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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/23227-h.zip b/23227-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2065e36 --- /dev/null +++ b/23227-h.zip diff --git a/23227-h/23227-h.htm b/23227-h/23227-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e67e58 --- /dev/null +++ b/23227-h/23227-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1959 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Aucassin and Nicolette</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.headingsummary { margin-left: 5%;} + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: left; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + color: gray;} + + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">Aucassin and Nicolette, by Anonymous</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Aucassin and Nicolette, by Anonymous, +Translated by Francis William Bourdillon + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Aucassin and Nicolette + translated from the Old French + + +Author: Anonymous + + + +Release Date: October 28, 2007 [eBook #23227] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUCASSIN AND NICOLETTE*** +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed from the 1908 Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner +& Co. edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h2>AUCASSIN AND NICOLETTE</h2> +<p style="text-align: center">TRANSLATED FROM THE OLD FRENCH</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">by</span><br /> +FRANCIS WILLIAM BOURDILLON</p> +<p style="text-align: center">LONDON<br /> +<span class="smcap">kegan paul</span>, <span +class="smcap">trench</span>, <span class="smcap">trübner +& co. ltd.</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">dryden +house</span>, <span class="smcap">gerrard street</span>, <span +class="smcap">w.</span><br /> +1908</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 6--><a +name="page6"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 6</span><i>All rights +reserved</i></p> +<h2><!-- page 7--><a name="page7"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +7</span>INTRODUCTION</h2> +<p>The story of Love, that simple theme with variations <i>ad +libitum</i>, <i>ad infinitum</i>, is never old, never stale, +never out-of-date. And as we sometimes seek rest from the +brilliant audacities and complex passions of Wagner or +Tschaikowsky in the tender simplicity of some ancient English +air, so we occasionally turn with relief from the wit and insight +and subtlety of our modern novelists to the old uncomplicated +tales of faerie or romance, and find them after all more moving, +more tender, even more real, than all the laboured realism of +these photographic days. And here before us is of all +pretty love-stories perhaps the prettiest. Idyllic as +Daphnis and Chloe, romantic as Romeo and Juliet, tender as +Undine, remote as Cupid and Psyche, yet with perpetual <!-- page +8--><a name="page8"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 8</span>touches +of actual life, and words that raise pictures; and lightened all +through with a dainty playfulness, as if Ariel himself had +hovered near all the time of its writing, and Puck now and again +shot a whisper of suggestion.</p> +<p>Yet it is only of late years that the charm of this story has +been truly appreciated. Composed probably in Northern +France, about the close of the twelfth century,—the time of +our own Angevin kings and the most brilliant period of Old-French +literature,—it has survived only in a single manuscript of +later date, where it is found hidden among a number of tales in +verse less pleasing in subject and far less delightful in +form. There it had lain unknown till discovered by M. de +Sainte-Palaye, and printed by him in modernised French in 1752, +one hundred and fifty years ago. There is no space here to +follow its fortunes since. Even after this revival it was +not till more than one hundred years later that it began to +attain to any wide recognition. And in England this +recognition <!-- page 9--><a name="page9"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 9</span>has been mainly due to Mr +Pater’s delightful essay in his early work “Studies +in the History of the Renaissance.” Since the +publication of this book in 1873, the story of Aucassin and +Nicolette has had an ever-growing train of admirers both in +England and America, and various translations have appeared on +both sides of the Atlantic. It has also been translated +into several other European languages, besides versions in modern +French.</p> +<p>The story, so far as the simple old-world plot is concerned, +is very probably not the original invention of whoever gave it +this particular form, any more than were the plots of +Shakespeare’s plays of his own devising. It seems +likely that in origin it is Arabian or Moorish, and its +birthplace not Provence but Spain. Possibly it sprung, as +so much of the best poetry and story has sprung, from the +touching of two races, and the part friction part fusion of two +religions, in this case of the Moor and the Christian. +There was in 1019 a Moorish king of Cordova named Alcazin. +Turn this name <!-- page 10--><a name="page10"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 10</span>into French and we have +Aucassin. And to reverse the rôles of Christian and +heathen is a very usual device for a story-teller transplanting a +story from another country to his own. Though the scene is +nominally laid in Provence there are a good many signs of a +Spanish origin in the places mentioned. By Carthage is +meant, not the city of Dido, but Carthagena; and thus the husband +devised for Nicolette is “one of the greatest kings in all +Spain.” Valence again might originally have been not +the Valence on the Rhone, but Valence le grand, or +Valentia. And it is curious to observe that Beaucaire is +closely connected with Tarascon—a bridge across the Rhone +unites them—and that this latter name nearly resembles +Tarragona, a place which in other French romances is actually +called Terrascoigne. The shipwreck which in the story takes +place, impossibly, at Beaucaire, may have originally happened, +quite naturally, at Tarragona. Even the nonsense-name, +Torelore, might easily have had its rise in Torello. Again, +though it has been shown that all modern <!-- page 11--><a +name="page11"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 11</span>reports of +the <i>Couvade</i> as existing in Biscay have been founded only +on the ancient assertion of Strabo, it is still remarkable that +it is in this part of Europe alone that the custom has ever been +found.</p> +<p>If the composer of Aucassin derived his story from such a +source, it is easy to see also whence he got the idea of the +special form he has given it; for a narrative in prose mingled +with interludes of verse, though strange to European literature, +is common in Arabian.</p> +<p>And yet, whatever his sources or his models, one feels that +his debt to them is trifling compared to the worth of his own +work. All that he describes he has seen with his own eyes; +and all that he tells, be it borrowed or invented, is quickened +and heightened and made immortal by his own touch upon it.</p> +<p>All who can should read this story in its own +language—the simple easy-flowing Old-French, with its +infantile syntax, and naïve but effective <!-- page 12--><a +name="page12"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 12</span>efforts at +distinction and what we now call style. There are various +editions of the old French text; but the two easiest to get and +also to read are that of Professor Suchier, and my own. +Those in search of learning will always turn to Germany, and +Suchier is a very learned man. But I can honestly advise +all English readers to get my edition (Macmillan, 1897) in which +the text is given as pure as I could draw it from the fountain +head, the original MS. at Paris; where the music to the verse +sections will be found printed in its proper notation; and which +contains also a literal translation, full notes, and a +glossary.</p> +<p>The present translation varies a good deal from that I printed +with the Old-French text. I have to some extent relaxed the +restrictions I imposed on myself there, and have given freer +turns, even verging occasionally on paraphrase, to bring out the +full meaning, which it is often possible to miss in the original, +especially in the very condensed style of the <!-- page 13--><a +name="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 13</span>verses. +These changes will, I hope, make this version easy and pleasant +to read even by those who have no leisure or no inclination to +attempt the study of the Old-French itself.</p> +<h2><!-- page 15--><a name="page15"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +15</span>AUCASSIN & NICOLETTE</h2> +<h3>’TIS OF AUCASSIN AND OF NICOLETTE</h3> +<p>Who would list a pleasant lay,<br /> +Pastime of the old and grey?<br /> +Of two lovers, children yet,<br /> +Aucassin and Nicolette;<br /> +Of the sorrows he went through,<br /> +Of the great things he did do,<br /> +All for his bright favoured may.<br /> +Sweet the song is, fair the say,<br /> +Full of art and full of grace.<br /> +There is none in such ill case,<br /> +Sad with sorrow, waste with care,<br /> +Sick with sadness, if he hear,<br /> +But shall in the hearing be<br /> +Whole again and glad with glee,<br /> + So sweet the story.</p> +<p><!-- page 16--><a name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +16</span><i>Here they speak and tell the story</i>.</p> +<p>How Bulgarius Count of Valence made war upon Warren Count of +Beaucaire. And this war was so great, so marvellous, and so +mortal, that not a day dawned but there he was before the city, +at the gates, at the walls, at the fences, with knights a hundred +and men-at-arms ten thousand on foot and on horse; and he burned +his land, laid waste his country, and slew his liegemen. +Warren, Count of Beaucaire, was an old man and feeble, who had +overlived his term. He had none to succeed him, neither son +nor daughter, save one only boy; and what he was like, I will +tell you. Aucassin was the young lord’s name, and a +pretty lad he was. He had golden hair in little curls, and +laughing blue eyes, a face fair of colour and fine of curve, and +a proud shapely nose. Aye, so endued was he with good +conditions that there was none bad in him, but good only. +But so overcome was he of Love, who masters all, that he refused +knighthood, abjured arms, shunned the tourney, and left undone +all his devoir.</p> +<p>His father and his mother would say to him: “Son! come, +take thine arms and to horse! <!-- page 17--><a +name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 17</span>Fight for thy +land and succour thy liegemen! If they see thee in the +midst of them, they will fight the better for their lives and +their havings and for thy land and mine!”</p> +<p>“Father,” said Aucassin, “to what purpose is +this oration? Never God give me ought that I ask of Him, if +I take knighthood or mount horse, if I face fight or battlefield +to smite knight or be myself smitten, if you give me not +Nicolette, my sweet friend whom I love so well!”</p> +<p>“My son,” said his father, “it cannot +be. Have done with Nicolette! She is a slave-girl, +carried captive from a foreign land. The Viscount of this +place bought her of the heathen, and brought her here. He +held her at the font, and christened her, and stood godfather to +her. Some day he will give her a young fellow to win bread +for her in wedlock. What is this to you? If you want +a wife, I will give you a king’s daughter or a +count’s. There is never so rich a man in France but +you shall have his daughter, if you want her.”</p> +<p>“Alack, father!” said Aucassin. “Where +now is honour on earth so high, which Nicolette my sweet friend +would not grace if it were hers? Were she Empress of +Constantinople <!-- page 18--><a name="page18"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 18</span>or of Germany, were she Queen of +France or of England, there were but little in it, so noble is +she and gracious and debonair and endued with all good +conditions.”</p> +<p><i>Here they sing</i>.</p> +<p>Aucassin was of Beaucaire;<br /> +His was the fine castle there;<br /> +But on slender Nicolette<br /> +Past man’s moving is he set,<br /> +Whom his father doth refuse;<br /> +Menace did his mother use:</p> +<p>“Out upon thee, foolish boy!<br /> +Nicolette is but a toy,<br /> +Castaway from Carthagen,<br /> +Bought a slave of heathen men.<br /> +If for marrying thou be,<br /> +Take a wife of high degree!”</p> +<p>“Mother, I will none but her.<br /> +Hath she not the gentle air,<br /> +Grace of limb, and beauty bright?<br /> +I am snared in her delight.<br /> +If I love her ’tis but meet,<br /> + So passing sweet!”</p> +<p><!-- page 19--><a name="page19"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +19</span><i>Here they speak and tell the story</i>.</p> +<p>When Warren Count of Beaucaire perceived that Aucassin his son +was not to be moved from his love of Nicolette, he betook him to +the Viscount of the place, who was his liegeman; and addressed +him thus:</p> +<p>“Sir Viscount, come, rid me of Nicolette your +god-daughter! A curse on the land whence ever she was +fetched to this country! Now Aucassin is lost to me, and +all because of her. He refuses knighthood and leaves undone +all his devoir. Rest assured that if I can get hold of her +I will burn her in a fire; and for yourself too you may fear the +worst.”</p> +<p>“Sir,” said the Viscount, “’tis grief +to me that he go to her, or come to her, or speak to her. I +had bought her with my poor pieces. I had held her at the +font, and christened her, and stood god-father to her; and I +would have given her a young fellow to win bread for her in +wedlock. What is this to Aucassin your son? But +seeing your will is so and your good pleasure, I will send her to +such a land and to such a country that he shall never set eyes on +her more.”</p> +<p><!-- page 20--><a name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +20</span>“See you do so!” said Count Warren. +“Else it might go ill with you.”</p> +<p>Thus they parted. Now the Viscount was a very rich man, +and had a fine palace with a garden before it. He had +Nicolette put in a room there, on an upper storey, with an old +woman for company; and he had bread put there, and meat and wine +and all they needed. Then he had the door locked, so that +there was no way to get in or out. Only there was a window +of no great size which looked on the garden and gave them a +little fresh air.</p> +<p><i>Here they sing</i>.</p> +<p>Nicolette is prisoner,<br /> +In a vaulted bed-chamber,<br /> +Strange of pattern and design,<br /> +Richly painted, rarely fine.<br /> +At the window-sill of stone<br /> +Leaned the maiden sad and lone.<br /> +Yellow was her shining hair,<br /> +And her eyebrow pencilled rare,<br /> +Face fine-curved and colour fair:<br /> +Never saw you lovelier.<br /> +<!-- page 21--><a name="page21"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +21</span>Gazed she o’er the garden-ground,<br /> +Saw the opening roses round,<br /> +Heard the birds sing merrily;<br /> +Then she made her orphan cry:</p> +<p>“Woe’s me! what a wretch am I!<br /> +Caged and captive, why, ah why?<br /> +Aucassin, young lord, prithee,<br /> +Your sweetheart, am I not she?<br /> +Ay, methinks you hate not me.<br /> +For your sake I’m prisoner,<br /> +In this vaulted bed-chamber,<br /> +Where my life’s a weary one.<br /> +But by God, sweet Mary’s son,<br /> +Long herein I will not stay,<br /> + Can I find way!”</p> +<p><i>Here they speak and tell the story</i>.</p> +<p>Nicolette was in prison, as you have harkened and heard, in +the chamber. The cry and the noise ran through all the land +and through all the country that Nicolette was lost. There +are some say she is fled abroad out of the land. Other some +that Warren, Count of Beaucaire, has had her done to death. +Rejoice who might, Aucassin was not well pleased. But he +went <!-- page 22--><a name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +22</span>straightway to the Viscount of the place, and thus +addressed him:</p> +<p>“Sir Viscount, what have you done with Nicolette, my +very sweet friend, the thing that I love best in all the +world? Have you stolen and taken her from me? Rest +assured that if I die of this thing, my blood will be required of +you; and very justly, when you have gone and killed me with your +two hands. For you have stolen from me the thing that I +love best in all the world.”</p> +<p>“Fair sir,” said the Viscount, “now let +be! Nicolette is a slave-girl whom I fetched from a foreign +land and bought for money of the heathen. I held her at the +font, and christened her and stood godfather to her, and have +brought her up. One of these days I would have given her a +young fellow to win bread for her in wedlock. What is this +to you? Take you some king’s daughter or some +count’s. Moreover, what were you profited, think you, +had you made her your concubine, or taken her to live with +you? Mighty little had you got by that, seeing that your +soul would be in Hell for ever and ever, for to Paradise you +would never win!”</p> +<p>“Paradise? What have I to do there? I seek +not to win Paradise, so I have Nicolette <!-- page 23--><a +name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 23</span>my sweet +friend whom I love so well. For none go to Paradise but +I’ll tell you who. Your old priests and your old +cripples, and the halt and maimed, who are down on their knees +day and night, before altars and in old crypts; these also that +wear mangy old cloaks, or go in rags and tatters, shivering and +shoeless and showing their sores, and who die of hunger and want +and cold and misery. Such are they who go to Paradise; and +what have I to do with them? Hell is the place for +me. For to Hell go the fine churchmen, and the fine +knights, killed in the tourney or in some grand war, the brave +soldiers and the gallant gentlemen. With them will I +go. There go also the fair gracious ladies who have lovers +two or three beside their lord. There go the gold and the +silver, the sables and ermines. There go the harpers and +the minstrels and the kings of the earth. With them will I +go, so I have Nicolette my most sweet friend with me.”</p> +<p>“I’ faith,” said the Viscount, +“’tis but vain to speak of it; you will see her no +more. Aye, were you to get speech of her and it came to +your father’s ears, he would burn both her and me in a +fire; and for yourself too you might fear the worst.”</p> +<p><!-- page 24--><a name="page24"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +24</span>“This is sore news to me,” said +Aucassin. And he departed from the Viscount, sorrowful.</p> +<p><i>Here they sing</i>.</p> +<p>Aucassin has turned once more<br /> +In wanhope and sorrow sore<br /> +For his love-friend bright of face.<br /> +None can help his evil case,<br /> +None a word of counsel say.<br /> +To the palace went his way;<br /> +Step by step he climbed the stair;<br /> +Entered in a chamber there.<br /> +Then he ’gan to weep alone,<br /> +And most dismally to groan,<br /> +And his lady to bemoan.</p> +<p>“Nicolette, ah, gracious air!<br /> +Coming, going, ever fair!<br /> +In thy talk and in thy toying,<br /> +In thy jest and in thy joying,<br /> +In thy kissing, in thy coying.<br /> +I am sore distressed for thee.<br /> +Such a woe has come on me<br /> +That I trow not to win free,<br /> + Sweet sister friend!”</p> +<p><!-- page 25--><a name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +25</span><i>Here they speak and tell the story</i>.</p> +<p>At the same time that Aucassin was in the chamber, bemoaning +Nicolette his friend, Bulgarius Count of Valence, who had his war +to maintain, forgat it not; but he had summoned his men, foot and +horse, and advanced to assault the castle. And the cry went +up and the noise; and the knights and men-at-arms girt on their +armour, and hastened to the gates and walls to defend the castle; +while the townsfolk mounted the parapets and hurled bolts and +sharpened stakes. At the time when the assault was fast and +furious, Warren Count of Beaucaire came into the chamber where +Aucassin was weeping and bemoaning Nicolette his most sweet +friend whom he loved so well.</p> +<p>“Ah, my son!” said he. “Wretch that +thou art and unhappy, to see assault made on this thy +castle—none better nor more strong! Know, moreover, +that if thou lose it thou losest thine inheritance! Come +now, my son, take thine arms and to horse! Fight for thy +land, and succour thy liegemen, and get thee to the field! +Though thou strike never a man nor be thyself <!-- page 26--><a +name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 26</span>stricken, if +they but see thee among them they will make a better fight for +their lives and their havings, and for thy land and mine. +So tall art thou and so strong, ’tis no great thing to do; +and it is thy devoir.”</p> +<p>“Father,” said Aucassin, “to what purpose is +this oration? Never God give me ought that I ask of him, if +I take knighthood or mount horse or go to the fighting to smite +knight or be myself smitten, if you give me not Nicolette, my +sweet friend, whom I love so well!”</p> +<p>“Son,” said his father, “that cannot +be. Rather would I suffer loss of all my inheritance, aye, +of all I have, than that thou shouldst have her to woman or to +wife!”</p> +<p>And he turned to go. And when Aucassin saw him +departing, he called him back.</p> +<p>“Father,” said Aucassin, “come hither, and I +will make a fair covenant with you!”</p> +<p>“Aye, and what covenant, fair son?”</p> +<p>“I will take arms and go to the fighting on such +condition, that, if God bring me again safe and sound, you will +give me leave to see Nicolette my sweet friend for such time as I +may speak two words to her or three, and once only kiss +her.”</p> +<p>“I consent,” said his father.</p> +<p><!-- page 27--><a name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +27</span>So he made agreement with him, and Aucassin was +well-pleased.</p> +<p><i>Here they sing</i>.</p> +<p>Aucassin heard of the kiss<br /> +On returning to be his.<br /> +Hundred thousand marks pure gold<br /> +Him had made less blithe and bold.<br /> +Arms he called for, rich and rare;<br /> +They made ready for his wear.<br /> +Hauberk donned he, double-lined;<br /> +Helmet on his head did bind;<br /> +Girt his sword with hilt pure gold;<br /> +Mounted on his charger bold;<br /> +Spear and buckler then he took;<br /> +At his two feet cast a look,<br /> +In the stirrups trod they trim;<br /> +Wondrous proud he carried him.<br /> +His sweet friend—he thought on her,<br /> +To his charger clapped the spur;<br /> +Forth he springs full mettlesome;<br /> +Straightway to the gate they come<br /> + That led to battle.</p> +<p><!-- page 28--><a name="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +28</span><i>Here they speak and tell the story</i>.</p> +<p>Aucassin was arrayed and mounted on his horse, as you have +harkened and heard. Lord! how well it became him—the +shield on his neck and the helm on his head and the sword-belt on +his left hip! And the boy was tall and strong and comely +and slim and well-grown; and the horse he bestrode was fleet of +foot and high of mettle, and the boy had put him through the gate +cleverly. Now don’t you suppose that his thoughts +would have been set on taking spoil of oxen or cows or goats? +that he would have struck at some knight or been stricken in +turn? Not a whit! it never once occurred to him. But +his thought was so set upon Nicolette, his sweet friend, that he +forgot the reins and all he had to do. And his horse, +feeling the spur, dashed with him through the press, and charged +right into the thick of the enemy, who laid hands on him on all +sides, and made him prisoner. They took from him shield and +lance, and led him captive then and there. They were +already questioning one with another as to what manner of death +they should put him to; and when Aucassin heard it,</p> +<p><!-- page 29--><a name="page29"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +29</span>“Ah, gracious Heaven!” he said, “and +are these my mortal foes who hale me here and are presently about +to cut off my head? And once I have my head cut off, +nevermore shall I speak to Nicolette my sweet friend whom I love +so well. Nay, I have yet a good sword, and under me a good +steed untired. An I defend me not now for her sake, +ne’er help her God if ever again she love me!”</p> +<p>The boy was tall and strong, and the horse beneath him was +eager. He put his hand to his sword and began to strike to +right and to left, slashing helmet and nose-guard, fist and +wrist, and making havoc all around him as the boar does when the +dogs set on him in the forest; so that he overthrew ten of their +knights and wounded seven; and charged then and there out of the +press, and rode back full gallop, sword in hand.</p> +<p>Bulgarius, Count of Valence, heard say that they were about to +hang Aucassin his enemy, and came that way. Aucassin failed +not to espy him; and gripping his sword, he smote him through the +helmet so that he clave it to the skull. He was so stunned +that he fell to earth; and Aucassin put out his hand and took him +prisoner, and led him off by the nose-guard <!-- page 30--><a +name="page30"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 30</span>of his +helmet, and delivered him to his father.</p> +<p>“Father,” said Aucassin, “see here is your +enemy who has made war on you so long and done you hurt so +great. Twenty years has this war lasted, and never a man to +put an end to it.”</p> +<p>“Fair son,” said his father, “well were it +you should do deeds like this, and not gape at folly!”</p> +<p>“Father,” said Aucassin, “read me no +lectures, but keep me my covenant!”</p> +<p>“Bah! what covenant, fair son?”</p> +<p>“Alack, father, have you forgotten it? By the head +of me, forget it who may, I do not mean to forget it. +Rather have I laid it much to heart. Did you not make this +covenant with me, that if I took arms and went out to the +fighting, and if God brought me back safe and sound, you would +let me see Nicolette my sweet friend for such time as I might +speak two words to her or three, and once only kiss her? +This covenant you made with me, and this covenant I will have you +keep with me!”</p> +<p>“What, I?” said his father. +“Ne’er help me Heaven if I keep this covenant with +you! and were she here now I would burn her in a <!-- page +31--><a name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 31</span>fire; +and for yourself too you might fear the worst.”</p> +<p>“Is this the whole conclusion?” said Aucassin.</p> +<p>“Aye,” said his father, “so help me +Heaven!”</p> +<p>“I’ faith,” said Aucassin, “then I am +very sorry that a man of your age should be a liar.—Count +of Valence, you are my prisoner.”</p> +<p>“Sir, it is even so,” said the Count.</p> +<p>“Give me your hand!” said Aucassin.</p> +<p>“Sir, right willingly.”</p> +<p>He put his hand in his.</p> +<p>“This you pledge me,” said Aucassin, “that +never in all your days to be shall it be in your power to do +shame to my father or to do hurt to him or his, and you not do +it!”</p> +<p>“Sir,” said he, “for God’s sake, mock +me not, but set me a ransom! You can ask me nothing, gold +or silver, war-horses or palfreys, sables or ermines, hounds or +hawks, that I will not give you.”</p> +<p>“How now?” said Aucassin. “Wot you not +that you are my prisoner?”</p> +<p>“Aye, sir,” said the Count Bulgarius.</p> +<p>“Ne’er help me Heaven,” said Aucassin, <!-- +page 32--><a name="page32"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +32</span>“save you give me this pledge, if I send not your +head a-flying!”</p> +<p>“I’ God’s name,” said he, “I +give you what pledge you please!”</p> +<p>He gave the pledge; and Aucassin set him on a horse, and +himself mounted another, and conducted him till he was in +safety.</p> +<p><i>Here they sing</i>.</p> +<p>When Count Warren saw indeed<br /> +That he never will succeed<br /> +Aucassin his son to get<br /> +From bright-favoured Nicolette,<br /> +In a pris’n he had him set,<br /> +In a dungeon hid from day,<br /> +Builded all of marble grey.<br /> +Now when Aucassin came there<br /> +Sad he was—so was he ne’er.<br /> +Loud lamenting he fell on,<br /> +Thus as you shall hear anon.</p> +<p>“Flow’r o’ the lily, Nicolette!<br /> +Bright-faced sweetheart, Nicolette!<br /> +Sweet as cluster of the vine,<br /> +Sweet as meed in maselyn.<br /> +<!-- page 33--><a name="page33"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +33</span>This I saw some yesterday,<br /> +How a pilgrim on his way—<br /> +Limousin his land was—lay<br /> +Fevered on a bed within.<br /> +Grievous had his sickness been,<br /> +Great the fever he was in.<br /> +By his bedside Nicolette<br /> +Passing, lifted skirts and let—<br /> +’Neath the pretty ermine frock,<br /> +’Neath the snowy linen smock—<br /> +Just a dainty ankle show.<br /> +Lo, the sick was healed, and lo,<br /> +Found him whole as ne’er before.<br /> +From his bed he rose once more,<br /> +And to his own land did flit,<br /> +Safe and sound, whole ever whit.</p> +<p>Flow’r o’ the lily, Nicolette!<br /> +Coming, going, ever pleasing,<br /> +In thy talk and in thy teasing,<br /> +In thy jest and in thy joying,<br /> +In thy kisses, in thy coying!<br /> +There is none could hate thee, dear!<br /> +Yet for thy sake am I here,<br /> +In this dungeon hid from day,<br /> +Where I cry Ah, well-a-way!<br /> +Now to die behoveth me,<br /> + Sweet friend, for thee!”</p> +<p><!-- page 34--><a name="page34"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +34</span><i>Here they speak and tell the story</i>.</p> +<p>Aucassin was put in prison, as you have listened and heard, +and Nicolette was elsewhere in the chamber. ’Twas the +summer time, the month of May, when the days are warm and long +and bright, and the nights still and cloudless. Nicolette +lay one night in her bed, and saw the moon shine bright through a +window, and heard the nightingale sing in the garden; and she +remembered Aucassin her friend, whom she loved so well. +Then she fell a-thinking of Warren Count of Beaucaire, and how he +hated her to death; and she thought within herself that she would +abide there no longer; since if she were betrayed and Count +Warren knew of her, he would put her to an evil death. She +perceived that the old woman who was with her slept. And +she arose and clad her in a goodly gown that she had of +cloth-of-silk; and she took bedclothes and towels, and tied one +to other and made a rope as long as she could, and made it fast +to the window-shaft; and so got down into the garden. Then +she took her dress in one hand before, and in the other behind, +and girded herself, because of the dew <!-- page 35--><a +name="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 35</span>she saw heavy +on the grass, and went her way down the garden. She had +golden hair in little curls, and laughing blue eyes, and a face +finely curved, and a proud shapely nose, and lips more red than +cherry or rose in summertime, and small white teeth, and little +breasts that swelled beneath her clothes like two nuts of a +walnut-tree. And her waist was so fine that your two hands +could have girdled her; and the daisy-flowers snapped by her +toes, and lying on the arch of her foot, were fairly black beside +her feet and ankles, so very white the girl was.</p> +<p>She came to the postern, and unfastened it, and went out +through the streets of Beaucaire, keeping to the shadow, for the +moon shone very bright; and she went on till she came to the +tower where her friend was. The tower had cracks in it here +and there, and she crouched against one of the piers, and wrapped +herself in her mantle, and thrust her head into a chink in the +tower, which was old and ancient, and heard Aucassin within +weeping and making very great sorrow, and lamenting for his sweet +friend whom he loved so much. And when she had listened +enough to him she began to speak.</p> +<p><!-- page 36--><a name="page36"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +36</span><i>Here they sing</i>.</p> +<p>Nicolette the bright of face<br /> +Leaned her at the buttress-base,<br /> +Heard within her lover dear<br /> +Weeping and bewailing her;<br /> +Then she spake the thought in her:</p> +<p>“Aucassin, most gentle knight,<br /> +High-born lording, honoured wight,<br /> +What avails you to weep so?<br /> +What your wailing, what your woe?<br /> +I may ne’er your darling be,<br /> +For your father hateth me;<br /> +All your kin thereto agree.<br /> +For your sake I’ll pass the sea,<br /> +Get me to some far countrie.”</p> +<p>Tresses of her hair she clipped,<br /> +And within the tower slipped.<br /> +Aucassin, that lover true,<br /> +Took them and did honour due,<br /> +Fondly kissed them and caressed,<br /> +And bestowed them in his breast.<br /> +Then in tears anew he brake<br /> + For his love’s sake.</p> +<p><!-- page 37--><a name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +37</span><i>Here they speak and tell the story</i>.</p> +<p>When Aucassin heard Nicolette say that she would depart into +another country, he felt nothing but anger.</p> +<p>“Fair sweet friend,” said he, “you shall not +depart, for then would you have killed me. The first man +that set eyes on you and could do so would straightway lay hands +on you and take you to be his concubine. And once you had +lived with any man but me, now dream not that I should wait to +find a knife wherewith to strike me to the heart and kill +me! Nay, verily, that were all too long to wait. +Rather would I fling me just so far as I might see a bit of wall, +or a grey stone; and against that would I dash my head so hard +that my eyes should start out and all my brains be +scattered. Yet even such a death would I die rather than +know you had lived with any man but me.”</p> +<p>“Ah!” said she, “I trow not that you love me +so well as you say; but I love you better than you do +me.”</p> +<p>“Alack!” said Aucassin, “fair sweet +friend! That were not possible that you should love me <!-- +page 38--><a name="page38"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +38</span>so well as I do you. Woman cannot love man so well +as man loves woman. For a woman’s love lies in her +eye, in bud of bosom or tip of toe. But a man’s love +is within him, rooted in his heart, whence it cannot go +forth.”</p> +<p>While Aucassin and Nicolette were talking together, the town +watch came down a street. They had their swords drawn under +their cloaks, for Count Warren had given them command that if +they could lay hands on her they should kill her. And the +watchman on the tower saw them coming, and heard that they were +talking of Nicolette and threatening to kill her.</p> +<p>“Great Heavens!” he said, “what pity it were +should they slay so fair a maid! ’Twere a mighty good +deed if I could tell her, in such wise that they perceived it +not, and she could be ware of them. For if they slay her, +then will Aucassin my young lord die; and that were great +pity.”</p> +<p><i>Here they sing</i>.</p> +<p>Valiant was the watch on wall,<br /> +Kindly, quick of wit withal.<br /> +<!-- page 39--><a name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +39</span>He struck up a roundelay<br /> +Very seasonably gay.</p> +<p>“Maiden of the noble heart,<br /> +Winsome fair of form thou art;<br /> +Winsome is thy golden hair,<br /> +Blue thine eye and blithe thine air.<br /> +Well I see it by thy cheer,<br /> +Thou hast spoken with thy fere,<br /> +Who for thee lies dying here.<br /> +This I tell thee, thou give ear!<br /> +’Ware thee of the sudden foe!<br /> +Yonder seeking thee they go.<br /> +’Neath each cloak a sword I see;<br /> +Terribly they threaten thee.<br /> +Soon they’ll do thee some misdeed<br /> + Save thou take heed!” <a +name="citation39"></a><a href="#footnote39" +class="citation">[39]</a></p> +<p><i>Here they speak and tell the story</i>.</p> +<p>“Ah!” said Nicolette; “now may thy +father’s soul and thy mother’s be in blessed repose, +for <!-- page 40--><a name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +40</span>the grace and for the courtesy with which thou hast told +me! Please God I will guard me well from them, and may God +Himself be my guard!”</p> +<p>She wrapped her mantle about her in the shadow of the pier, +till they had passed. Then she took leave of Aucassin and +went her way till she came to the castle wall. There was a +breach in it which had been boarded up. On to this she +climbed, and so got over between the wall and the ditch; and +looking down she saw the ditch was very deep and the sides very +sheer, and she was sore afraid.</p> +<p>“Ah, gracious Heaven!” she said; “if I let +myself fall I shall break my neck; and if I abide here, I shall +be taken to-morrow and burned in a fire. Nay, I had liefer +die here than be made a show to-morrow for all the folk to stare +at!”</p> +<p>She crossed herself, and let herself slip down into the +ditch. And when she came to the bottom, her fair feet and +her fair hands, untaught that ought could hurt them, were bruised +and <!-- page 41--><a name="page41"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +41</span>torn, and the blood flowed in full a dozen places. +Nevertheless she felt neither hurt nor pain for her great +dread. And if she were troubled as to the getting in, she +was far more troubled as to the getting out. But she +bethought her that it was no good to linger there; and she found +a sharpened stake which had been thrown by those within in the +defence of the castle; and with this she made steps one above the +other, and with much difficulty climbed up till she reached the +top.</p> +<p>Now hard by was the forest, within two bowshots. It +stretched full thirty leagues in length and in breadth, and had +wild beasts in it and snaky things. She was afraid that if +she went into it, these would kill her; and on the other hand she +bethought her that if she were found there she would be taken +back to the town to be burned.</p> +<p><i>Here they sing</i>.</p> +<p>Nicolette, that bright-faced may,<br /> +Up the moat had won her way,<br /> +And to waymenting did fall,<br /> +And on Jesu’s name ’gan call:</p> +<p><!-- page 42--><a name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +42</span>“Father, King of Majesty!<br /> +Now I wot not which way fly.<br /> +Should I to the greenwood hie,<br /> +There the wolves will me devour,<br /> +And the lions and wild boar,<br /> +Whereof yonder is great store.<br /> +Should I wait the daylight clear,<br /> +So that they should find me here,<br /> +Lighted will the fire bin<br /> +That my body shall burn in.<br /> +But, O God of Majesty!<br /> +I had liefer yet fairly<br /> +That the wolves should me devour,<br /> +And the lions and wild boar,<br /> +Than into the city fare!<br /> + I’ll not go there.”</p> +<p><i>Here they speak and tell the story</i>.</p> +<p>Nicolette made great lamentation, as you have heard. She +commended herself to God, and went on till she came into the +forest. She durst not go deep into it, for the wild beasts +and the snaky things; and she crept into a thick bush, and sleep +fell on her. She slept <!-- page 43--><a +name="page43"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 43</span>till the +morrow at high Prime, when the herdboys came out of the town, and +drove their beasts between the wood and the river. They +drew aside to a very beautiful spring which was at the edge of +the forest, and spread out a cloak and put their bread on +it. While they were eating, Nicolette awoke at the cry of +the birds and of the herdboys, and she sprang towards them.</p> +<p>“Fair children!” said she, “may the Lord +help you!”</p> +<p>“May God bless you!” said the one who was more +ready of speech than the others.</p> +<p>“Fair children,” said she, “know you +Aucassin, the son of the Count Warren of Beaucaire?”</p> +<p>“Yes, we know him well.”</p> +<p>“So God help you, fair children,” said she, +“tell him that there is a beast in this forest, and that he +come to hunt it. And if he can catch it he would not give +one limb of it for a hundred marks of gold, no, not for five +hundred, nor for any wealth.”</p> +<p>And they gazed at her, and when they saw her so beautiful they +were all amazed.</p> +<p>“What, I tell him?” said he who was more ready of +speech than the others. “Sorrow be <!-- page 44--><a +name="page44"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 44</span>his whoever +speak of it or whoever tell him! ’Tis fantasy that +you say, since there is not so costly a beast in this forest, +neither stag nor lion nor wild boar, one of whose limbs were +worth more than two pence, or three at the most; and you speak of +so great wealth! Foul sorrow be his who believe you, or +whoever tell him! You are a fay, and we have no care for +your company. So keep on your way!”</p> +<p>“Ah, fair children!” said she, “this will +you do! The beast has such a medicine that Aucassin will be +cured of his hurt. And I have here five sous in my purse; +take them, so you tell him! Aye, and within three days must +he hunt it, and, if in three days he find it not, never more will +he be cured of his hurt!”</p> +<p>“I’ faith!” said he, “the pence will +we take; and if he come here we will tell him, but we will never +go to seek him.”</p> +<p>“I’ God’s name!” said she.</p> +<p>Then she took leave of the herdboys, and went her way.</p> +<p><!-- page 45--><a name="page45"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +45</span><i>Here they sing</i>.</p> +<p>Nicolette, that bright-faced may,<br /> +From the herdboys went her way,<br /> +And her journeying addressed<br /> +Through the leafy thick forest,<br /> +Down a path of olden day,<br /> +Till she came to a highway,<br /> +Where do seven roads divide<br /> +Through the land to wander wide.<br /> +Then she fell bethinking her<br /> +She will try her true lover<br /> +If he love her as he sware.<br /> +Flow’rs o’ the lily gathered she,<br /> +Branches of the jarris-tree,<br /> +And green leaves abundantly.<br /> +And she built a bower of green;<br /> +Daintier was there never seen.<br /> +By the truth of Heaven she sware,<br /> +That should Aucassin come there,<br /> +And a little rest not take<br /> +In the bower for her sweet sake,<br /> +Ne’er shall he her lover be,<br /> + Nor his love she!</p> +<p><!-- page 46--><a name="page46"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +46</span><i>Here they speak and tell the story</i>.</p> +<p>Nicolette had made the bower, as you have harkened and heard; +very pretty she made it and very dainty, and all bedecked within +and without with flowers and leaves. Then she laid her down +near to the bower in a thick bush, to see what Aucassin would +do.</p> +<p>And the cry and the noise went through all the land and +through all the country that Nicolette was lost. There are +some say that she is fled away; other some that the Count Warren +has had her done to death. Rejoice who might, Aucassin was +not well pleased. Count Warren his father bade take him out +of prison; and summoned the knights of the land, and the +damozels, and made a very rich feast, thinking to comfort +Aucassin his son. But while the feasting was at its height, +there was Aucassin leaned against a balcony, all sorrowful and +all downcast. Make merry who might, Aucassin had no taste +for it; since he saw nothing there of that he loved. A +knight looked upon him, and came to him, and accosted him:</p> +<p><!-- page 47--><a name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +47</span>“Aucassin,” said he, “of such sickness +as yours, I too have been sick. I will give you good +counsel, if you will trust me.”</p> +<p>“Sir,” said Aucassin, “gramercy! Good +counsel should I hold dear.”</p> +<p>“Mount on a horse,” said he, “and go by yon +forest side to divert you; there you will see the flowers and +green things, and hear the birds sing. Peradventure you +shall hear a word for which you shall be the better.”</p> +<p>“Sir,” said Aucassin, “gramercy! So +will I do.”</p> +<p>He stole from the hall, and descended the stairs, and came to +the stable where his horse was. He bade saddle and bridle +him; and setting foot in stirrup, he mounted and rode forth out +of the castle, and went on till he came to the forest. He +rode till he reached the spring, and came upon the herdboys at +the point of None. They had spread a cloak on the grass, +and were eating their bread and making very great merriment.</p> +<p><!-- page 48--><a name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +48</span><i>Here they sing</i>.</p> +<p>Came the herds from every part in;<br /> +There was Esmé, there was Martin;<br /> +There was Fruelin and Johnny;<br /> +Aubrey boon, and Robin bonny.<br /> +Then to speech did one address him:<br /> +“Mates, young Aucassin, God bless him!<br /> +’Struth, it is a fine young fellow!<br /> +And the girl with hair so yellow,<br /> +With the body slim and slender,<br /> +Eyes so blue and bloom so tender!<br /> +She that gave us such a penny<br /> +As shall buy us sweetmeats many,<br /> +Hunting-knife and sheath of leather,<br /> +Flute and fife to play together,<br /> +Scrannel pipe and cudgel beechen.<br /> + I pray God leech him!” <a +name="citation48"></a><a href="#footnote48" +class="citation">[48]</a></p> +<p><!-- page 49--><a name="page49"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +49</span><i>Here they speak and tell the story</i>.</p> +<p>When Aucassin heard the shepherd boys, he minded him of +Nicolette his most sweet friend whom he loved so well; and he +bethought him that she had been there. And he pricked his +horse with the spurs, and came to the shepherd boys.</p> +<p>“Fair children, may God help you!”</p> +<p>“May God bless you!” said he who was more ready of +speech than the others.</p> +<p>“Fair children,” said he, “say again the +song that you were saying just now!”</p> +<p>“We will not say it,” said he who was more ready +of speech than the others. “Sorrow be his who sings +it for you, fair sir!”</p> +<p>“Fair children,” said Aucassin, “do you not +know me?”</p> +<p>“Aye, we know well that you are Aucassin, our young +lord; but we are not your men, but the Count’s.”</p> +<p>“Fair children, you will do so, I pray you!”</p> +<p>“Hear, by gog’s heart!” said he. +“And why should I sing for you, an it suit me not? +When there is no man in this land so rich, <!-- page 50--><a +name="page50"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 50</span>saving Count +Warren’s self, who finding my oxen or my cows or my sheep +in his pastures or in his crops, would dare to chase them from +it, for fear of having his eyes put out. And why should I +sing for you, an it suit me not?”</p> +<p>“So God help you, fair children, you will do so! +And take ten sous which I have here in a purse!”</p> +<p>“Sir, the pence will we take, but I will not sing to +you, for I have sworn it. But I will tell it to you, if you +will.”</p> +<p>“I’ God’s name!” said Aucassin; +“I had liefer telling than nothing.”</p> +<p>“Sir, we were here just now, between Prime and Tierce, +and were eating our bread at this spring, even as we are doing +now. And a maiden came here, the most beautiful thing in +the world, so that we deemed it was a fay, and all the wood +lightened with her. And she gave us of what was hers, so +that we covenanted with her, if you came here, we would tell you +that you are to go a-hunting in this forest. There is a +beast there which, could you catch it, you would not give one of +its limbs for five hundred marks of silver, nor for any +wealth. For the beast has such a medicine that if you can +catch it <!-- page 51--><a name="page51"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 51</span>you will be cured of your hurt. +Aye, and within three days must you have caught it, and if you +have not caught it, never more will you see it. Now hunt it +an you will, or an you will leave it; for I have well acquitted +myself towards her.”</p> +<p>“Fair children,” said Aucassin, “enough have +you said; and God grant me to find it!”</p> +<p><i>Here they sing</i>.</p> +<p>Aucassin has word for word<br /> +Of his lithe-limbed lady heard;<br /> +Deep they pierced him to the quick;<br /> +From the herds he parted quick,<br /> +Struck into the greenwood thick.<br /> +Quickly stepped his gallant steed,<br /> +Bore him fairly off full speed.<br /> +Then he spake, three words he said:<br /> +“Nicolette, O lithe-limbed maid!<br /> +For your sake I thrid the glade!<br /> +Stag nor boar I now pursue,<br /> +But the sleuth I track for you!<br /> +Your bright eyes and body lithe,<br /> +Your sweet words and laughter blithe,<br /> +<!-- page 52--><a name="page52"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +52</span>Wounded have my heart to death.<br /> +So God, the strong Father will,<br /> +I shall look upon you still,<br /> + Sister, sweet friend!”</p> +<p><i>Here they speak and tell the story</i>.</p> +<p>Aucassin went through the forest this way and that way, and +his good steed carried him a great pace. Think not that the +briars and thorns spared him! Not a whit! Nay they +tore his clothes so, that ’twere hard work to have patched +them together again; and the blood flowed from his arms and his +sides and his legs in forty places or thirty; so that one could +have followed the boy by the trace of the blood that fell upon +the grass. But he thought so much on Nicolette, his sweet +friend, that he felt neither hurt nor pain. All day long he +rode through the forest, but so it was that he never heard news +of her. And, when he saw that evening drew on, he began to +weep because he found her not.</p> +<p>He was riding down an old grassy road, when he looked before +him in the way and saw a boy, <!-- page 53--><a +name="page53"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 53</span>and I will +tell you what he was like. He was tall of stature and +wonderful to see, so ugly and hideous. He had a monstrous +shock-head black as coal, and there was more than a full +palm-breadth between his two eyes; and he had great cheeks, and +an immense flat nose, with great wide nostrils, and thick lips +redder than a roast, and great ugly yellow teeth. He was +shod in leggings and shoes of ox-hide, laced with bast to above +the knee; and was wrapped in a cloak which seemed inside out +either way on, and was leaning on a great club. Aucassin +sprang to meet him, and was terrified at the nearer sight of +him.</p> +<p>“Fair brother, may God help you!”</p> +<p>“May God bless you!” said he.</p> +<p>“So God help you, what do you there?”</p> +<p>“What matters it to you?” said he.</p> +<p>“Nothing”; said Aucassin; “I ask not for any +ill reason.”</p> +<p>“But wherefore are you weeping,” said he, +“and making such sorrow? I’ faith, were I as +rich a man as you are, all the world would not make me +weep!”</p> +<p>“Bah! Do you know me?” said Aucassin.</p> +<p>“Aye. I know well that you are Aucassin the son of +the Count; and if you tell me wherefore <!-- page 54--><a +name="page54"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 54</span>you are +weeping I will tell you what I am doing here.”</p> +<p>“Certès,” said Aucassin, “I will tell +you right willingly. I came this morning to hunt in this +forest; and I had a white greyhound, the fairest in the world, +and I have lost it; ’tis for this I am weeping.”</p> +<p>“Hear him!” said he, “by the blessed heart! +and you wept for a stinking dog! Sorrow be his who ever +again hold you in account! Why there is no man in this land +so rich, of whom if your father asked ten, or fifteen, or twenty, +he would not give them only too willingly, and be only too +glad. Nay, ’tis I should weep and make +sorrow.”</p> +<p>“And wherefore you, brother?”</p> +<p>“Sir, I will tell you. I was hireling to a rich +farmer, and drove his plough—four oxen there were. +Three days since a great misfortune befell me. I lost the +best of my oxen, Roget, the best of my team; and I have been in +search of it ever since. I have neither eaten nor drunk +these three days past; and I dare not go into the town, as they +would put me in prison, since I have not wherewith to pay for +it. Worldly goods have I none worth ought but what you see +on the body of me. I have a mother, poor <!-- page 55--><a +name="page55"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 55</span>woman, who +had nothing worth ought save one poor mattress, and this they +have dragged from under her back, so that she lies on the bare +straw; and for her I am troubled a deal more than for +myself. For wealth comes and goes; if I have lost now I +shall gain another time, and I shall pay for my ox when I can; +nor will I ever weep for an ox. And you wept for a dog of +the dunghill! Sorrow be his who ever again hold you in +account!”</p> +<p>“Certès, you are of good comfort, fair +brother! Bless you for it! And what was thine ox +worth?”</p> +<p>“Sir, it is twenty sous they ask me for it; I cannot +abate a single farthing.”</p> +<p>“Here,” said Aucassin, “take these twenty +which I have in my purse, and pay for thine ox!”</p> +<p>“Sir,” said he, “Gramercy! And may God +grant you to find that which you seek!”</p> +<p>He took leave of him; and Aucassin rode on. The night +was fine and still; and he went on till he came to the place +where the seven roads divide, and there before him he saw the +bower which Nicolette had made, bedecked within and without and +over and in front with flowers, and <!-- page 56--><a +name="page56"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 56</span>so pretty +that prettier could not be. When Aucassin perceived it, he +drew rein all in a moment; and the light of the moon smote within +it.</p> +<p>“Ah, Heaven!” said Aucassin, “here has +Nicolette been, my sweet friend; and this did she make with her +beautiful hands! For the sweetness of her, and for her +love, I will now alight here, and rest me there this night +through.”</p> +<p>He put his foot out of the stirrup to alight. His horse +was big and high; and he was thinking so much on Nicolette, his +most sweet friend, that he fell on a stone so hard that his +shoulder flew out of place. He felt that he was badly hurt; +but he bestirred him the best he could, and tied his horse up +with his other hand to a thorn; and he turned over on his side, +so that he got into the bower on his back. And he looked +through a chink in the bower, and saw the stars in the sky; and +he saw one there brighter than the rest, and he began to say:</p> +<p><!-- page 57--><a name="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +57</span><i>Here they sing</i>.</p> +<p>“Little star, I see thee there,<br /> +That the moon draws close to her!<br /> +Nicolette is with thee there,<br /> +My love of the golden hair.<br /> +God, I trow, wants her in Heaven<br /> +To become the lamp of even.</p> +<p>. . . . .<br /> +. . . . .<br /> +. . . . . <a name="citation57"></a><a href="#footnote57" +class="citation">[57]</a></p> +<p>Whatsoe’er the fall might be,<br /> +Would I were aloft with thee!<br /> +Straitly I would kiss thee there.<br /> +Though a monarch’s son I were,<br /> +Yet would you befit me fair,<br /> + Sister, sweet friend!”</p> +<p><i>Here they speak and tell the story</i>.</p> +<p>When Nicolette heard Aucassin she came to him, for she was not +far off. She came into <!-- page 58--><a +name="page58"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 58</span>the bower, +and threw her arms round his neck, and kissed and caressed +him.</p> +<p>“Fair sweet friend, well be you met!”</p> +<p>“And you, fair sweet friend, be you the well +met!”</p> +<p>They kissed and caressed each other, and their joy was +beautiful.</p> +<p>“Ah, sweet friend!” said Aucassin, “I was +but now sore hurt in my shoulder; and now I feel neither hurt nor +pain since I have you!”</p> +<p>She felt about, and found that he had his shoulder out of +place. She plied it so with her white hands, and achieved +(as God willed, who loveth lovers) that it came again into +place. And then she took flowers and fresh grass and green +leaves, and bound them on with the lappet of her smock, and he +was quite healed.</p> +<p>“Aucassin,” said she, “fair sweet friend, +take counsel what you will do! If your father makes them +search this forest to-morrow, and they find me—whatever may +become of you, they will kill me!”</p> +<p>“Certès, fair sweet friend, I should be much +grieved at that! But, an I be able, they shall never have +hold of you!”</p> +<p><!-- page 59--><a name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +59</span>He mounted on his horse, and took his love in front of +him, kissing and caressing her; and they set out into the open +fields.</p> +<p><i>Here they sing</i>.</p> +<p>Aucassin, the boon, the blond,<br /> +High-born youth and lover fond,<br /> +Rode from out the deep forest;<br /> +In his arms his love he pressed,<br /> +’Fore him on the saddle-bow;<br /> +Kisses her on eyes and brow,<br /> +On her mouth and on her chin.<br /> +Then to him did she begin:</p> +<p>“Aucassin, fair lover sweet,<br /> +To what land are we to fleet?”</p> +<p>“Sweet my sweetheart, what know I?<br /> +Nought to me ’tis where we fly,<br /> +In greenwood or utter way,<br /> +So I am with you alway!”</p> +<p>So they pass by dale and down,<br /> +By the burgh and by the town,<br /> +<!-- page 60--><a name="page60"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +60</span>At daybreak the sea did reach,<br /> +And alighted on the beach<br /> + ’Longside the strand.</p> +<p><i>Here they speak and tell the story</i>.</p> +<p>Aucassin had alighted, he and his love together, as you have +harkened and heard. He held his horse by the bridle and his +love by the hand, and they began to go along the shore; and they +went on till Aucassin descried some merchants who were in a ship +sailing near the shore. He beckoned to them and they came +to him; and he dealt with them so that they took him into their +ship. And when they were on the high sea a storm arose, +great and wonderful, which carried them from land to land, till +they arrived at a foreign land, and entered the port of the +castle of Torelore. Then they asked what land it was; and +they told them that it was the land of the king of +Torelore. Then he asked, Who was he, and was there +war? And they told him:</p> +<p>“Yes, great war.”</p> +<p>He took leave of the merchants, and they <!-- page 61--><a +name="page61"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 61</span>commended him +to God. He mounted his horse, with his sword girt, and his +love before him, and went on till he came to the castle. He +asked where the king was, and they told him that he lay in +child-bed.</p> +<p>“And where then is his wife?”</p> +<p>And they told him that she was with the army, and had taken +thither all the folk of the land. And when Aucassin heard +it, he thought it a very strange thing; and he came to the +palace, and alighted, he and his love together. And she +held his horse, and he went up to the palace, with his sword +girt; and went on till he came to the room where the king lay +a-bed.</p> +<p><i>Here they sing</i>.</p> +<p>Aucassin the room ent’red,<br /> +He the courteous, the high-bred,<br /> +And went straight up to the bed,<br /> +On the which the king was laid.<br /> +Right in front of him he stayed,<br /> +And so spake, hear what he said:<br /> +<!-- page 62--><a name="page62"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +62</span>“Go to, fool! What dost thou +there?”<br /> +Quoth the king: “A son I bear.<br /> +Soon as is my month fulfilled,<br /> +And I am quite whole and healed,<br /> +Then shall I the mass go hear,<br /> +As my ancestor did ere,<br /> +And my great war to maintain<br /> +’Gainst mine enemies again.<br /> + I will not leave it!” <a +name="citation62"></a><a href="#footnote62" +class="citation">[62]</a></p> +<p><i>Here they speak and tell the story</i>.</p> +<p>When Aucassin heard the king speak thus, he took all the +clothes which were on him, and flung them down the room. He +saw behind him a stick. He took it, and turned and struck +him, and beat him so that he was like to have killed him.</p> +<p><!-- page 63--><a name="page63"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +63</span>“Ah, fair sir!” said the king, “what +is it you ask of me? Have you your wits distraught, you who +beat me in my own house?”</p> +<p>“By the heart of God,” said Aucassin, “you +whoreson knave, I will kill you unless you give me your word that +never more shall any man in your land lie in +child-bed!”</p> +<p>He gave him his word; and when he had given it,</p> +<p>“Sir,” said Aucassin, “now take me where +your wife is with the army!”</p> +<p>“Sir, right willingly!” said the king.</p> +<p>He mounted a horse, and Aucassin mounted his; and Nicolette +remained in the queen’s chambers. And the king and +Aucassin rode till they came where the queen was; and they found +it a battle of crab-apples roasted, and eggs, and fresh +cheeses. And Aucassin began to gaze at them, and he +wondered very hard.</p> +<p><i>Here they sing</i>.</p> +<p>Aucassin has stayed him so,<br /> +Elbow-propped on saddle-bow,<br /> +<!-- page 64--><a name="page64"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +64</span>And began a-gazing at<br /> +This tremendous pitched combat.<br /> +They had brought with them thereto<br /> +Store of cheeses enow new,<br /> +Wild crab-apples roasted through,<br /> +And of great field-mushrooms too.<br /> +He who best disturbs the fords<br /> +Is proclaimed the chief of lords.<br /> +Aucassin, the gallant knight,<br /> +’Gan a-gazing at the sight,<br /> + And fell a-laughing.</p> +<p><i>Here they speak and tell the story</i>.</p> +<p>When Aucassin saw this strange thing, he came to the king and +accosted him:</p> +<p>“Sir,” said Aucassin, “are these your +enemies?”</p> +<p>“Yes, sir,” said the king.</p> +<p>“And would you that I should avenge you of +them?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said he, “willingly.”</p> +<p>And Aucassin put his hand to his sword, and dashed in among +them, and began to <!-- page 65--><a name="page65"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 65</span>strike to right and to left, and +killed many of them. And when the king saw that he was +killing them he took him by the bridle, and said,</p> +<p>“Ah, fair sir! Do not kill them so!”</p> +<p>“How?” said Aucassin. “Do you not wish that +I should avenge you?”</p> +<p>“Sir,” said the king, “you have done it +overmuch. It is not our custom to kill one +another.”</p> +<p>The other side turned to flight; and the king and Aucassin +returned to the Castle of Torelore. And the people of the +country bade the king drive Aucassin out of his land, and keep +Nicolette for his son, since she seemed in sooth a lady of high +degree. And when Nicolette heard it she was not +well-pleased; and she began to say,</p> +<p><i>Here they sing</i>.</p> +<p>“King of Torelore!” she said,<br /> +Nicolette the lovely maid,<br /> +“Fool I seem in your folk’s sight!<br /> +When my sweet friend clips me tight,<br /> +<!-- page 66--><a name="page66"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +66</span>Smooth and soft for his delight,<br /> +Then am I at such a school,<br /> +Ball nor dance nor gay carole,<br /> +Harp nor viol nor cithole,<br /> +Nor the pleasures of <i>nimpole</i>, <a name="citation66"></a><a +href="#footnote66" class="citation">[66]</a><br /> + Were ought beside it!”</p> +<p><i>Here they speak and tell the story</i>.</p> +<p>Aucassin was at the Castle of Torelore, and Nicolette his +love, in great content and in great delight, for he had with him +Nicolette, his sweet friend whom he loved so well. While he +was in such content and in such delight, a fleet of Saracens came +by sea and attacked the castle and took it by storm. They +took the stuff, and led away men-captives and +women-captives. They took Nicolette and Aucassin, and bound +Aucassin hand and foot and threw him into one <!-- page 67--><a +name="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 67</span>ship, and +Nicolette into another. And there arose a storm at sea +which parted them. The ship in which Aucassin was went +drifting over the sea till it arrived at the Castle of +Beaucaire. And when the people of the country ran to the +wrecking of it, they found Aucassin, and recognised him. +When the men of Beaucaire saw their young lord, they made great +joy of him; for Aucassin had stayed at the Castle of Torelore +full three years, and his father and mother were dead. They +brought him to the Castle of Beaucaire, and all became his +liegemen. And he held his land in peace.</p> +<p><i>Here they sing</i>.</p> +<p>Aucassin did thus repair<br /> +To his city of Beaucaire;<br /> +All the kingdom and countrie<br /> +Held in great tranquillity.<br /> +Swore he by God’s majesty,<br /> +Sorer far is his regret<br /> +For bright-favoured Nicolette<br /> +<!-- page 68--><a name="page68"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +68</span>Than his kinsfolk every one,<br /> +Though they all were dead and gone.<br /> +“Sweet my sweetheart, bright of cheer,<br /> +You to seek I know not where!<br /> +Never God made that countrie,<br /> +Overland or oversea,<br /> +If I thought to light on thee,<br /> + I’d not fly thither!”</p> +<p><i>Here they speak and tell the story</i>.</p> +<p>Now we will leave Aucassin, and tell of Nicolette. The +ship in which Nicolette was, was the king of Carthage’s, +and he was her father, and she had twelve brothers, all princes +or kings. When they saw Nicolette so beautiful, they did +her very great honour, and made rejoicing over her; and much they +questioned of her who she was; for in sooth she seemed a very +noble lady and of high degree. But she could not tell them +who she was; for she had been carried captive as a little +child.</p> +<p>They sailed till they came beneath the city <!-- page 69--><a +name="page69"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 69</span>of +Carthage. And when Nicolette saw the walls of the castle, +and the country, she recognised that it was there she had been +brought up and carried captive as a little child; yet she was not +such a little child but that she knew well that she had been +daughter to the king of Carthage, and that she had been brought +up in the city.</p> +<p><i>Here they sing</i>.</p> +<p>Nicolette, the wise, the brave,<br /> +Won to land from off the wave;<br /> +Sees the wharves, the city walls,<br /> +And the palaces and halls;<br /> +Then she cries, “Ah! woe is me!<br /> +Ah, woe worth my high degree!<br /> +King’s daughter of Carthagen,<br /> +To the Amiral akin!<br /> +Here me holds a salvage horde!<br /> +Aucassin, my gentle lord,<br /> +Wise and worshipful and free,<br /> +Your sweet love constraineth me,<br /> +<!-- page 70--><a name="page70"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +70</span>Calleth me and troubleth me!<br /> +Grant me God the Heavenly<br /> +Yet to hold you in embrace,<br /> +And that you should kiss my face<br /> +And my mouth and all my cheer,<br /> + My liege lord dear!”</p> +<p><i>Here they speak and tell the story</i>.</p> +<p>When the king of Carthage heard Nicolette speak thus, he threw +his arms round her neck.</p> +<p>“Fair sweet friend,” said he, “tell me who +you are! Be not afraid of me!”</p> +<p>“Sir,” said she, “I am daughter to the king +of Carthage, and was carried captive as a little child, full +fifteen years ago.”</p> +<p>When they heard her speak thus, they knew well that she said +truly; and they made very great rejoicing over her, and brought +her to the palace with great honour, as a king’s +daughter. A lord they wished to give her, a king of Paynim; +but she had no care to wed. And when she had been there +full three days or four, <!-- page 71--><a +name="page71"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 71</span>she +considered with herself by what device she might go to seek +Aucassin. She procured a viol and learned to play on it; +till one day they wished to marry her to a king, a rich +Paynim. Then she stole away in the night, and came to the +seaport, and harboured her at the house of a poor woman on the +seashore.</p> +<p>And she took a herb, and smeared her head and face with it, so +that she was all black and stained. And she got a coat +made, and cloak and shirt and breeches, and attired herself in +minstrel guise; and she took her viol, and went to a mariner, and +so dealt with him that he took her in his ship. They set +their sail, and sailed over the high sea till they arrived at the +land of Provence. And Nicolette went forth, and took her +viol, and went playing through the country, till she came to the +Castle of Beaucaire, where Aucassin was.</p> +<p><!-- page 72--><a name="page72"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +72</span><i>Here they sing</i>.</p> +<p>At Beaucaire beneath the tower<br /> +Aucassin was one fair hour.<br /> +Here he sat him on a stair;<br /> +Round him his proud barons were;<br /> +Saw the flower and green herb spring,<br /> +Heard the song-bird sweetly sing;<br /> +Of his love he thought anew,<br /> +Nicolette the maiden true,<br /> +Whom he loved so long a day;<br /> +Then to tears and sighs gave way.<br /> +Look you, Nicolette below<br /> +Draws her viol, draws her bow;<br /> +Now she speaks, her tale tells so:<br /> +“List to me, proud lords arow,<br /> +Those aloft and those alow!<br /> +Would it please you hear a word<br /> +Of Aucassin, a proud lord,<br /> +And of Nicolette the bold?<br /> +Long their love did last and hold<br /> +Till he sought her in the wold.<br /> +Then, from Torelore’s stronghold,<br /> +They were haled by heathen horde.<br /> +Of Aucassin we’ve no word.<br /> +Nicolette the maiden bold<br /> +<!-- page 73--><a name="page73"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +73</span>Is at Carthage the stronghold,<br /> +Whom her father dear doth hold<br /> +Who of yonder land is lord.<br /> +Husband they would her award,<br /> +Felon king of heathenesse.<br /> +Nicolette cares not for this,<br /> +For she loves a lording lad,<br /> +Aucassin to name he had.<br /> +By God and His name she vows<br /> +Never lord will she espouse,<br /> +If she have not her true love<br /> + She’s so fain of.”</p> +<p><i>Here they speak and tell the story</i>.</p> +<p>When Aucassin heard Nicolette speak thus, he was very glad, +and he took her on one side, and asked her,</p> +<p>“Fair sweet comrade,” said Aucassin, “know +you ought of this Nicolette, of whom you have sung?”</p> +<p>“Sir, yes! I know of her as the noblest creature +and the gentlest and wisest that ever was born. And she is +daughter to the king <!-- page 74--><a name="page74"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 74</span>of Carthage, who took her when +Aucassin was taken, and carried her to the city of Carthage, when +he knew surely that she was his daughter, and made very great +rejoicing over her. And every day they wish to give her for +lord one of the highest kings in all Spain. But she would +rather let herself be hanged or drowned than she would take any +of them, were he ever so rich.”</p> +<p>“Ah, fair sweet comrade,” said the Count Aucassin, +“if you would go back to that land, and would tell her to +come and speak to me, I would give you of my wealth as much as +you should dare ask or take. Know, moreover, that for the +love of her I will take no wife, were she of ever so high degree, +but I wait for her; nor will I ever have any wife save her. +And had I known where to find her I should not now have to seek +her.”</p> +<p>“Sir,” said she, “if you would do this, I +would go to seek her, for your sake, and for hers, whom I love +much.”</p> +<p>He sware to her; and then he bade give her twenty +pounds. And as she took leave of him, he fell weeping for +the sweetness of Nicolette. And when she saw him +weeping,</p> +<p>“Sir,” said she, “be not afraid! Since +<!-- page 75--><a name="page75"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +75</span>within a little while I will bring her to you in this +town, so that you shall see her.”</p> +<p>And when Aucassin heard it he was very glad. And she +took leave of him, and went into the town to the house of the +Viscountess; for the Viscount her godfather was dead. She +harboured her there; and spoke with her till she confessed her +affair to her, and the Viscountess recognised her, and knew +surely that it was Nicolette, and that she had brought her +up. And she made her be washed and bathed, and sojourn +there a full eight days. And she took a plant which was +called Celandine and anointed herself with it, and she was as +beautiful as she had ever been at any time. And she clad +herself in rich silk stuffs, of which the lady had good store, +and she sat her down in the room on a quilted coverlet of +cloth-of-silk, and called the lady, and told her to go for +Aucassin her friend. And she did so. And when she +came to the palace she found Aucassin weeping and lamenting for +Nicolette his love, because she tarried so long. And the +lady accosted him and said:</p> +<p>“Aucassin, now make no more lament, but come away with +me, and I will show you the thing in the world you love best, for +it is <!-- page 76--><a name="page76"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 76</span>Nicolette, your sweet friend, who +from far land is come to seek you.” And Aucassin was +glad.</p> +<p><i>Here they sing</i>.</p> +<p>Now when Aucassin did hear<br /> +Of his bright-of-favour fere,<br /> +That she had arrived the shore,<br /> +Glad was he, he ne’er was more.<br /> +With the dame he went his way,<br /> +Till the house made stop nor stay.<br /> +To the chamber went they in<br /> +Where sat Nicolette within.<br /> +When she saw her lover there,<br /> +Glad she was, so was she ne’er.<br /> +Towards him to her feet leapt she.<br /> +Aucassin, when he did see,<br /> +Both his arms to her he holds,<br /> +Gently to his bosom folds,<br /> +Kisses her on eyes and face.<br /> +So they left him the night’s space,<br /> +Till the morrow’s morning-tide<br /> +Aucassin took her to bride,<br /> +<!-- page 77--><a name="page77"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +77</span>Made her Lady of Beaucaire.<br /> +Many days they then did fare,<br /> +And their pleasure did enjoy.<br /> +Now has Aucassin his joy,<br /> +Nicolette too the same way.<br /> +Here endeth our song-and-say;<br /> + I know no further.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">printed +by</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">turnbull and spears</span>,<br /> +<span class="smcap">edinburgh</span></p> +<h2>Footnotes:</h2> +<p><a name="footnote39"></a><a href="#citation39" +class="footnote">[39]</a> The device of the warder is to +give his warning in the guise of an <i>Aubade</i>, as if he were +merely singing for his own amusement. The <i>Aubade</i>, or +Watch-song, was a favourite lyrical form in Southern +France. It was originally a dialogue between the lover, the +lady, and the watchman who played sentinel, and warned them that +the Dawn was coming.</p> +<p><a name="footnote48"></a><a href="#citation48" +class="footnote">[48]</a> This piece of verse is remarkable +for the evident intention of playfulness in it. All the +lines end in a diminutive termination, and all the proper names +also; Esmeret, Martinet, Fruelin, Johanet, Aubriet, +Aucassinet. It seemed impossible to preserve this +playfulness in any direct way, without sacrifice of literal +rendering and without changing the proper names. I have +tried to give a little of it by the use of dissyllabic +rhymes.</p> +<p><a name="footnote57"></a><a href="#citation57" +class="footnote">[57]</a> Three lines are torn away in the +original MS.</p> +<p><a name="footnote62"></a><a href="#citation62" +class="footnote">[62]</a> The custom of a husband taking to +his bed when his wife has borne a child is a curious superstition +well-known to ethnologists and folk-lore students. The +convenient name of <i>Couvade</i>, though originally applied to +this custom by a mistake, has now become recognised, and it seems +best to retain it.</p> +<p><a name="footnote66"></a><a href="#citation66" +class="footnote">[66]</a> It is unknown what the game of +<i>Nimpole</i> or <i>Nypollete</i> was. But elsewhere it is +coupled with games played on a board, <i>jeux de tables</i>, as +if of the same nature as draughts or chess.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUCASSIN AND NICOLETTE***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 23227-h.htm or 23227-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/2/2/23227 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Aucassin and Nicolette + translated from the Old French + + +Author: Anonymous + + + +Release Date: October 28, 2007 [eBook #23227] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUCASSIN AND NICOLETTE*** + + + + +Transcribed from the 1908 Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. edition by +David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + +AUCASSIN AND NICOLETTE + + +TRANSLATED FROM THE OLD FRENCH + +BY +FRANCIS WILLIAM BOURDILLON + +LONDON +KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO. LTD. + +DRYDEN HOUSE, GERRARD STREET, W. +1908 + +_All rights reserved_ + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The story of Love, that simple theme with variations _ad libitum_, _ad +infinitum_, is never old, never stale, never out-of-date. And as we +sometimes seek rest from the brilliant audacities and complex passions of +Wagner or Tschaikowsky in the tender simplicity of some ancient English +air, so we occasionally turn with relief from the wit and insight and +subtlety of our modern novelists to the old uncomplicated tales of faerie +or romance, and find them after all more moving, more tender, even more +real, than all the laboured realism of these photographic days. And here +before us is of all pretty love-stories perhaps the prettiest. Idyllic +as Daphnis and Chloe, romantic as Romeo and Juliet, tender as Undine, +remote as Cupid and Psyche, yet with perpetual touches of actual life, +and words that raise pictures; and lightened all through with a dainty +playfulness, as if Ariel himself had hovered near all the time of its +writing, and Puck now and again shot a whisper of suggestion. + +Yet it is only of late years that the charm of this story has been truly +appreciated. Composed probably in Northern France, about the close of +the twelfth century,--the time of our own Angevin kings and the most +brilliant period of Old-French literature,--it has survived only in a +single manuscript of later date, where it is found hidden among a number +of tales in verse less pleasing in subject and far less delightful in +form. There it had lain unknown till discovered by M. de Sainte-Palaye, +and printed by him in modernised French in 1752, one hundred and fifty +years ago. There is no space here to follow its fortunes since. Even +after this revival it was not till more than one hundred years later that +it began to attain to any wide recognition. And in England this +recognition has been mainly due to Mr Pater's delightful essay in his +early work "Studies in the History of the Renaissance." Since the +publication of this book in 1873, the story of Aucassin and Nicolette has +had an ever-growing train of admirers both in England and America, and +various translations have appeared on both sides of the Atlantic. It has +also been translated into several other European languages, besides +versions in modern French. + +The story, so far as the simple old-world plot is concerned, is very +probably not the original invention of whoever gave it this particular +form, any more than were the plots of Shakespeare's plays of his own +devising. It seems likely that in origin it is Arabian or Moorish, and +its birthplace not Provence but Spain. Possibly it sprung, as so much of +the best poetry and story has sprung, from the touching of two races, and +the part friction part fusion of two religions, in this case of the Moor +and the Christian. There was in 1019 a Moorish king of Cordova named +Alcazin. Turn this name into French and we have Aucassin. And to +reverse the roles of Christian and heathen is a very usual device for a +story-teller transplanting a story from another country to his own. +Though the scene is nominally laid in Provence there are a good many +signs of a Spanish origin in the places mentioned. By Carthage is meant, +not the city of Dido, but Carthagena; and thus the husband devised for +Nicolette is "one of the greatest kings in all Spain." Valence again +might originally have been not the Valence on the Rhone, but Valence le +grand, or Valentia. And it is curious to observe that Beaucaire is +closely connected with Tarascon--a bridge across the Rhone unites +them--and that this latter name nearly resembles Tarragona, a place which +in other French romances is actually called Terrascoigne. The shipwreck +which in the story takes place, impossibly, at Beaucaire, may have +originally happened, quite naturally, at Tarragona. Even the nonsense- +name, Torelore, might easily have had its rise in Torello. Again, though +it has been shown that all modern reports of the _Couvade_ as existing in +Biscay have been founded only on the ancient assertion of Strabo, it is +still remarkable that it is in this part of Europe alone that the custom +has ever been found. + +If the composer of Aucassin derived his story from such a source, it is +easy to see also whence he got the idea of the special form he has given +it; for a narrative in prose mingled with interludes of verse, though +strange to European literature, is common in Arabian. + +And yet, whatever his sources or his models, one feels that his debt to +them is trifling compared to the worth of his own work. All that he +describes he has seen with his own eyes; and all that he tells, be it +borrowed or invented, is quickened and heightened and made immortal by +his own touch upon it. + +All who can should read this story in its own language--the simple easy- +flowing Old-French, with its infantile syntax, and naive but effective +efforts at distinction and what we now call style. There are various +editions of the old French text; but the two easiest to get and also to +read are that of Professor Suchier, and my own. Those in search of +learning will always turn to Germany, and Suchier is a very learned man. +But I can honestly advise all English readers to get my edition +(Macmillan, 1897) in which the text is given as pure as I could draw it +from the fountain head, the original MS. at Paris; where the music to the +verse sections will be found printed in its proper notation; and which +contains also a literal translation, full notes, and a glossary. + +The present translation varies a good deal from that I printed with the +Old-French text. I have to some extent relaxed the restrictions I +imposed on myself there, and have given freer turns, even verging +occasionally on paraphrase, to bring out the full meaning, which it is +often possible to miss in the original, especially in the very condensed +style of the verses. These changes will, I hope, make this version easy +and pleasant to read even by those who have no leisure or no inclination +to attempt the study of the Old-French itself. + + + + +AUCASSIN & NICOLETTE + + +'TIS OF AUCASSIN AND OF NICOLETTE + + +Who would list a pleasant lay, +Pastime of the old and grey? +Of two lovers, children yet, +Aucassin and Nicolette; +Of the sorrows he went through, +Of the great things he did do, +All for his bright favoured may. +Sweet the song is, fair the say, +Full of art and full of grace. +There is none in such ill case, +Sad with sorrow, waste with care, +Sick with sadness, if he hear, +But shall in the hearing be +Whole again and glad with glee, + So sweet the story. + +_Here they speak and tell the story_. + +How Bulgarius Count of Valence made war upon Warren Count of Beaucaire. +And this war was so great, so marvellous, and so mortal, that not a day +dawned but there he was before the city, at the gates, at the walls, at +the fences, with knights a hundred and men-at-arms ten thousand on foot +and on horse; and he burned his land, laid waste his country, and slew +his liegemen. Warren, Count of Beaucaire, was an old man and feeble, who +had overlived his term. He had none to succeed him, neither son nor +daughter, save one only boy; and what he was like, I will tell you. +Aucassin was the young lord's name, and a pretty lad he was. He had +golden hair in little curls, and laughing blue eyes, a face fair of +colour and fine of curve, and a proud shapely nose. Aye, so endued was +he with good conditions that there was none bad in him, but good only. +But so overcome was he of Love, who masters all, that he refused +knighthood, abjured arms, shunned the tourney, and left undone all his +devoir. + +His father and his mother would say to him: "Son! come, take thine arms +and to horse! Fight for thy land and succour thy liegemen! If they see +thee in the midst of them, they will fight the better for their lives and +their havings and for thy land and mine!" + +"Father," said Aucassin, "to what purpose is this oration? Never God +give me ought that I ask of Him, if I take knighthood or mount horse, if +I face fight or battlefield to smite knight or be myself smitten, if you +give me not Nicolette, my sweet friend whom I love so well!" + +"My son," said his father, "it cannot be. Have done with Nicolette! She +is a slave-girl, carried captive from a foreign land. The Viscount of +this place bought her of the heathen, and brought her here. He held her +at the font, and christened her, and stood godfather to her. Some day he +will give her a young fellow to win bread for her in wedlock. What is +this to you? If you want a wife, I will give you a king's daughter or a +count's. There is never so rich a man in France but you shall have his +daughter, if you want her." + +"Alack, father!" said Aucassin. "Where now is honour on earth so high, +which Nicolette my sweet friend would not grace if it were hers? Were +she Empress of Constantinople or of Germany, were she Queen of France or +of England, there were but little in it, so noble is she and gracious and +debonair and endued with all good conditions." + +_Here they sing_. + +Aucassin was of Beaucaire; +His was the fine castle there; +But on slender Nicolette +Past man's moving is he set, +Whom his father doth refuse; +Menace did his mother use: + +"Out upon thee, foolish boy! +Nicolette is but a toy, +Castaway from Carthagen, +Bought a slave of heathen men. +If for marrying thou be, +Take a wife of high degree!" + +"Mother, I will none but her. +Hath she not the gentle air, +Grace of limb, and beauty bright? +I am snared in her delight. +If I love her 'tis but meet, + So passing sweet!" + +_Here they speak and tell the story_. + +When Warren Count of Beaucaire perceived that Aucassin his son was not to +be moved from his love of Nicolette, he betook him to the Viscount of the +place, who was his liegeman; and addressed him thus: + +"Sir Viscount, come, rid me of Nicolette your god-daughter! A curse on +the land whence ever she was fetched to this country! Now Aucassin is +lost to me, and all because of her. He refuses knighthood and leaves +undone all his devoir. Rest assured that if I can get hold of her I will +burn her in a fire; and for yourself too you may fear the worst." + +"Sir," said the Viscount, "'tis grief to me that he go to her, or come to +her, or speak to her. I had bought her with my poor pieces. I had held +her at the font, and christened her, and stood god-father to her; and I +would have given her a young fellow to win bread for her in wedlock. What +is this to Aucassin your son? But seeing your will is so and your good +pleasure, I will send her to such a land and to such a country that he +shall never set eyes on her more." + +"See you do so!" said Count Warren. "Else it might go ill with you." + +Thus they parted. Now the Viscount was a very rich man, and had a fine +palace with a garden before it. He had Nicolette put in a room there, on +an upper storey, with an old woman for company; and he had bread put +there, and meat and wine and all they needed. Then he had the door +locked, so that there was no way to get in or out. Only there was a +window of no great size which looked on the garden and gave them a little +fresh air. + +_Here they sing_. + +Nicolette is prisoner, +In a vaulted bed-chamber, +Strange of pattern and design, +Richly painted, rarely fine. +At the window-sill of stone +Leaned the maiden sad and lone. +Yellow was her shining hair, +And her eyebrow pencilled rare, +Face fine-curved and colour fair: +Never saw you lovelier. +Gazed she o'er the garden-ground, +Saw the opening roses round, +Heard the birds sing merrily; +Then she made her orphan cry: + +"Woe's me! what a wretch am I! +Caged and captive, why, ah why? +Aucassin, young lord, prithee, +Your sweetheart, am I not she? +Ay, methinks you hate not me. +For your sake I'm prisoner, +In this vaulted bed-chamber, +Where my life's a weary one. +But by God, sweet Mary's son, +Long herein I will not stay, + Can I find way!" + +_Here they speak and tell the story_. + +Nicolette was in prison, as you have harkened and heard, in the chamber. +The cry and the noise ran through all the land and through all the +country that Nicolette was lost. There are some say she is fled abroad +out of the land. Other some that Warren, Count of Beaucaire, has had her +done to death. Rejoice who might, Aucassin was not well pleased. But he +went straightway to the Viscount of the place, and thus addressed him: + +"Sir Viscount, what have you done with Nicolette, my very sweet friend, +the thing that I love best in all the world? Have you stolen and taken +her from me? Rest assured that if I die of this thing, my blood will be +required of you; and very justly, when you have gone and killed me with +your two hands. For you have stolen from me the thing that I love best +in all the world." + +"Fair sir," said the Viscount, "now let be! Nicolette is a slave-girl +whom I fetched from a foreign land and bought for money of the heathen. I +held her at the font, and christened her and stood godfather to her, and +have brought her up. One of these days I would have given her a young +fellow to win bread for her in wedlock. What is this to you? Take you +some king's daughter or some count's. Moreover, what were you profited, +think you, had you made her your concubine, or taken her to live with +you? Mighty little had you got by that, seeing that your soul would be +in Hell for ever and ever, for to Paradise you would never win!" + +"Paradise? What have I to do there? I seek not to win Paradise, so I +have Nicolette my sweet friend whom I love so well. For none go to +Paradise but I'll tell you who. Your old priests and your old cripples, +and the halt and maimed, who are down on their knees day and night, +before altars and in old crypts; these also that wear mangy old cloaks, +or go in rags and tatters, shivering and shoeless and showing their +sores, and who die of hunger and want and cold and misery. Such are they +who go to Paradise; and what have I to do with them? Hell is the place +for me. For to Hell go the fine churchmen, and the fine knights, killed +in the tourney or in some grand war, the brave soldiers and the gallant +gentlemen. With them will I go. There go also the fair gracious ladies +who have lovers two or three beside their lord. There go the gold and +the silver, the sables and ermines. There go the harpers and the +minstrels and the kings of the earth. With them will I go, so I have +Nicolette my most sweet friend with me." + +"I' faith," said the Viscount, "'tis but vain to speak of it; you will +see her no more. Aye, were you to get speech of her and it came to your +father's ears, he would burn both her and me in a fire; and for yourself +too you might fear the worst." + +"This is sore news to me," said Aucassin. And he departed from the +Viscount, sorrowful. + +_Here they sing_. + +Aucassin has turned once more +In wanhope and sorrow sore +For his love-friend bright of face. +None can help his evil case, +None a word of counsel say. +To the palace went his way; +Step by step he climbed the stair; +Entered in a chamber there. +Then he 'gan to weep alone, +And most dismally to groan, +And his lady to bemoan. + +"Nicolette, ah, gracious air! +Coming, going, ever fair! +In thy talk and in thy toying, +In thy jest and in thy joying, +In thy kissing, in thy coying. +I am sore distressed for thee. +Such a woe has come on me +That I trow not to win free, + Sweet sister friend!" + +_Here they speak and tell the story_. + +At the same time that Aucassin was in the chamber, bemoaning Nicolette +his friend, Bulgarius Count of Valence, who had his war to maintain, +forgat it not; but he had summoned his men, foot and horse, and advanced +to assault the castle. And the cry went up and the noise; and the +knights and men-at-arms girt on their armour, and hastened to the gates +and walls to defend the castle; while the townsfolk mounted the parapets +and hurled bolts and sharpened stakes. At the time when the assault was +fast and furious, Warren Count of Beaucaire came into the chamber where +Aucassin was weeping and bemoaning Nicolette his most sweet friend whom +he loved so well. + +"Ah, my son!" said he. "Wretch that thou art and unhappy, to see assault +made on this thy castle--none better nor more strong! Know, moreover, +that if thou lose it thou losest thine inheritance! Come now, my son, +take thine arms and to horse! Fight for thy land, and succour thy +liegemen, and get thee to the field! Though thou strike never a man nor +be thyself stricken, if they but see thee among them they will make a +better fight for their lives and their havings, and for thy land and +mine. So tall art thou and so strong, 'tis no great thing to do; and it +is thy devoir." + +"Father," said Aucassin, "to what purpose is this oration? Never God +give me ought that I ask of him, if I take knighthood or mount horse or +go to the fighting to smite knight or be myself smitten, if you give me +not Nicolette, my sweet friend, whom I love so well!" + +"Son," said his father, "that cannot be. Rather would I suffer loss of +all my inheritance, aye, of all I have, than that thou shouldst have her +to woman or to wife!" + +And he turned to go. And when Aucassin saw him departing, he called him +back. + +"Father," said Aucassin, "come hither, and I will make a fair covenant +with you!" + +"Aye, and what covenant, fair son?" + +"I will take arms and go to the fighting on such condition, that, if God +bring me again safe and sound, you will give me leave to see Nicolette my +sweet friend for such time as I may speak two words to her or three, and +once only kiss her." + +"I consent," said his father. + +So he made agreement with him, and Aucassin was well-pleased. + +_Here they sing_. + +Aucassin heard of the kiss +On returning to be his. +Hundred thousand marks pure gold +Him had made less blithe and bold. +Arms he called for, rich and rare; +They made ready for his wear. +Hauberk donned he, double-lined; +Helmet on his head did bind; +Girt his sword with hilt pure gold; +Mounted on his charger bold; +Spear and buckler then he took; +At his two feet cast a look, +In the stirrups trod they trim; +Wondrous proud he carried him. +His sweet friend--he thought on her, +To his charger clapped the spur; +Forth he springs full mettlesome; +Straightway to the gate they come + That led to battle. + +_Here they speak and tell the story_. + +Aucassin was arrayed and mounted on his horse, as you have harkened and +heard. Lord! how well it became him--the shield on his neck and the helm +on his head and the sword-belt on his left hip! And the boy was tall and +strong and comely and slim and well-grown; and the horse he bestrode was +fleet of foot and high of mettle, and the boy had put him through the +gate cleverly. Now don't you suppose that his thoughts would have been +set on taking spoil of oxen or cows or goats? that he would have struck +at some knight or been stricken in turn? Not a whit! it never once +occurred to him. But his thought was so set upon Nicolette, his sweet +friend, that he forgot the reins and all he had to do. And his horse, +feeling the spur, dashed with him through the press, and charged right +into the thick of the enemy, who laid hands on him on all sides, and made +him prisoner. They took from him shield and lance, and led him captive +then and there. They were already questioning one with another as to +what manner of death they should put him to; and when Aucassin heard it, + +"Ah, gracious Heaven!" he said, "and are these my mortal foes who hale me +here and are presently about to cut off my head? And once I have my head +cut off, nevermore shall I speak to Nicolette my sweet friend whom I love +so well. Nay, I have yet a good sword, and under me a good steed +untired. An I defend me not now for her sake, ne'er help her God if ever +again she love me!" + +The boy was tall and strong, and the horse beneath him was eager. He put +his hand to his sword and began to strike to right and to left, slashing +helmet and nose-guard, fist and wrist, and making havoc all around him as +the boar does when the dogs set on him in the forest; so that he +overthrew ten of their knights and wounded seven; and charged then and +there out of the press, and rode back full gallop, sword in hand. + +Bulgarius, Count of Valence, heard say that they were about to hang +Aucassin his enemy, and came that way. Aucassin failed not to espy him; +and gripping his sword, he smote him through the helmet so that he clave +it to the skull. He was so stunned that he fell to earth; and Aucassin +put out his hand and took him prisoner, and led him off by the nose-guard +of his helmet, and delivered him to his father. + +"Father," said Aucassin, "see here is your enemy who has made war on you +so long and done you hurt so great. Twenty years has this war lasted, +and never a man to put an end to it." + +"Fair son," said his father, "well were it you should do deeds like this, +and not gape at folly!" + +"Father," said Aucassin, "read me no lectures, but keep me my covenant!" + +"Bah! what covenant, fair son?" + +"Alack, father, have you forgotten it? By the head of me, forget it who +may, I do not mean to forget it. Rather have I laid it much to heart. +Did you not make this covenant with me, that if I took arms and went out +to the fighting, and if God brought me back safe and sound, you would let +me see Nicolette my sweet friend for such time as I might speak two words +to her or three, and once only kiss her? This covenant you made with me, +and this covenant I will have you keep with me!" + +"What, I?" said his father. "Ne'er help me Heaven if I keep this +covenant with you! and were she here now I would burn her in a fire; and +for yourself too you might fear the worst." + +"Is this the whole conclusion?" said Aucassin. + +"Aye," said his father, "so help me Heaven!" + +"I' faith," said Aucassin, "then I am very sorry that a man of your age +should be a liar.--Count of Valence, you are my prisoner." + +"Sir, it is even so," said the Count. + +"Give me your hand!" said Aucassin. + +"Sir, right willingly." + +He put his hand in his. + +"This you pledge me," said Aucassin, "that never in all your days to be +shall it be in your power to do shame to my father or to do hurt to him +or his, and you not do it!" + +"Sir," said he, "for God's sake, mock me not, but set me a ransom! You +can ask me nothing, gold or silver, war-horses or palfreys, sables or +ermines, hounds or hawks, that I will not give you." + +"How now?" said Aucassin. "Wot you not that you are my prisoner?" + +"Aye, sir," said the Count Bulgarius. + +"Ne'er help me Heaven," said Aucassin, "save you give me this pledge, if +I send not your head a-flying!" + +"I' God's name," said he, "I give you what pledge you please!" + +He gave the pledge; and Aucassin set him on a horse, and himself mounted +another, and conducted him till he was in safety. + +_Here they sing_. + +When Count Warren saw indeed +That he never will succeed +Aucassin his son to get +From bright-favoured Nicolette, +In a pris'n he had him set, +In a dungeon hid from day, +Builded all of marble grey. +Now when Aucassin came there +Sad he was--so was he ne'er. +Loud lamenting he fell on, +Thus as you shall hear anon. + +"Flow'r o' the lily, Nicolette! +Bright-faced sweetheart, Nicolette! +Sweet as cluster of the vine, +Sweet as meed in maselyn. +This I saw some yesterday, +How a pilgrim on his way-- +Limousin his land was--lay +Fevered on a bed within. +Grievous had his sickness been, +Great the fever he was in. +By his bedside Nicolette +Passing, lifted skirts and let-- +'Neath the pretty ermine frock, +'Neath the snowy linen smock-- +Just a dainty ankle show. +Lo, the sick was healed, and lo, +Found him whole as ne'er before. +From his bed he rose once more, +And to his own land did flit, +Safe and sound, whole ever whit. + +Flow'r o' the lily, Nicolette! +Coming, going, ever pleasing, +In thy talk and in thy teasing, +In thy jest and in thy joying, +In thy kisses, in thy coying! +There is none could hate thee, dear! +Yet for thy sake am I here, +In this dungeon hid from day, +Where I cry Ah, well-a-way! +Now to die behoveth me, + Sweet friend, for thee!" + +_Here they speak and tell the story_. + +Aucassin was put in prison, as you have listened and heard, and Nicolette +was elsewhere in the chamber. 'Twas the summer time, the month of May, +when the days are warm and long and bright, and the nights still and +cloudless. Nicolette lay one night in her bed, and saw the moon shine +bright through a window, and heard the nightingale sing in the garden; +and she remembered Aucassin her friend, whom she loved so well. Then she +fell a-thinking of Warren Count of Beaucaire, and how he hated her to +death; and she thought within herself that she would abide there no +longer; since if she were betrayed and Count Warren knew of her, he would +put her to an evil death. She perceived that the old woman who was with +her slept. And she arose and clad her in a goodly gown that she had of +cloth-of-silk; and she took bedclothes and towels, and tied one to other +and made a rope as long as she could, and made it fast to the +window-shaft; and so got down into the garden. Then she took her dress +in one hand before, and in the other behind, and girded herself, because +of the dew she saw heavy on the grass, and went her way down the garden. +She had golden hair in little curls, and laughing blue eyes, and a face +finely curved, and a proud shapely nose, and lips more red than cherry or +rose in summertime, and small white teeth, and little breasts that +swelled beneath her clothes like two nuts of a walnut-tree. And her +waist was so fine that your two hands could have girdled her; and the +daisy-flowers snapped by her toes, and lying on the arch of her foot, +were fairly black beside her feet and ankles, so very white the girl was. + +She came to the postern, and unfastened it, and went out through the +streets of Beaucaire, keeping to the shadow, for the moon shone very +bright; and she went on till she came to the tower where her friend was. +The tower had cracks in it here and there, and she crouched against one +of the piers, and wrapped herself in her mantle, and thrust her head into +a chink in the tower, which was old and ancient, and heard Aucassin +within weeping and making very great sorrow, and lamenting for his sweet +friend whom he loved so much. And when she had listened enough to him +she began to speak. + +_Here they sing_. + +Nicolette the bright of face +Leaned her at the buttress-base, +Heard within her lover dear +Weeping and bewailing her; +Then she spake the thought in her: + +"Aucassin, most gentle knight, +High-born lording, honoured wight, +What avails you to weep so? +What your wailing, what your woe? +I may ne'er your darling be, +For your father hateth me; +All your kin thereto agree. +For your sake I'll pass the sea, +Get me to some far countrie." + +Tresses of her hair she clipped, +And within the tower slipped. +Aucassin, that lover true, +Took them and did honour due, +Fondly kissed them and caressed, +And bestowed them in his breast. +Then in tears anew he brake + For his love's sake. + +_Here they speak and tell the story_. + +When Aucassin heard Nicolette say that she would depart into another +country, he felt nothing but anger. + +"Fair sweet friend," said he, "you shall not depart, for then would you +have killed me. The first man that set eyes on you and could do so would +straightway lay hands on you and take you to be his concubine. And once +you had lived with any man but me, now dream not that I should wait to +find a knife wherewith to strike me to the heart and kill me! Nay, +verily, that were all too long to wait. Rather would I fling me just so +far as I might see a bit of wall, or a grey stone; and against that would +I dash my head so hard that my eyes should start out and all my brains be +scattered. Yet even such a death would I die rather than know you had +lived with any man but me." + +"Ah!" said she, "I trow not that you love me so well as you say; but I +love you better than you do me." + +"Alack!" said Aucassin, "fair sweet friend! That were not possible that +you should love me so well as I do you. Woman cannot love man so well as +man loves woman. For a woman's love lies in her eye, in bud of bosom or +tip of toe. But a man's love is within him, rooted in his heart, whence +it cannot go forth." + +While Aucassin and Nicolette were talking together, the town watch came +down a street. They had their swords drawn under their cloaks, for Count +Warren had given them command that if they could lay hands on her they +should kill her. And the watchman on the tower saw them coming, and +heard that they were talking of Nicolette and threatening to kill her. + +"Great Heavens!" he said, "what pity it were should they slay so fair a +maid! 'Twere a mighty good deed if I could tell her, in such wise that +they perceived it not, and she could be ware of them. For if they slay +her, then will Aucassin my young lord die; and that were great pity." + +_Here they sing_. + +Valiant was the watch on wall, +Kindly, quick of wit withal. +He struck up a roundelay +Very seasonably gay. + +"Maiden of the noble heart, +Winsome fair of form thou art; +Winsome is thy golden hair, +Blue thine eye and blithe thine air. +Well I see it by thy cheer, +Thou hast spoken with thy fere, +Who for thee lies dying here. +This I tell thee, thou give ear! +'Ware thee of the sudden foe! +Yonder seeking thee they go. +'Neath each cloak a sword I see; +Terribly they threaten thee. +Soon they'll do thee some misdeed + Save thou take heed!" {39} + +_Here they speak and tell the story_. + +"Ah!" said Nicolette; "now may thy father's soul and thy mother's be in +blessed repose, for the grace and for the courtesy with which thou hast +told me! Please God I will guard me well from them, and may God Himself +be my guard!" + +She wrapped her mantle about her in the shadow of the pier, till they had +passed. Then she took leave of Aucassin and went her way till she came +to the castle wall. There was a breach in it which had been boarded up. +On to this she climbed, and so got over between the wall and the ditch; +and looking down she saw the ditch was very deep and the sides very +sheer, and she was sore afraid. + +"Ah, gracious Heaven!" she said; "if I let myself fall I shall break my +neck; and if I abide here, I shall be taken to-morrow and burned in a +fire. Nay, I had liefer die here than be made a show to-morrow for all +the folk to stare at!" + +She crossed herself, and let herself slip down into the ditch. And when +she came to the bottom, her fair feet and her fair hands, untaught that +ought could hurt them, were bruised and torn, and the blood flowed in +full a dozen places. Nevertheless she felt neither hurt nor pain for her +great dread. And if she were troubled as to the getting in, she was far +more troubled as to the getting out. But she bethought her that it was +no good to linger there; and she found a sharpened stake which had been +thrown by those within in the defence of the castle; and with this she +made steps one above the other, and with much difficulty climbed up till +she reached the top. + +Now hard by was the forest, within two bowshots. It stretched full +thirty leagues in length and in breadth, and had wild beasts in it and +snaky things. She was afraid that if she went into it, these would kill +her; and on the other hand she bethought her that if she were found there +she would be taken back to the town to be burned. + +_Here they sing_. + +Nicolette, that bright-faced may, +Up the moat had won her way, +And to waymenting did fall, +And on Jesu's name 'gan call: + +"Father, King of Majesty! +Now I wot not which way fly. +Should I to the greenwood hie, +There the wolves will me devour, +And the lions and wild boar, +Whereof yonder is great store. +Should I wait the daylight clear, +So that they should find me here, +Lighted will the fire bin +That my body shall burn in. +But, O God of Majesty! +I had liefer yet fairly +That the wolves should me devour, +And the lions and wild boar, +Than into the city fare! + I'll not go there." + +_Here they speak and tell the story_. + +Nicolette made great lamentation, as you have heard. She commended +herself to God, and went on till she came into the forest. She durst not +go deep into it, for the wild beasts and the snaky things; and she crept +into a thick bush, and sleep fell on her. She slept till the morrow at +high Prime, when the herdboys came out of the town, and drove their +beasts between the wood and the river. They drew aside to a very +beautiful spring which was at the edge of the forest, and spread out a +cloak and put their bread on it. While they were eating, Nicolette awoke +at the cry of the birds and of the herdboys, and she sprang towards them. + +"Fair children!" said she, "may the Lord help you!" + +"May God bless you!" said the one who was more ready of speech than the +others. + +"Fair children," said she, "know you Aucassin, the son of the Count +Warren of Beaucaire?" + +"Yes, we know him well." + +"So God help you, fair children," said she, "tell him that there is a +beast in this forest, and that he come to hunt it. And if he can catch +it he would not give one limb of it for a hundred marks of gold, no, not +for five hundred, nor for any wealth." + +And they gazed at her, and when they saw her so beautiful they were all +amazed. + +"What, I tell him?" said he who was more ready of speech than the others. +"Sorrow be his whoever speak of it or whoever tell him! 'Tis fantasy +that you say, since there is not so costly a beast in this forest, +neither stag nor lion nor wild boar, one of whose limbs were worth more +than two pence, or three at the most; and you speak of so great wealth! +Foul sorrow be his who believe you, or whoever tell him! You are a fay, +and we have no care for your company. So keep on your way!" + +"Ah, fair children!" said she, "this will you do! The beast has such a +medicine that Aucassin will be cured of his hurt. And I have here five +sous in my purse; take them, so you tell him! Aye, and within three days +must he hunt it, and, if in three days he find it not, never more will he +be cured of his hurt!" + +"I' faith!" said he, "the pence will we take; and if he come here we will +tell him, but we will never go to seek him." + +"I' God's name!" said she. + +Then she took leave of the herdboys, and went her way. + +_Here they sing_. + +Nicolette, that bright-faced may, +From the herdboys went her way, +And her journeying addressed +Through the leafy thick forest, +Down a path of olden day, +Till she came to a highway, +Where do seven roads divide +Through the land to wander wide. +Then she fell bethinking her +She will try her true lover +If he love her as he sware. +Flow'rs o' the lily gathered she, +Branches of the jarris-tree, +And green leaves abundantly. +And she built a bower of green; +Daintier was there never seen. +By the truth of Heaven she sware, +That should Aucassin come there, +And a little rest not take +In the bower for her sweet sake, +Ne'er shall he her lover be, + Nor his love she! + +_Here they speak and tell the story_. + +Nicolette had made the bower, as you have harkened and heard; very pretty +she made it and very dainty, and all bedecked within and without with +flowers and leaves. Then she laid her down near to the bower in a thick +bush, to see what Aucassin would do. + +And the cry and the noise went through all the land and through all the +country that Nicolette was lost. There are some say that she is fled +away; other some that the Count Warren has had her done to death. Rejoice +who might, Aucassin was not well pleased. Count Warren his father bade +take him out of prison; and summoned the knights of the land, and the +damozels, and made a very rich feast, thinking to comfort Aucassin his +son. But while the feasting was at its height, there was Aucassin leaned +against a balcony, all sorrowful and all downcast. Make merry who might, +Aucassin had no taste for it; since he saw nothing there of that he +loved. A knight looked upon him, and came to him, and accosted him: + +"Aucassin," said he, "of such sickness as yours, I too have been sick. I +will give you good counsel, if you will trust me." + +"Sir," said Aucassin, "gramercy! Good counsel should I hold dear." + +"Mount on a horse," said he, "and go by yon forest side to divert you; +there you will see the flowers and green things, and hear the birds sing. +Peradventure you shall hear a word for which you shall be the better." + +"Sir," said Aucassin, "gramercy! So will I do." + +He stole from the hall, and descended the stairs, and came to the stable +where his horse was. He bade saddle and bridle him; and setting foot in +stirrup, he mounted and rode forth out of the castle, and went on till he +came to the forest. He rode till he reached the spring, and came upon +the herdboys at the point of None. They had spread a cloak on the grass, +and were eating their bread and making very great merriment. + +_Here they sing_. + +Came the herds from every part in; +There was Esme, there was Martin; +There was Fruelin and Johnny; +Aubrey boon, and Robin bonny. +Then to speech did one address him: +"Mates, young Aucassin, God bless him! +'Struth, it is a fine young fellow! +And the girl with hair so yellow, +With the body slim and slender, +Eyes so blue and bloom so tender! +She that gave us such a penny +As shall buy us sweetmeats many, +Hunting-knife and sheath of leather, +Flute and fife to play together, +Scrannel pipe and cudgel beechen. + I pray God leech him!" {48} + +_Here they speak and tell the story_. + +When Aucassin heard the shepherd boys, he minded him of Nicolette his +most sweet friend whom he loved so well; and he bethought him that she +had been there. And he pricked his horse with the spurs, and came to the +shepherd boys. + +"Fair children, may God help you!" + +"May God bless you!" said he who was more ready of speech than the +others. + +"Fair children," said he, "say again the song that you were saying just +now!" + +"We will not say it," said he who was more ready of speech than the +others. "Sorrow be his who sings it for you, fair sir!" + +"Fair children," said Aucassin, "do you not know me?" + +"Aye, we know well that you are Aucassin, our young lord; but we are not +your men, but the Count's." + +"Fair children, you will do so, I pray you!" + +"Hear, by gog's heart!" said he. "And why should I sing for you, an it +suit me not? When there is no man in this land so rich, saving Count +Warren's self, who finding my oxen or my cows or my sheep in his pastures +or in his crops, would dare to chase them from it, for fear of having his +eyes put out. And why should I sing for you, an it suit me not?" + +"So God help you, fair children, you will do so! And take ten sous which +I have here in a purse!" + +"Sir, the pence will we take, but I will not sing to you, for I have +sworn it. But I will tell it to you, if you will." + +"I' God's name!" said Aucassin; "I had liefer telling than nothing." + +"Sir, we were here just now, between Prime and Tierce, and were eating +our bread at this spring, even as we are doing now. And a maiden came +here, the most beautiful thing in the world, so that we deemed it was a +fay, and all the wood lightened with her. And she gave us of what was +hers, so that we covenanted with her, if you came here, we would tell you +that you are to go a-hunting in this forest. There is a beast there +which, could you catch it, you would not give one of its limbs for five +hundred marks of silver, nor for any wealth. For the beast has such a +medicine that if you can catch it you will be cured of your hurt. Aye, +and within three days must you have caught it, and if you have not caught +it, never more will you see it. Now hunt it an you will, or an you will +leave it; for I have well acquitted myself towards her." + +"Fair children," said Aucassin, "enough have you said; and God grant me +to find it!" + +_Here they sing_. + +Aucassin has word for word +Of his lithe-limbed lady heard; +Deep they pierced him to the quick; +From the herds he parted quick, +Struck into the greenwood thick. +Quickly stepped his gallant steed, +Bore him fairly off full speed. +Then he spake, three words he said: +"Nicolette, O lithe-limbed maid! +For your sake I thrid the glade! +Stag nor boar I now pursue, +But the sleuth I track for you! +Your bright eyes and body lithe, +Your sweet words and laughter blithe, +Wounded have my heart to death. +So God, the strong Father will, +I shall look upon you still, + Sister, sweet friend!" + +_Here they speak and tell the story_. + +Aucassin went through the forest this way and that way, and his good +steed carried him a great pace. Think not that the briars and thorns +spared him! Not a whit! Nay they tore his clothes so, that 'twere hard +work to have patched them together again; and the blood flowed from his +arms and his sides and his legs in forty places or thirty; so that one +could have followed the boy by the trace of the blood that fell upon the +grass. But he thought so much on Nicolette, his sweet friend, that he +felt neither hurt nor pain. All day long he rode through the forest, but +so it was that he never heard news of her. And, when he saw that evening +drew on, he began to weep because he found her not. + +He was riding down an old grassy road, when he looked before him in the +way and saw a boy, and I will tell you what he was like. He was tall of +stature and wonderful to see, so ugly and hideous. He had a monstrous +shock-head black as coal, and there was more than a full palm-breadth +between his two eyes; and he had great cheeks, and an immense flat nose, +with great wide nostrils, and thick lips redder than a roast, and great +ugly yellow teeth. He was shod in leggings and shoes of ox-hide, laced +with bast to above the knee; and was wrapped in a cloak which seemed +inside out either way on, and was leaning on a great club. Aucassin +sprang to meet him, and was terrified at the nearer sight of him. + +"Fair brother, may God help you!" + +"May God bless you!" said he. + +"So God help you, what do you there?" + +"What matters it to you?" said he. + +"Nothing"; said Aucassin; "I ask not for any ill reason." + +"But wherefore are you weeping," said he, "and making such sorrow? I' +faith, were I as rich a man as you are, all the world would not make me +weep!" + +"Bah! Do you know me?" said Aucassin. + +"Aye. I know well that you are Aucassin the son of the Count; and if you +tell me wherefore you are weeping I will tell you what I am doing here." + +"Certes," said Aucassin, "I will tell you right willingly. I came this +morning to hunt in this forest; and I had a white greyhound, the fairest +in the world, and I have lost it; 'tis for this I am weeping." + +"Hear him!" said he, "by the blessed heart! and you wept for a stinking +dog! Sorrow be his who ever again hold you in account! Why there is no +man in this land so rich, of whom if your father asked ten, or fifteen, +or twenty, he would not give them only too willingly, and be only too +glad. Nay, 'tis I should weep and make sorrow." + +"And wherefore you, brother?" + +"Sir, I will tell you. I was hireling to a rich farmer, and drove his +plough--four oxen there were. Three days since a great misfortune befell +me. I lost the best of my oxen, Roget, the best of my team; and I have +been in search of it ever since. I have neither eaten nor drunk these +three days past; and I dare not go into the town, as they would put me in +prison, since I have not wherewith to pay for it. Worldly goods have I +none worth ought but what you see on the body of me. I have a mother, +poor woman, who had nothing worth ought save one poor mattress, and this +they have dragged from under her back, so that she lies on the bare +straw; and for her I am troubled a deal more than for myself. For wealth +comes and goes; if I have lost now I shall gain another time, and I shall +pay for my ox when I can; nor will I ever weep for an ox. And you wept +for a dog of the dunghill! Sorrow be his who ever again hold you in +account!" + +"Certes, you are of good comfort, fair brother! Bless you for it! And +what was thine ox worth?" + +"Sir, it is twenty sous they ask me for it; I cannot abate a single +farthing." + +"Here," said Aucassin, "take these twenty which I have in my purse, and +pay for thine ox!" + +"Sir," said he, "Gramercy! And may God grant you to find that which you +seek!" + +He took leave of him; and Aucassin rode on. The night was fine and +still; and he went on till he came to the place where the seven roads +divide, and there before him he saw the bower which Nicolette had made, +bedecked within and without and over and in front with flowers, and so +pretty that prettier could not be. When Aucassin perceived it, he drew +rein all in a moment; and the light of the moon smote within it. + +"Ah, Heaven!" said Aucassin, "here has Nicolette been, my sweet friend; +and this did she make with her beautiful hands! For the sweetness of +her, and for her love, I will now alight here, and rest me there this +night through." + +He put his foot out of the stirrup to alight. His horse was big and +high; and he was thinking so much on Nicolette, his most sweet friend, +that he fell on a stone so hard that his shoulder flew out of place. He +felt that he was badly hurt; but he bestirred him the best he could, and +tied his horse up with his other hand to a thorn; and he turned over on +his side, so that he got into the bower on his back. And he looked +through a chink in the bower, and saw the stars in the sky; and he saw +one there brighter than the rest, and he began to say: + +_Here they sing_. + +"Little star, I see thee there, +That the moon draws close to her! +Nicolette is with thee there, +My love of the golden hair. +God, I trow, wants her in Heaven +To become the lamp of even. + +. . . . . +. . . . . +. . . . . {57} + +Whatsoe'er the fall might be, +Would I were aloft with thee! +Straitly I would kiss thee there. +Though a monarch's son I were, +Yet would you befit me fair, + Sister, sweet friend!" + +_Here they speak and tell the story_. + +When Nicolette heard Aucassin she came to him, for she was not far off. +She came into the bower, and threw her arms round his neck, and kissed +and caressed him. + +"Fair sweet friend, well be you met!" + +"And you, fair sweet friend, be you the well met!" + +They kissed and caressed each other, and their joy was beautiful. + +"Ah, sweet friend!" said Aucassin, "I was but now sore hurt in my +shoulder; and now I feel neither hurt nor pain since I have you!" + +She felt about, and found that he had his shoulder out of place. She +plied it so with her white hands, and achieved (as God willed, who loveth +lovers) that it came again into place. And then she took flowers and +fresh grass and green leaves, and bound them on with the lappet of her +smock, and he was quite healed. + +"Aucassin," said she, "fair sweet friend, take counsel what you will do! +If your father makes them search this forest to-morrow, and they find +me--whatever may become of you, they will kill me!" + +"Certes, fair sweet friend, I should be much grieved at that! But, an I +be able, they shall never have hold of you!" + +He mounted on his horse, and took his love in front of him, kissing and +caressing her; and they set out into the open fields. + +_Here they sing_. + +Aucassin, the boon, the blond, +High-born youth and lover fond, +Rode from out the deep forest; +In his arms his love he pressed, +'Fore him on the saddle-bow; +Kisses her on eyes and brow, +On her mouth and on her chin. +Then to him did she begin: + +"Aucassin, fair lover sweet, +To what land are we to fleet?" + +"Sweet my sweetheart, what know I? +Nought to me 'tis where we fly, +In greenwood or utter way, +So I am with you alway!" + +So they pass by dale and down, +By the burgh and by the town, +At daybreak the sea did reach, +And alighted on the beach + 'Longside the strand. + +_Here they speak and tell the story_. + +Aucassin had alighted, he and his love together, as you have harkened and +heard. He held his horse by the bridle and his love by the hand, and +they began to go along the shore; and they went on till Aucassin descried +some merchants who were in a ship sailing near the shore. He beckoned to +them and they came to him; and he dealt with them so that they took him +into their ship. And when they were on the high sea a storm arose, great +and wonderful, which carried them from land to land, till they arrived at +a foreign land, and entered the port of the castle of Torelore. Then +they asked what land it was; and they told them that it was the land of +the king of Torelore. Then he asked, Who was he, and was there war? And +they told him: + +"Yes, great war." + +He took leave of the merchants, and they commended him to God. He +mounted his horse, with his sword girt, and his love before him, and went +on till he came to the castle. He asked where the king was, and they +told him that he lay in child-bed. + +"And where then is his wife?" + +And they told him that she was with the army, and had taken thither all +the folk of the land. And when Aucassin heard it, he thought it a very +strange thing; and he came to the palace, and alighted, he and his love +together. And she held his horse, and he went up to the palace, with his +sword girt; and went on till he came to the room where the king lay a- +bed. + +_Here they sing_. + +Aucassin the room ent'red, +He the courteous, the high-bred, +And went straight up to the bed, +On the which the king was laid. +Right in front of him he stayed, +And so spake, hear what he said: +"Go to, fool! What dost thou there?" +Quoth the king: "A son I bear. +Soon as is my month fulfilled, +And I am quite whole and healed, +Then shall I the mass go hear, +As my ancestor did ere, +And my great war to maintain +'Gainst mine enemies again. + I will not leave it!" {62} + +_Here they speak and tell the story_. + +When Aucassin heard the king speak thus, he took all the clothes which +were on him, and flung them down the room. He saw behind him a stick. He +took it, and turned and struck him, and beat him so that he was like to +have killed him. + +"Ah, fair sir!" said the king, "what is it you ask of me? Have you your +wits distraught, you who beat me in my own house?" + +"By the heart of God," said Aucassin, "you whoreson knave, I will kill +you unless you give me your word that never more shall any man in your +land lie in child-bed!" + +He gave him his word; and when he had given it, + +"Sir," said Aucassin, "now take me where your wife is with the army!" + +"Sir, right willingly!" said the king. + +He mounted a horse, and Aucassin mounted his; and Nicolette remained in +the queen's chambers. And the king and Aucassin rode till they came +where the queen was; and they found it a battle of crab-apples roasted, +and eggs, and fresh cheeses. And Aucassin began to gaze at them, and he +wondered very hard. + +_Here they sing_. + +Aucassin has stayed him so, +Elbow-propped on saddle-bow, +And began a-gazing at +This tremendous pitched combat. +They had brought with them thereto +Store of cheeses enow new, +Wild crab-apples roasted through, +And of great field-mushrooms too. +He who best disturbs the fords +Is proclaimed the chief of lords. +Aucassin, the gallant knight, +'Gan a-gazing at the sight, + And fell a-laughing. + +_Here they speak and tell the story_. + +When Aucassin saw this strange thing, he came to the king and accosted +him: + +"Sir," said Aucassin, "are these your enemies?" + +"Yes, sir," said the king. + +"And would you that I should avenge you of them?" + +"Yes," said he, "willingly." + +And Aucassin put his hand to his sword, and dashed in among them, and +began to strike to right and to left, and killed many of them. And when +the king saw that he was killing them he took him by the bridle, and +said, + +"Ah, fair sir! Do not kill them so!" + +"How?" said Aucassin. "Do you not wish that I should avenge you?" + +"Sir," said the king, "you have done it overmuch. It is not our custom +to kill one another." + +The other side turned to flight; and the king and Aucassin returned to +the Castle of Torelore. And the people of the country bade the king +drive Aucassin out of his land, and keep Nicolette for his son, since she +seemed in sooth a lady of high degree. And when Nicolette heard it she +was not well-pleased; and she began to say, + +_Here they sing_. + +"King of Torelore!" she said, +Nicolette the lovely maid, +"Fool I seem in your folk's sight! +When my sweet friend clips me tight, +Smooth and soft for his delight, +Then am I at such a school, +Ball nor dance nor gay carole, +Harp nor viol nor cithole, +Nor the pleasures of _nimpole_, {66} + Were ought beside it!" + +_Here they speak and tell the story_. + +Aucassin was at the Castle of Torelore, and Nicolette his love, in great +content and in great delight, for he had with him Nicolette, his sweet +friend whom he loved so well. While he was in such content and in such +delight, a fleet of Saracens came by sea and attacked the castle and took +it by storm. They took the stuff, and led away men-captives and women- +captives. They took Nicolette and Aucassin, and bound Aucassin hand and +foot and threw him into one ship, and Nicolette into another. And there +arose a storm at sea which parted them. The ship in which Aucassin was +went drifting over the sea till it arrived at the Castle of Beaucaire. +And when the people of the country ran to the wrecking of it, they found +Aucassin, and recognised him. When the men of Beaucaire saw their young +lord, they made great joy of him; for Aucassin had stayed at the Castle +of Torelore full three years, and his father and mother were dead. They +brought him to the Castle of Beaucaire, and all became his liegemen. And +he held his land in peace. + +_Here they sing_. + +Aucassin did thus repair +To his city of Beaucaire; +All the kingdom and countrie +Held in great tranquillity. +Swore he by God's majesty, +Sorer far is his regret +For bright-favoured Nicolette +Than his kinsfolk every one, +Though they all were dead and gone. +"Sweet my sweetheart, bright of cheer, +You to seek I know not where! +Never God made that countrie, +Overland or oversea, +If I thought to light on thee, + I'd not fly thither!" + +_Here they speak and tell the story_. + +Now we will leave Aucassin, and tell of Nicolette. The ship in which +Nicolette was, was the king of Carthage's, and he was her father, and she +had twelve brothers, all princes or kings. When they saw Nicolette so +beautiful, they did her very great honour, and made rejoicing over her; +and much they questioned of her who she was; for in sooth she seemed a +very noble lady and of high degree. But she could not tell them who she +was; for she had been carried captive as a little child. + +They sailed till they came beneath the city of Carthage. And when +Nicolette saw the walls of the castle, and the country, she recognised +that it was there she had been brought up and carried captive as a little +child; yet she was not such a little child but that she knew well that +she had been daughter to the king of Carthage, and that she had been +brought up in the city. + +_Here they sing_. + +Nicolette, the wise, the brave, +Won to land from off the wave; +Sees the wharves, the city walls, +And the palaces and halls; +Then she cries, "Ah! woe is me! +Ah, woe worth my high degree! +King's daughter of Carthagen, +To the Amiral akin! +Here me holds a salvage horde! +Aucassin, my gentle lord, +Wise and worshipful and free, +Your sweet love constraineth me, +Calleth me and troubleth me! +Grant me God the Heavenly +Yet to hold you in embrace, +And that you should kiss my face +And my mouth and all my cheer, + My liege lord dear!" + +_Here they speak and tell the story_. + +When the king of Carthage heard Nicolette speak thus, he threw his arms +round her neck. + +"Fair sweet friend," said he, "tell me who you are! Be not afraid of +me!" + +"Sir," said she, "I am daughter to the king of Carthage, and was carried +captive as a little child, full fifteen years ago." + +When they heard her speak thus, they knew well that she said truly; and +they made very great rejoicing over her, and brought her to the palace +with great honour, as a king's daughter. A lord they wished to give her, +a king of Paynim; but she had no care to wed. And when she had been +there full three days or four, she considered with herself by what device +she might go to seek Aucassin. She procured a viol and learned to play +on it; till one day they wished to marry her to a king, a rich Paynim. +Then she stole away in the night, and came to the seaport, and harboured +her at the house of a poor woman on the seashore. + +And she took a herb, and smeared her head and face with it, so that she +was all black and stained. And she got a coat made, and cloak and shirt +and breeches, and attired herself in minstrel guise; and she took her +viol, and went to a mariner, and so dealt with him that he took her in +his ship. They set their sail, and sailed over the high sea till they +arrived at the land of Provence. And Nicolette went forth, and took her +viol, and went playing through the country, till she came to the Castle +of Beaucaire, where Aucassin was. + +_Here they sing_. + +At Beaucaire beneath the tower +Aucassin was one fair hour. +Here he sat him on a stair; +Round him his proud barons were; +Saw the flower and green herb spring, +Heard the song-bird sweetly sing; +Of his love he thought anew, +Nicolette the maiden true, +Whom he loved so long a day; +Then to tears and sighs gave way. +Look you, Nicolette below +Draws her viol, draws her bow; +Now she speaks, her tale tells so: +"List to me, proud lords arow, +Those aloft and those alow! +Would it please you hear a word +Of Aucassin, a proud lord, +And of Nicolette the bold? +Long their love did last and hold +Till he sought her in the wold. +Then, from Torelore's stronghold, +They were haled by heathen horde. +Of Aucassin we've no word. +Nicolette the maiden bold +Is at Carthage the stronghold, +Whom her father dear doth hold +Who of yonder land is lord. +Husband they would her award, +Felon king of heathenesse. +Nicolette cares not for this, +For she loves a lording lad, +Aucassin to name he had. +By God and His name she vows +Never lord will she espouse, +If she have not her true love + She's so fain of." + +_Here they speak and tell the story_. + +When Aucassin heard Nicolette speak thus, he was very glad, and he took +her on one side, and asked her, + +"Fair sweet comrade," said Aucassin, "know you ought of this Nicolette, +of whom you have sung?" + +"Sir, yes! I know of her as the noblest creature and the gentlest and +wisest that ever was born. And she is daughter to the king of Carthage, +who took her when Aucassin was taken, and carried her to the city of +Carthage, when he knew surely that she was his daughter, and made very +great rejoicing over her. And every day they wish to give her for lord +one of the highest kings in all Spain. But she would rather let herself +be hanged or drowned than she would take any of them, were he ever so +rich." + +"Ah, fair sweet comrade," said the Count Aucassin, "if you would go back +to that land, and would tell her to come and speak to me, I would give +you of my wealth as much as you should dare ask or take. Know, moreover, +that for the love of her I will take no wife, were she of ever so high +degree, but I wait for her; nor will I ever have any wife save her. And +had I known where to find her I should not now have to seek her." + +"Sir," said she, "if you would do this, I would go to seek her, for your +sake, and for hers, whom I love much." + +He sware to her; and then he bade give her twenty pounds. And as she +took leave of him, he fell weeping for the sweetness of Nicolette. And +when she saw him weeping, + +"Sir," said she, "be not afraid! Since within a little while I will +bring her to you in this town, so that you shall see her." + +And when Aucassin heard it he was very glad. And she took leave of him, +and went into the town to the house of the Viscountess; for the Viscount +her godfather was dead. She harboured her there; and spoke with her till +she confessed her affair to her, and the Viscountess recognised her, and +knew surely that it was Nicolette, and that she had brought her up. And +she made her be washed and bathed, and sojourn there a full eight days. +And she took a plant which was called Celandine and anointed herself with +it, and she was as beautiful as she had ever been at any time. And she +clad herself in rich silk stuffs, of which the lady had good store, and +she sat her down in the room on a quilted coverlet of cloth-of-silk, and +called the lady, and told her to go for Aucassin her friend. And she did +so. And when she came to the palace she found Aucassin weeping and +lamenting for Nicolette his love, because she tarried so long. And the +lady accosted him and said: + +"Aucassin, now make no more lament, but come away with me, and I will +show you the thing in the world you love best, for it is Nicolette, your +sweet friend, who from far land is come to seek you." And Aucassin was +glad. + +_Here they sing_. + +Now when Aucassin did hear +Of his bright-of-favour fere, +That she had arrived the shore, +Glad was he, he ne'er was more. +With the dame he went his way, +Till the house made stop nor stay. +To the chamber went they in +Where sat Nicolette within. +When she saw her lover there, +Glad she was, so was she ne'er. +Towards him to her feet leapt she. +Aucassin, when he did see, +Both his arms to her he holds, +Gently to his bosom folds, +Kisses her on eyes and face. +So they left him the night's space, +Till the morrow's morning-tide +Aucassin took her to bride, +Made her Lady of Beaucaire. +Many days they then did fare, +And their pleasure did enjoy. +Now has Aucassin his joy, +Nicolette too the same way. +Here endeth our song-and-say; + I know no further. + +PRINTED BY +TURNBULL AND SPEARS, +EDINBURGH + + + + +Footnotes: + + +{39} The device of the warder is to give his warning in the guise of an +_Aubade_, as if he were merely singing for his own amusement. The +_Aubade_, or Watch-song, was a favourite lyrical form in Southern France. +It was originally a dialogue between the lover, the lady, and the +watchman who played sentinel, and warned them that the Dawn was coming. + +{48} This piece of verse is remarkable for the evident intention of +playfulness in it. All the lines end in a diminutive termination, and +all the proper names also; Esmeret, Martinet, Fruelin, Johanet, Aubriet, +Aucassinet. It seemed impossible to preserve this playfulness in any +direct way, without sacrifice of literal rendering and without changing +the proper names. I have tried to give a little of it by the use of +dissyllabic rhymes. + +{57} Three lines are torn away in the original MS. + +{62} The custom of a husband taking to his bed when his wife has borne a +child is a curious superstition well-known to ethnologists and folk-lore +students. The convenient name of _Couvade_, though originally applied to +this custom by a mistake, has now become recognised, and it seems best to +retain it. + +{66} It is unknown what the game of _Nimpole_ or _Nypollete_ was. But +elsewhere it is coupled with games played on a board, _jeux de tables_, +as if of the same nature as draughts or chess. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUCASSIN AND NICOLETTE*** + + +******* This file should be named 23227.txt or 23227.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/2/2/23227 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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