are going to die! And soon! (Robert Bly says the reason why it is important for each of us--both men and women--to get in touch with the witch inside of ourselves is because the witch knows how to say "no." And the witch knows how to assert herself and how to stand up for herself).

David R. Stevenson adds in his essay "To Say 'No!' is the Beginning of Wisdom: Kierkegaard's Contribution to Ethics" that (writing before authors became more attuned to gender neutral language):

"'No' is the first world many children utter, the word the child often hears from his parents, who represent the external environment's impingement upon his irresponsible action. The child's utterance of 'No' represents his own internalization of the external social commandment to 'stifle himself' and conform. . . . All ethical philosophers worthy of the name have stressed that ethical standards and moral values are rooted in self-awareness and self-control. . . . Learning to say 'No' enables the child to resist the commands of the external world and the demands of the internal world" (Stevenson: 36, 1978).

Reference
Stevenson, David R. (1978). "To Say 'No!' is the Beginning of Wisdom: Kierkegarrd's Contribution to Ethics." Platte Valley Review, 6 (1), 36-46.