The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries — John Shaqi
The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various CountriesKeightley, Thomas
General
The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries
Keightley, Thomas
Fairies; Fairy tales; Folk literature; Folklore
In the romance of Maugis d'Aygremont et de Vivian son Frère, when
Tapinel and the female slave had stolen the two children of Duke Bevis
of Aygremont, the former sold to the wife of Sorgalant the child which
he had taken, whose name was Esclarmonde, and who was about fifteen
years of age, and was "plus belle et plus blanche qu'une fée." The
slave having laid herself to rest under a white-thorn (_aube-spine_),
was devoured by a lion and a leopard, who killed one another in their
dispute for the infant. "And the babe lay under the thorn, and cried
loudly, during which it came to pass that Oriande la Fée, who abode at
Rosefleur with four other fays, came straight to this thorn; for every
time she passed by there she used to repose under that white-thorn.
She got down, and hearing the child cry, she came that way and looked
at him, and said, 'By the god in whom we believe, this child here is
lying badly (_mal gist_), and this shall be his name;' and from that
time he was always called Maugis."
Oriande la Fée brought the child home with her and her damsels; and
having examined him, and found, by a precious ring that was in his ear,
that he was of noble lineage, "she prayed our Lord that he would be
pleased of his grace to make known his origin (_nation_)." When she had
finished her prayer, she sent for her nephew Espiet, "who was a dwarf,
and was not more than three feet high, and had his hair yellow as fine
gold, and looked like a child of seven years, but he was more than a
hundred; and he was one of the falsest knaves in the world, and knew
every kind of enchantment." Espiet informed her whose child he was; and
Oriande, having prayed to our Lord to preserve the child, took him with
her to her castle of Rosefleur, where she had him baptised and named
Maugis. She and her damsels reared him with great tenderness; and when
he was old enough she put him under the care of her brother Baudris,
"who knew all the arts of magic and necromancy, and was of the age of a
hundred years;" and he taught what he knew to Maugis.
When Maugis was grown a man, the Fay Oriande clad him in arms, and he
became her _ami_; and she loved him "de si grand amour qu'elle doute
fort qu'il ne se departe d'avecques elle."
Maugis shortly afterwards achieved the adventure of gaining the
enchanted horse Bayard, in the isle of Boucaut. Of Bayard it is said,
when Maugis spoke to him, "Bayard estoit _feyé_, si entendoit aussi
bien Maugis comme s'il (_Bayard_) eust parlé." On his return from the
island, Maugis conquers and slays the Saracen admiral Anthenor, who
had come to win the lands and castle of Oriande, and gains the sword
Flamberge (Floberge), which, together with Bayard, he afterwards gave
to his cousin Renaud.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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