And goode faire White she het;
That was my la dy name ryght.
That was my la dy name ryght.
She was bothe fair and bryght;
She hadde not hir name wrong.
(Boke of the Duchesse, 948–51).
THE [OC]: We offer you a gift. Return to us the human on your Tardis and in exchange, you may speak with her again.
OLD GRANDFATHER :
Speak with whom?
(A shadowy figure walks out of a ground floor archway with a bright light behind her.)
OLD GRANDFATHER :
Young lady, who are you?
PEARL :
Is he here? Is the Doctor here?
(Her Doctor, Dr. Disco AttackEyebrows comes out of the TARDIS.)
PEARL:
Doctor!
(they hug)
I knew it! I did, I knew it. I knew you couldn't be dead, you don't have the concentration. Doctor? What are you doing?
(He scans her with the sonic screwdriver.)
AttackEyebrows:
Just keep still, please. Pearl.
PEARL:
Yeah.
AttackEyebrows:
My friend Pearl was turned into a Cyberman.
She gave her life so that people she barely knew could live.
So, let's be clear. NOBODY imitates Bill Potts.
Nobody MOCKS Pearl
Pearl:
Bill Potts is standing right in front of you.
DOCTOR:
How is that even possible?
BILL: Well, long story short.
I totally pulled.
The Queen of Courtesy. Do you remember, The Girl in The Puddle?
Well, She showed up. She came for me.
‘O perle’, quod I, ‘in perle  py  t,
Art þou my perle þat I haf playned?’
" It has been objected that the child as seen in Heaven is not like an infant of two in appearance, speech, or manners: she addresses her father formally as sir, and shows no filial affection for him.
But this is an apparition of a spirit, a soul not yet reunited with its body after the resurrection, so that theories relevant to the form and age of the glorified and risen body do not concern us.
And as an immortal spirit, the maiden’s relations to the earthly man, the father of her body, are altered.
She does not deny his fatherhood, and when she addresses him as sir she only uses the form of address that was customary for medieval children. Her part is in fact truly imagined.
The sympathy of readers may now go out more readily to the bereaved father than to the daughter, and they may feel that he is treated with some hardness.
But it is the hardness of truth. In the manner of the maiden is portrayed the effect upon a clear intelligence of the persistent earthliness of the father’s mind; all is revealed to him, and he has eyes, yet he cannot see. The maiden is now filled with the spirit of celestial charity, desiring only his eternal good and the cure of his blindness.
It is not her part to soften him with pity, or to indulge in childish joy at their reunion.
The final consolation of the father was not to be found in the recovery of a beloved daughter, as if death had not after all occurred or had no significance, but in the knowledge that she was redeemed and saved and had become a queen in Heaven.
Only by resignation to the will of God, and through death, could he rejoin her.
And this is the main purpose of the poem as distinct from its genesis or literary form: the doctrinal theme, in the form of an argument on salvation, by which the father is at last convinced that his Pearl, as a baptized infant and innocent, is undoubtedly saved, and, even more, admitted to the blessed company of the 144,000 that follow the Lamb.
But the doctrinal theme is, in fact, inseparable from the literary form of the poem and its occasion; for it arises directly from the grief, which imparts deep feeling and urgency to the whole discussion. Without the elegiac basis and the sense of great personal loss which pervades it, Pearl would indeed be the mere theological treatise on a special point, which some critics have called it.
But without the theological debate the grief would never have risen above the ground.
Dramatically the debate represents a long process of thought and mental struggle, an experience as real as the first blind grief of bereavement. In his first mood, even if he had been granted a vision of the blessed in Heaven, the dreamer would have received it incredulously or rebelliously.
And he would have awakened by the mound again, not in the gentle and serene resignation of the last stanza, but still as he is first seen, looking only backward, his mind filled with the horror of decay, wringing his hands, while his wreched wylle in wo ay wrazte. "
Prof. J.R.R. Tolkein's introduction to Pearl
Hath a virtue of its own being,
That each who may thereto attain
Of all the realm is queen or king,
Yet never shall other’s right obtain,I
But in other’s good each glorying
And wishing each crown worth five again,
If amended might be so fair a thing.
But my Lady of whom did Jesu spring,
O’er us high she holds her empery,
And none that grieves of our following,
For she is the Queen of Courtesy.
39 In courtesy we are members all
Of Jesus Christ, Saint Paul doth write:
As head, arm, leg, and navel small
To their body doth loyalty true unite,
So as limbs to their Master mystical
All Christian souls belong by right.
Now among your limbs can you find at all
Any tie or bond of hate or spite?
Your head doth not feel affront or slight
On your arm or finger though ring it see;
So we all proceed in love’s delight
To king and queen by courtesy.’
40‘ Courtesy,’ I said, ‘I do believe
And charity great dwells you among,
But may my words no wise you grieve,
You in heaven too high yourself conceive
To make you a queen who were so young.
What honour more might he achieve
Who in strife on earth was ever strong,
And lived his life in penance long
With his body’s pain to get bliss for fee?
What greater glory could to him belong
Than king to be crowned by courtesy?
41 THAT courtesy gives its gifts too free,
If it be sooth that you now say.
Two years you lived not on earth with me,
And God you could not please, nor pray
With Pater and Creed upon your knee –
And made a queen that very day!
I cannot believe, God helping me,
That God so far from right would stray.
Of a countess, damsel, I must say,
’Twere fair in heaven to find the grace,
Or of lady even of less array,
But a queen! It is too high a place.’
42‘ Neither time nor place His grace confine’,
Then said to me that maiden bright,
‘For just is all that He doth assign,
And nothing can He work but right.
In God’s true gospel, in words divine
That Matthew in your mass doth cite,
A tale he aptly doth design,
In parable saith of heaven’s light:
“My realm on high I liken might
To a vineyard owner in this case.
The year had run to season right;
To dress the vines ’twas time and place.
43 All labourers know when that time is due.
The master up full early rose
To hire him vineyard workers new;
And some to suit his needs he chose.
Together they pledge agreement true
For a penny a day, and forth each goes,
Travails and toils to tie and hew,
Binds and prunes and in order stows.
In forenoon the master to market goes,
And there finds men that idle laze.
‘Why stand ye idle?’ he said to those.
‘Do ye know not time of day nor place?’
44‘ This place we reached betimes ere day’,
This answer from all alike he drew,
‘Since sunrise standing here we stay,
And No Man offers us work to do.’
‘Go to my vineyard! Do what ye may!’
Said the lord, and made a bargain true:
‘In deed and intent I to you will pay
What hire may justly by night accrue.’
They went to his vines and laboured too,
But the lord all day that way did pace,
And brought to his vineyard workers new,
Till daytime almost passed that place.
45 In that place at time of evensong,
One hour before the set of sun,
He saw there idle labourers strong
And thus his earnest words did run:
‘Why stand ye idle all day long?’
They said they chance of hire had none.
‘Go to my vineyard, yeomen young,
And work and do what may be done!’
The hour grew late and sank the sun,
Dusk came o’er the world apace;
He called them to claim the wage they had won,
For time of day had passed that place.
46 THE time in that place he well did know;
He called: ‘Sir steward, the people pay!
Give them the hire that I them owe.
Moreover, that none reproach me may,
Set them all in a single row,
And to each alike give a penny a day;
Begin at the last that stands below,
Till to the first you make your way.’
Then the first began to complain and say
That they had laboured long and sore:
‘These but one hour in stress did stay;
It seems to us we should get more.
47 More have we earned, we think it true,
Who have borne the daylong heat indeed,
Than these who hours have worked not two,
And yet you our equals have decreed.’
One such the lord then turned him to:
‘My friend, I will not curtail your meed.
Go now and take what is your due!
For a penny I hired you as agreed,
Why now to wrangle do you proceed?
Was it not a penny you bargained for?
To surpass his bargain may no man plead.
Why then will you ask for more?
48 Nay, more –am I not allowed in gift
To dispose of mine as I please to do?
Or your eye to evil, maybe, you lift,
For I none betray and I am true?’
“Thus I”, said Christ, “shall the order shift:
The last shall come first to take his due,
And the first come last, be he never so swift;
For many are called, but the favourites few.”
Thus the poor get ever their portion too,
Though late they came and little bore;
And though to their labour little accrue,
The mercy of God is much the more.
49 More is my joy and bliss herein,
The flower of my life, my lady’s height,
Than all the folk in the world might win,
Did they seek award on ground of right.
Though ’twas but now that I entered in,
And came to the vineyard by evening’s light.
First with my hire did my Lord begin;
I was paid at once to the furthest mite.
Yet others in toil without respite
That had laboured and sweated long of yore,
He did not yet with hire requite,
Nor will, perchance, for years yet more.’
50 Then more I said and spoke out plain:
‘Unreasonable is what you say.
Ever ready God’s justice on high doth reign,
Or a fable doth Holy Writ purvey.
The Psalms a cogent verse contain,
Which puts a point that one must weigh:
“High King, who all dost foreordain,
His deserts Thou dost to each repay.”
Now if daylong one did steadfast stay,
And you to payment came him before,
Then lesser work can earn more pay;
And the longer you reckon, the less hath more.’
That each who may thereto attain
Of all the realm is queen or king,
Yet never shall other’s right obtain,I
But in other’s good each glorying
And wishing each crown worth five again,
If amended might be so fair a thing.
But my Lady of whom did Jesu spring,
O’er us high she holds her empery,
And none that grieves of our following,
For she is the Queen of Courtesy.
39 In courtesy we are members all
Of Jesus Christ, Saint Paul doth write:
As head, arm, leg, and navel small
To their body doth loyalty true unite,
So as limbs to their Master mystical
All Christian souls belong by right.
Now among your limbs can you find at all
Any tie or bond of hate or spite?
Your head doth not feel affront or slight
On your arm or finger though ring it see;
So we all proceed in love’s delight
To king and queen by courtesy.’
40‘ Courtesy,’ I said, ‘I do believe
And charity great dwells you among,
But may my words no wise you grieve,
You in heaven too high yourself conceive
To make you a queen who were so young.
What honour more might he achieve
Who in strife on earth was ever strong,
And lived his life in penance long
With his body’s pain to get bliss for fee?
What greater glory could to him belong
Than king to be crowned by courtesy?
41 THAT courtesy gives its gifts too free,
If it be sooth that you now say.
Two years you lived not on earth with me,
And God you could not please, nor pray
With Pater and Creed upon your knee –
And made a queen that very day!
I cannot believe, God helping me,
That God so far from right would stray.
Of a countess, damsel, I must say,
’Twere fair in heaven to find the grace,
Or of lady even of less array,
But a queen! It is too high a place.’
42‘ Neither time nor place His grace confine’,
Then said to me that maiden bright,
‘For just is all that He doth assign,
And nothing can He work but right.
In God’s true gospel, in words divine
That Matthew in your mass doth cite,
A tale he aptly doth design,
In parable saith of heaven’s light:
“My realm on high I liken might
To a vineyard owner in this case.
The year had run to season right;
To dress the vines ’twas time and place.
43 All labourers know when that time is due.
The master up full early rose
To hire him vineyard workers new;
And some to suit his needs he chose.
Together they pledge agreement true
For a penny a day, and forth each goes,
Travails and toils to tie and hew,
Binds and prunes and in order stows.
In forenoon the master to market goes,
And there finds men that idle laze.
‘Why stand ye idle?’ he said to those.
‘Do ye know not time of day nor place?’
44‘ This place we reached betimes ere day’,
This answer from all alike he drew,
‘Since sunrise standing here we stay,
And No Man offers us work to do.’
‘Go to my vineyard! Do what ye may!’
Said the lord, and made a bargain true:
‘In deed and intent I to you will pay
What hire may justly by night accrue.’
They went to his vines and laboured too,
But the lord all day that way did pace,
And brought to his vineyard workers new,
Till daytime almost passed that place.
45 In that place at time of evensong,
One hour before the set of sun,
He saw there idle labourers strong
And thus his earnest words did run:
‘Why stand ye idle all day long?’
They said they chance of hire had none.
‘Go to my vineyard, yeomen young,
And work and do what may be done!’
The hour grew late and sank the sun,
Dusk came o’er the world apace;
He called them to claim the wage they had won,
For time of day had passed that place.
46 THE time in that place he well did know;
He called: ‘Sir steward, the people pay!
Give them the hire that I them owe.
Moreover, that none reproach me may,
Set them all in a single row,
And to each alike give a penny a day;
Begin at the last that stands below,
Till to the first you make your way.’
Then the first began to complain and say
That they had laboured long and sore:
‘These but one hour in stress did stay;
It seems to us we should get more.
47 More have we earned, we think it true,
Who have borne the daylong heat indeed,
Than these who hours have worked not two,
And yet you our equals have decreed.’
One such the lord then turned him to:
‘My friend, I will not curtail your meed.
Go now and take what is your due!
For a penny I hired you as agreed,
Why now to wrangle do you proceed?
Was it not a penny you bargained for?
To surpass his bargain may no man plead.
Why then will you ask for more?
48 Nay, more –am I not allowed in gift
To dispose of mine as I please to do?
Or your eye to evil, maybe, you lift,
For I none betray and I am true?’
“Thus I”, said Christ, “shall the order shift:
The last shall come first to take his due,
And the first come last, be he never so swift;
For many are called, but the favourites few.”
Thus the poor get ever their portion too,
Though late they came and little bore;
And though to their labour little accrue,
The mercy of God is much the more.
49 More is my joy and bliss herein,
The flower of my life, my lady’s height,
Than all the folk in the world might win,
Did they seek award on ground of right.
Though ’twas but now that I entered in,
And came to the vineyard by evening’s light.
First with my hire did my Lord begin;
I was paid at once to the furthest mite.
Yet others in toil without respite
That had laboured and sweated long of yore,
He did not yet with hire requite,
Nor will, perchance, for years yet more.’
50 Then more I said and spoke out plain:
‘Unreasonable is what you say.
Ever ready God’s justice on high doth reign,
Or a fable doth Holy Writ purvey.
The Psalms a cogent verse contain,
Which puts a point that one must weigh:
“High King, who all dost foreordain,
His deserts Thou dost to each repay.”
Now if daylong one did steadfast stay,
And you to payment came him before,
Then lesser work can earn more pay;
And the longer you reckon, the less hath more.’
51‘ OF more and less in God’s domains
No question arises’, said that maid,
‘For equal hire there each one gains,
Be guerdon great or small him paid.
No churl is our Chieftain that in bounty reigns,
Be soft or hard by Him purveyed;
As water of dike His gifts He drains,
Or streams from a deep by drought unstayed.
Free is the pardon to him conveyed
Who in fear to the Saviour in sin did bow;
No bars from bliss will for such be made,
For the grace of God is great enow.
52 But now to defeat me you debate
That wrongly my penny I have taken here;
You say that I who came too late
Deserve not hire at price so dear.
Where heard you ever of man relate
Who, pious in prayer from year to year,
Did not somehow forfeit the guerdon great
Sometime of Heaven’s glory clear?
Nay, wrong men work, from right they veer,
And ever the ofter the older, I trow.
Mercy and grace must then them steer,
For the grace of God is great enow.
53 But enow have the innocent of grace.
As soon as born, in lawful line
Baptismal waters them embrace;
Then they are brought unto the vine.
Anon the day with darkened face
Doth toward the night of death decline.
They wrought no wrong while in that place,
And his workmen then pays the Lord divine.
They were there; they worked at his design;
Why should He not their toil allow,
Yea, first to them their hire assign?
For the grace of God is great enow.
54 Enow ’tis known that Man’s high kind
At first for perfect bliss was bred.
Our eldest father that grace resigned
Through an apple upon which he fed.
We were all damned, for that food assigned
To die in grief, all joy to shed,
And after in flames of hell confined
To dwell for ever unréspited.
But soon a healing hither sped:
Rich blood ran on rough rood-bough,
And water fair. In that hour of dread
The grace of God grew great enow.
No question arises’, said that maid,
‘For equal hire there each one gains,
Be guerdon great or small him paid.
No churl is our Chieftain that in bounty reigns,
Be soft or hard by Him purveyed;
As water of dike His gifts He drains,
Or streams from a deep by drought unstayed.
Free is the pardon to him conveyed
Who in fear to the Saviour in sin did bow;
No bars from bliss will for such be made,
For the grace of God is great enow.
52 But now to defeat me you debate
That wrongly my penny I have taken here;
You say that I who came too late
Deserve not hire at price so dear.
Where heard you ever of man relate
Who, pious in prayer from year to year,
Did not somehow forfeit the guerdon great
Sometime of Heaven’s glory clear?
Nay, wrong men work, from right they veer,
And ever the ofter the older, I trow.
Mercy and grace must then them steer,
For the grace of God is great enow.
53 But enow have the innocent of grace.
As soon as born, in lawful line
Baptismal waters them embrace;
Then they are brought unto the vine.
Anon the day with darkened face
Doth toward the night of death decline.
They wrought no wrong while in that place,
And his workmen then pays the Lord divine.
They were there; they worked at his design;
Why should He not their toil allow,
Yea, first to them their hire assign?
For the grace of God is great enow.
54 Enow ’tis known that Man’s high kind
At first for perfect bliss was bred.
Our eldest father that grace resigned
Through an apple upon which he fed.
We were all damned, for that food assigned
To die in grief, all joy to shed,
And after in flames of hell confined
To dwell for ever unréspited.
But soon a healing hither sped:
Rich blood ran on rough rood-bough,
And water fair. In that hour of dread
The grace of God grew great enow.
55 Enow there went forth from that well
Water and blood from wounds so wide:
The blood redeemed us from pains of hell,
Of the second death the bond untied;
The water is baptism, truth to tell,
That the spear so grimly ground let glide.
It washes away the trespass fell
By which Adam drowned us in deathly tide.
No bars in the world us from
Bliss divide In blessed hour restored,
I trow, Save those that He hath drawn aside;
And the grace of God is great enow.
56 GRACE enow may the man receive
Who sins anew, if he repent;
But craving it he must sigh and grieve
And abide what pains are consequent.
But reason that right can never leave
Evermore preserves the innocent;
’Tis a judgement God did never give
That the guiltless should ever have punishment.
The guilty, contrite and penitent,
Through mercy may to grace take flight;
But he that to treachery never bent
In innocence is saved by right.
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