Ye Olde Voicemaille

The Archeological Findings of Jennifer Brown & Alex Berman

Have you ever wondered what would happen if medieval serfs had answering machines? Well, we uncovered a treasure trove of records from the early-late-middle dark ages containing a hidden mystery about a chicken.

Sonnet 1 
Discovered scratched into the dirt outside Old Geoffroi’s place
Allegedly written by Sir Berthelemy II

Here I sit in this hovel of a home
Kept by my surly owner Old Geoffroi
But I despise the dull brown monochrome
Human trivialities but a toy

I know I possess power beyond men
I wish for greatness beyond what is here
Through networking I must expand my sphere
I can achieve good then and only then

And so I scratch this poem in the ground
With the hope some gentle soul will see
Great passerinic wisdom they have found
And with this knowledge they shall set me free

To show that my success is a sure bet
I write in a form not invented yet

A Newspaper Clipping from The Daily Peasant, dated eight furlongs past the harvest, the mid-early high-late Middle Ages.

TWO WENCHES CAUGHT ASSAULTING HIS ALL MERCIFUL LORD DUKE VISCOUNT BERTHELEMY II ESQ.

By Sir Fancilad Fancy

In Mudshire last week, two disgraceful wenches were caught with their unseemly hands on his All Merciful Lord Duke Viscount Berthelemy II Esq. “It was madness!” said Heloise P., a neighbor. “Yeah!” said Heloise H., also a neighbor. The wenches claim the mayor is a turkey masquerading as a chicken, but the mayor denies such vile accusations, saying, “Gobble gobble.” Article continued on page 4.

Process

We initially stumbled upon the idea for our pair project when discussing what a modern epistolary project could entail. We loved the idea of an epistolary-style piece because we could both contribute one of the main voices and build a dialogue together. Eventually, the idea of Ye Olde Voicemaille was born, mostly because we were tickled with the concept of bringing a newer technology into a vaguely medieval time period and all the jokes that could ensue. We worked together to develop a plot and had a lot of fun creating new antics for the mysterious Sir Berthelemy for Hovel and Cesspit to gossip about. The images were created with the Historic Tale Construction Kit.