"I promise duly, That all my life I'll serve thee truly; For never saw I maiden fair Whose beauty could with thine compare, So courtly and so debonaire: And she who gave this ring to me, Though fair and sweet herself, than thee A hundred times less fair, I trow, Shall yield to thee her empire now. 'Tis true I've loved her long and well, As many a fond caress can tell; But now, forgotten and neglected, Her meaner charms for thine rejected, I give her ring--a lasting token Of faith which never shall be broken, Nor shared with maid or wife shall be The love I proffer unto thee.'" With this address, he placed the ring upon the finger of the image. Our Lady appeared flattered by the conquest she had made, and bent the finger on which the ring had been placed in order that it might not be withdrawn. The lover was astounded by the miracle, and was advised by his friends to retire from the world and to devote himself to the adoration and service of the Blessed Virgin. Neglecting this advice, he allowed love to resume its place and led to the altar the maiden who had given him the ring. But Our Lady was not to be deprived of her adorer, and when he laid himself upon the nuptial couch she immediately threw him into a profound slumber, and when he awoke he found her lying between him and his bride: "She showed him straight her finger, where Was still the ring he'd given her; And well became her hand that ring Upon her soft skin glittering. 'Instead of love, thou'st shown,' said she, 'But falseness and disloyalty. And ill hast kept thy faith to me. Behold the ring thou gavest, for token And pledge of love fore'er unbroken, And call'd me a hundred times more fair Than ever earthly maidens were. I have been ever true, but thou Hast taken a meaner leman now; Hast left for stinking nettle the rose, Sweet eglantine for flower more gross.'" In the end, Our Lady forces him to leave his wife that he may dedicate himself entirely to her service. In other _fabliaux_ and in the chronicles, Mary is represented under the guise of the Lady Venus, who often appears in these romances. In this adoration of the Virgin as a maiden impelled by the same loves and hates as any mortal woman, it is not difficult to see the spirit of chivalry in its sensual expression. Surely, if every lady had her knight, the Blessed Virgin, also, must have her devoted admirers; and by the height of her position and greater worthiness as the Queen of Heaven, by so much should she rise above any other woman in her right to command such adorers.