The Tales of the Heptameron, Vol. 5 (of 5) — John Shaqi
The Tales of the Heptameron, Vol. 5 (of 5)Marguerite, Queen, consort of Henry II, King of Navarre
General
The Tales of the Heptameron, Vol. 5 (of 5)
Marguerite, Queen, consort of Henry II, King of Navarre
Love stories, French -- Translations into English; Tales -- France -- Translations into English
At last, observing that the lady’s room had a casement which was not at
all high up, and which looked upon a little garden, he remembered the
proverb which says, “When the door fails the window avails,” and he
thereupon called a servant of his own, and said to him--
“Go into the garden there behind, and, if you see a gentleman come down
from the window, draw your sword as soon as he reaches the ground, clash
it against the wall, and cry out, ‘Slay! slay!’ Be careful, however,
that you do not touch him.”
The servant went whither his master had sent him, and the Prince walked
about until three hours after midnight.
When the Lord des Cheriots heard that the Prince was still in the yard,
he resolved to descend by the window, and, having first thrown clown his
cloak, he then, by the help of his good friends, leapt into the garden.
As soon as the servant saw him, he failed not to make a noise with
his sword, at the same time crying, “Slay! slay!” Upon this the poor
gentleman, believing it was his [the servant’s] master, was in such
great fear that, without thinking of his cloak, he fled as quickly as he
was able.
He met the archers of the watch, who wondered greatly to see him running
in this fashion, but he durst say nothing to them, except to beg them to
open him the gate [of the castle], or else to lodge him with themselves
until morning. And this, as they had not the keys, they did.
Then the Prince went to bed, and, finding his wife asleep, awoke her
saying--
“Guess, my wife, what hour it is.’’
“I have not heard the clock strike since I went to bed,” she replied.
“It is three hours after midnight,” said he.
“If that be so,” said his wife, “where have you been all this time? I
greatly fear that your health will be the worse for it.”
“Sweetheart,” said the Prince, “watching will never make me ill when
I am engaged in preventing those who try to deceive me from going to
sleep.”
So saying, he began to laugh so heartily that his wife begged him to
tell her of the matter. This he did at length, showing her the wolf’s
skin (4) which his servant had brought him. After making merry at
the expense of the hapless lovers, they went to sleep in gentle
tranquillity, while the other two passed the night in torment, fearing
and dreading lest the affair should be revealed.
However, the gentleman, knowing right well that he could not use
concealment with the Prince, came to him in the morning when he was
dressing to beg that he would not expose him, and would give orders for
the return of his cloak.
The Prince pretended that he knew nothing of the matter, and put such a
face on it that the gentleman was wholly at a loss what to think. But
in the end he received a rating that he had not expected, for the Prince
assured him that, if ever he went to the lady’s room again, he would
tell the King of it, and have him banished the Court.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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