The Tales of the Heptameron, Vol. 4 (of 5)Marguerite, Queen, consort of Henry II, King of Navarre
General
The Tales of the Heptameron, Vol. 4 (of 5)
Marguerite, Queen, consort of Henry II, King of Navarre
Love stories, French -- Translations into English; Tales -- France -- Translations into English
But the other, like one careful for the honour of the house, repeated
the charge so often that a strict watch was set, and the poor folk,
who suspected nothing, were surprised. For one evening the Lord of
Jossebelin was advised that the gentleman was with his sister, and,
hastening thither, found the poor love-blinded pair lying in bed
together. His anger at the sight robbed him of speech, and, drawing
his sword, he ran after the gentleman to kill him. But the other, being
nimble of body, fled in nothing but his shirt, and, being unable to
escape by the door, leaped through a window into the garden.
Then the poor lady, clad only in her chemise, threw herself upon her
knees before her brother and said to him--
“Sir, spare the life of my husband, for I have indeed married him;
and if you are offended punish only me, for what he did was done at my
request.”
Her brother, beside himself with wrath, could only reply--
“Even if he be your husband one hundred thousand times over, yet will I
punish him as a rascally servant who has deceived me.”
So saying, he went to the window and called out loudly to kill him,
which was speedily done before the eyes of himself and his sister. The
latter, on beholding the pitiful sight which no prayers on her part
had been able to prevent, spoke to her brother like a woman bereft of
reason.
“Brother,” she said, “I have neither father nor mother, and I am old
enough to marry according to my own pleasure. I chose one whom many a
time you said you would gladly have me marry, and for doing by your own
counsels that which the law permits me to do without them, you have put
to death the man whom you loved best of all the world. Well, since my
prayers have been of no avail to preserve his life, I implore you, by
all the love you have ever borne me, to make me now a sharer in his
death even as I have been a sharer in all his living fortunes. In this
way, while sating your unjust and cruel anger, you will give repose
to the body and soul of one who cannot and will not live without him.”
Although her brother was almost distracted with passion, (4) he had
pity upon his sister, and so, without granting or denying her request,
withdrew. After weighing well what he had done, and hearing that the
gentleman had in fact married his sister, he would gladly have undone
his grievous crime. Nevertheless, being afraid that his sister would
seek justice or vengeance for it, he caused a castle to be built in the
midst of a forest, (5) and, placing her therein, forbade that any should
have speech with her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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