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
The emperor begged him to have them brought immediately.
Diafebus sent for them and told the emperor extensively about all
the celebrations, and he did the same about the jousts.
Afterward they read the acts and they saw that Tirant had been
the best of all the knights. The emperor was very pleased, and
his daughter Carmesina even more so, as were all the ladies who
were listening very attentively to all the magnificent
chivalresque acts of Tirant. Afterward they wanted to know
about the wedding of the princess of Sicily and the liberating of
the Grand Master of Rhodes.
When everything had been explained the emperor held counsel, as
he usually did for a half hour in the morning and one hour in the
evening. Diafebus wanted to go with him, but the valiant lord
would not permit it and told him:
"It is a well known fact that young knights have a greater desire
to be with the ladies."
He left, and Diafebus stayed behind, and they spoke of many
things.
Princess Carmesina begged her mother, the empress, to let them go
to another room where they could enjoy themselves, since they had
been inside a long while in mourning for her brother. The
empress said:
"My child, you may go wherever you please."
They all went to a marvelous hall built completely with
brick-work, done artfully and with delicate craftsmanship. When
the princess was in the hall, she drew apart from the others with
Diafebus, and they began to talk about Tirant. When Diafebus saw
that she was speaking of Tirant with such interest, he quickly
said:
"Take everything that I say as a loyal servant, and keep it in
the most secret part of your heart: It was only the fame of Your
Highness that brought Tirant here to see you and serve you.
Don't imagine, Your Highness, that we have come at the request of
the valiant King of Sicily, or because of the letters your
father, the emperor, sent to the King of Sicily. And Your
Highness should not imagine that we have come to test ourselves
in the exercise of arms, or because of the beauty of the land, or
to see the imperial palaces. Your Highness, the reason for our
coming was none other than the desire to see you and to serve
Your Majesty. And if wars and battles take place, it will all be
to win your love and admiration."
"Oh, wretched me," said the princess. "What are you saying to
me? Shall I grow vain, thinking that all of you have come
because of love of me, and not for the love of my father?"
"In faith," said Diafebus, "on that I could swear that Tirant,
our brother and lord, begged us to come with him to this land to
see the daughter of the emperor, whom he desired to see more than
anything in the world. And the first time his eyes rested on
Your Highness he was so overcome by the vision of Your Excellency
that he took to his bed."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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