The so-called _vers_ gives a starting point for Troubadour lyrics. This was the name given to a strictly normal composition in a measure of eight syllables, with probably an amplification of the more sporadic, uneven verse forms of the _jongleurs_. The _chanson_ is a more sophisticated form, consisting of alternating verses of different lengths. _Girant de Borneil_ (1175-1220) is known as its first exponent. Then we find again the familiar narrative form in the guise of _chansons de geste_--epics recounting deeds of valor--the _sirventes_, employed in a lover’s address to his mistress as well as in satire (which is an early prototype of the famous _terza rima_ later adopted by Dante and Petrarch), and the _tenson_, a controversial song in which the same subject is treated by rival poets, real and fictitious, in alternating verses. The Breton narrative or _lai_, of melancholy character, as represented in the 'Tristan’ legend, was also adopted by the Troubadours; other lyrics are variously designated as _canson_, _canzona_, _soula_ (a merry song), _romance_ (more characteristic of the _Trouvères_), _alba_ (aubade), a morning song, _serena_ (serenade), an evening song, and _pastourelle_, the favorite form already mentioned, which is the richest in popular elements--dance rhythms, refrains, etc. The _pastourelle_ is characterized by extreme simplicity of theme. Its characters are shepherds and shepherdesses, and it usually begins in the narrative form, the narrator fixing the time of his adventure--the early morn--and the scene, invariably a field, where he meets a shepherdess 'in the shade of a bush,’ or 'at the edge of a spring.’ The amorous dialogue which follows has a happy conclusion if the lover be a shepherd, an unhappy one if he be a knight. The sentiments expressed in the Troubadour pastoral are, of course, rather those of knight and lady in the disguise of shepherds than those of real shepherds. Robin and Marion, the usual hero and heroine of pastoral songs, are the central personalities of a whole cycle, the origin of which is exceedingly ancient, far behind the day of Adam de la Halle, who is perhaps the most famous composer of pastorals. Most of the mediæval pastorals preserved to us belong to this cycle. The famous _Robin m’aime_ is still sung, we are told, by the peasants of northern France. It runs as follows: [Illustration: Music] Robins m’ai-me,--Robins m’a; Robins m’ a-- de-man-dé-e si m’a - ra.