Aucassin and Nicolette | Page 7

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,