Aucassin and Nicolette | Page 3

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