Kimberly Eakin of Roanoke and her two children had just arrived at the Green Hill Medieval Faire on Sunday when a voice cried out.

"Have you received your gift from the king and queen yet?"

There, under a tent, sat Chris Pugh portraying Sir Blackwolf and his wife, Mia Pugh portraying Dame Dagrny. He was in black, she in a colorful dress. They were smiling, but the boisterous overture startled the youngsters.

Nathan, 5, inched closer to his mommy's leg.

"We don't bite - hard," the knight said.

Knights in armor, queens and fair maidens in sparkling dresses and peasants in tunics - in the form of characters in garb who were speaking in accent - transformed part of Green Hill Park in Roanoke County just outside of Salem into a pretend medieval village this weekend. By mid Sunday afternoon, 1,300 people had had a brush with the Middle Ages, the 1,000 often-chaotic years of European history before 1500.

The weekend was a joint production of Roanoke County's Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism and Medieval Fantasies Co. of Churchville, which stages period festivals.

The little boy and his sister, Mariah, swallowed fear and collected a "dragon scale" stone and a necklace, respectively, for stepping into the throne room of the knight and dame who were playing the king and queen for the event.

The kids returned to the same tent an hour later and courageously knelt on a small red pillow to be knighted with a sword.

Eakin said she attends the festival, now 8 years old, every year she can make it. "The actors are great entertainment," she said. "Obviously, they're not doing it for the money. They're doing it out of total love for the period."

Speaking in English accents as thick as the fog that settled for a time on nearby Fort Lewis Mountain, the characters did magic tricks, played music and made merry. One merchant selling miniature knives and swords, tapestries, incense and juggling sticks, who goes by David of Richmond, said sales under his tent were decent.

Virginia Highlands Pipes and Drums, a bagpipe band from Roanoke, played songs while wearing red and black kilts.