Four Arthurian Romances
I give her your own person as a pledge of her share in my inheritance,
in order that she may be more assured of it." "Endow her with it, then,
at once," the King replies; "let her receive it from your hands, and
let her vow fidelity to you! Do you love her as your vassal, and let
her love you as her sovereign lady and as her sister." Thus the King
conducts the affair until the damsel takes possession of her land, and
offers her thanks to him for it. Then the King asked the valiant and
brave knight who was his nephew to allow himself to be disarmed; and
he requested my lord Yvain to lay aside his arms also; for now they may
well dispense with them. Then the two vassals lay aside their arms and
separate on equal terms. And while they are taking off their armour,
they see the lion running up in search of his master. As soon as he
catches sight of him, he begins to show his joy. Then you would have
seen people draw aside, and the boldest among them takes to flight.
My lord Yvain cries out: "Stand still, all! Why do you flee? No one is
chasing you. Have no fear that yonder lion will do you harm. Believe
me, please, when I say that he is mine, and I am his, and we are both
companions." Then it was known of a truth by all those who had heard
tell of the adventures of the lion and of his companion that this must
be the very man who had killed the wicked giant. And my lord Gawain said
to him: "Sir companion, so help me God, you have overwhelmed me with
shame this day. I did not deserve the service that you did me in killing
the giant to save my nephews and my niece. I have been thinking about
you for some time, and I was troubled because it was said that we
were acquainted as loving friends. I have surely thought much upon the
subject: but I could not hit upon the truth, and had never heard of any
knight that I had known in any land where I had been, who was called
'The Knight with the Lion.'" While they chatted thus they took their
armour off, and the lion came with no slow step to the place where his
master sat, and showed such joy as a dumb beast could. Then the two
knights had to be removed to a sick-room and infirmary, for they needed
a doctor and piaster to cure their wounds. King Arthur, who loved them
well, had them both brought before him, and summoned a surgeon whose
knowledge of surgery was supreme. He exercised his art in curing them,
until he had healed their wounds as well and as quickly as possible.
When he had cured them both, my lord Yvain, who had his heart set fast
on love, saw clearly that he could not live, but that he finally would
die unless his lady took pity upon him; for he was dying for love of
her; so he thought he would go away from the court alone, and would go
to fight at the spring that belonged to her, where he would cause such
a storm of wind and rain that she would be compelled perforce to make
peace with him; otherwise, there would be no end to the disturbance of
the spring, and to the rain and wind.
(Vv. 6527-6658.) As soon as my lord Yvain felt that he was cured and
sound again, he departed without the knowledge of any one. But he had
with him his lion, who never in his life wished to desert him. They
travelled until they saw the spring and made the rain descend. Think not
that this is a lie of mine, when I tell you that the disturbance was so
violent that no one could tell the tenth part of it: for it seemed as if
the whole forest must surely be engulfed. The lady fears for her town,
lest it, too, will crumble away; the walls totter, and the tower rocks
so that it is on the verge of falling down. The bravest Turk would
rather be a captive in Persia than be shut up within those walls. The
people are so stricken with terror that they curse all their ancestors,
saying: "Confounded be the man who first constructed a house in this
neighbourhood, and all those who built this town! For in the wide world
they could not have found so detestable a spot, for a single man is able
here to invade and worry and harry us." "You must take counsel in this
matter, my lady," says Lunete; "you will find no one who will undertake
to aid you in this time of need unless you seek for him afar. In the
future we shall never be secure in this town, nor dare to pass beyond
the walls and gate. You know full well that, were some one to summon
together all your knights for this cause, the best of them would not
dare to step forward. If it is true that you have no one to defend
your spring, you will appear ridiculous and humiliated. It will redound
greatly to your honour, forsooth, if he who has attacked you shall
retire without a fight! Surely you are in a bad predicament if you do
not devise some other plan to benefit yourself." The lady replies: "Do
thou, who art so wise, tell me what plan I can devise, and I will follow
thy advice." "Indeed, lady, if I had any plan, I should gladly propose
it to you. But you have great need of a wiser counsellor. So I shall
certainly not dare to intrude, and in common with the others I shall
endure the rain and wind until, if it please God, I shall see some
worthy man appear here in your court who will assume the responsibility
and burden of the battle; but I do not believe that that will happen
to-day, and we have not yet seen the worst of your urgent need." Then
the lady replies at once: "Damsel, speak now of something else! Say no
more of the people of my household; for I cherish no further expectation
that the spring and its marble brim will ever be defended by any of
them. But, if it please God, let us hear now what is your opinion
and plan; for people always say that in time of need one can test his
friend." [330] "My lady, if there is any one who thinks he could find
him who slew the giant and defeated the three knights, he would do
well to go to search for him. But so long as he shall incur the enmity,
wrath, and displeasure of his lady, I fancy there is not under heaven
any man or woman whom he would follow, until he had been assured upon
oath that everything possible would be done to appease the hostility
which his lady feels for him, and which is so bitter that he is dying
of the grief and anxiety it causes him." And the lady said: "Before you
enter upon the quest, I am prepared to promise you upon my word and to
swear that, if he will return to me, I will openly and frankly do all
I can to bring about his peace of mind." Then Lunete replies to her:
"Lady, have no fear that you cannot easily effect his reconciliation,
when once it is your desire to do so; but, if you do not object, I will
take your oath before I start." "I have no objection," the lady says.
With delicate courtesy, Lunete procured at once for her a very precious
relic, and the lady fell upon her knees. Thus Lunete very courteously
accepted her upon her oath. In administering the oath, she forgot
nothing which it might be an advantage to insert. "Lady," she says, "now
raise your hand! I do not wish that the day after to-morrow you should
lay any charge upon me; for you are not doing anything for me, but you
are acting for your own good. If you please now, you shall swear that
you will exert yourself in the interests of the Knight with the Lion
until he recover his lady's love as completely as he ever possessed it."
The lady then raised her right hand and said: "I swear to all that thou
hast said, so help me God and His holy saint, that my heart may never
fail to do all within my power. If I have the strength and ability,
I will restore to him the love and favour which with his lady he once
enjoyed."
(Vv. 6659-6716.) Lunete has now done well her work; there was nothing
which she had desired so much as the object which she had now attained.
They had already got out for her a palfrey with an easy pace. Gladly and
in a happy frame of mind Lunete mounts and rides away, until she finds
beneath the pine-tree him whom she did not expect to find so near at
hand. Indeed, she had thought that she would have to seek afar before
discovering him. As soon as she saw him, she recognised him by the lion,
and coming toward him rapidly, she dismounted upon the solid earth. And
my lord Yvain recognised her as soon as he saw her, and greeted her, as
she saluted him with the words: "Sire, I am very happy to have found you
so near at hand." And my lord Yvain said in reply: "How is that? Were
you looking for me, then?" "Yes, sire, and in all my life I have never
felt so glad, for I have made my mistress promise, if she does not go
back upon her word, that she will be again your lady as was once the
case, and that you shall be her lord; this truth I make bold to tell."
My lord Yvain was greatly elated at the news he hears, and which he
had never expected to hear again. He could not sufficiently show his
gratitude to her who had accomplished this for him. He kisses her eyes,
and then her face, saying: "Surely, my sweet friend, I can never repay
you for this service. I fear that ability and time will fail me to do
you the honour and service which is your due." "Sire," she replies, "have
no concern, and let not that thought worry you! For you will have an
abundance of strength and time to show me and others your good will. If
I have paid this debt I owed, I am entitled to only so much gratitude as
the man who borrows another's goods and then discharges the obligation.
Even now I do not consider that I have paid you the debt I owed."
"Indeed you have, as God sees me, more than five hundred thousand times.
Now, when you are ready, let us go. But have you told her who I am?"
"No, I have not, upon my word. She knows you only by the name of 'The
Knight with the Lion.'"
(Vv. 6717-6758.) Thus conversing they went along, with the lion
following after them, until they all three came to the town. They said
not a word to any man or woman there, until they arrived where the lady
was. And the lady was greatly pleased as soon as she heard that the
damsel was approaching, and that she was bringing with her the lion and
the knight, whom she was very anxious to meet and know and see. All
clad in his arms, my lord Yvain fell at her feet upon his knees, while
Lunete, who was standing by, said to her: "Raise him up, lady, and apply
all your efforts and strength and skill in procuring that peace and
pardon which no one in the world, except you, can secure for him." Then
the lady bade him rise, and said: "He may dispose of all my power!
I shall be very happy, if possible, to accomplish his wish and his
desire." "Surely, my lady," Lunete replied, "I would not say it if it
were not true. But all this is even more possible for you than I have
said: but now I will tell you the whole truth, and you shall see: you
never had and you never will have such a good friend as this gentleman.
God, whose will it is that there should be unending peace and love
between you and him, has caused me to find him this day so near at hand.
In order to test the truth of this, I have only one thing to say: lady,
dismiss the grudge you bear him! For he has no other mistress than you.
This is your husband, my lord Yvain."
(Vv. 6759-6776.) The lady, trembling at these words, replied: "God save
me! You have caught me neatly in a trap! You will make me love, in spite
of myself, a man who neither loves nor esteems me. This is a fine piece
of work, and a charming way of serving me! I would rather endure the
winds and the tempests all my life: And if it were not a mean and
ugly thing to break one's word, he would never make his peace or be
reconciled with me. This purpose would have always lurked within me, as
a fire smoulders in the ashes; but I do not wish to renew it now, nor do
I care to refer to it, since I must be reconciled with him."
(Vv. 6777-6798.) My lord Yvain hears and understands that his cause is