The White Knight: Tirant Lo BlancMartorell, Joanot
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The White Knight: Tirant Lo Blanc
Martorell, Joanot
Adventure and adventurers -- Fiction; Adventure stories; Knights and knighthood -- Fiction
"She called to the princess and Tirant, and showing them the
shirt, she said: 'Love must make amends for this blood of mine.'
She said this with tears in her eyes. After all this, when day
was approaching, Your Majesty and Tirant consoled her as well as
you could. Then, when the roosters started to crow again, Your
Highness begged Tirant to go so that you would not be seen by
anyone in the castle. And Tirant begged Your Highness to release
him from his oath so that he could achieve the glorious triumph
that he desired, as his cousin had done. Your Highness refused,
and you were victorious in the battle. When they had gone I woke
up. I didn't see a thing, not Hippolytus or anyone else, but I
began to think that it might really have happened, because I
found my breasts and my belly wet with water. My pain increased
so much that I began to toss and turn in bed like a sick man who
is about to die. So I decided to love Hippolytus with all my
heart, and pass my life in pain, just as Stephanie is doing.
Shall I keep my eyes closed with no one coming to give me relief?
Love has disturbed my feelings so much that I'll die if
Hippolytus doesn't come to my aid. If I could at least spend my
life sleeping! By heaven, it's a trial to wake up when you're
having a good dream."
The other maidens had gotten up, and they came into the chamber
to help their lady dress. After mass the emperor left with the
barons of Sicily, and the Duke of Pera, and all the prisoners.
Tirant and the constable accompanied them a good league. The
emperor told them to go back, and since he had told them once
already, they had to do it. After Tirant had taken his leave of
the emperor and the barons, he approached the princess and asked
if Her Majesty wanted something. The princess lifted the veil
she wore in front of her face and her eyes could not help
shedding tears, and she could say nothing but:
"Perhaps..."
And she could say no more because the words would not come, and
everything was sobs and sighs of farewell. She let the veil fall
completely over her face so that her sadness would not reach the
ears of the emperor or the rest of the people.
No one could remember anything ever having happened to any knight
like what happened to Tirant who, after he had said farewell to
the princess, fell off the horse he was riding. As soon as he
had fallen he got up and raised his hand toward the horse, saying
that it was the one that was hurt. The emperor and many others
saw it and ran to him. And he pretended to be looking at the
horse's hoof.
The emperor said to him:
"How did you happen to fall?"
And Tirant told him:
"My lord, I thought my horse was hurt, and I started getting down
to see what was wrong with it, and the stirrup broke. But it's
nothing to be surprised at, my lord, to see a man fall: a horse
has four feet and it falls down: all the more reason for a man to
fall since he has only two."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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