The World's Greatest Books - Volume 1 Part 11

Striking out in a great pa.s.sion, he made a havoc about him, like a boar that turns at bay on the hounds in a forest. Ten knights he struck down, and seven he wounded. Then, spying Count Bougars, that had come to see him hanged, he lashed at his helm, and stunned him, and took him prisoner to Beaucaire.

"Father," he said, "here is Count Bougars. The war is ended. Now let me see Nicolette."

"I will not," said his father. "That is my last word in this matter. So help me, G.o.d."

"Count Bougars," said Auca.s.sin, "you are my prisoner. I will have a pledge from you; give me your hand." Count Bougars gave his hand.

"Pledge me," said Auca.s.sin, "that if I set you free, you will do my father all the hurt and damage and shame you can; for he is a liar."

"In G.o.d's name," said Count Bougars, "put me to ransom and take all my wealth; but do not mock me!"

"Are you my prisoner?" said Auca.s.sin.

"Yes," said Count Bougars.

"Then, so help me, G.o.d," said Auca.s.sin, "I will now send your head from your shoulders unless I have that pledge!"

Thereupon Count Bougars pledged him, and Auca.s.sin set him free. Then Auca.s.sin went to the captain that was G.o.dfather to Nicolette. "What have you done with my sweet lady?" he asked.

"You will never again see Nicolette, my fair lord," said the captain.

"What would you gain if you took the Saracen maid to bed? Your soul would go to h.e.l.l. You would never win to heaven!"

"And what of that?" said Auca.s.sin. "Who is it that win to heaven? Old priests, and cripples that grovel and pray at altars, and tattered beggars that die of cold and hunger. These only go to heaven, and I do not want their company. So I will go to h.e.l.l. For there go all good scholars and the brave knights that died in wars, and sweet ladies that had many lovers, and harpers, and minstrels, and great kings. Give me but my Nicolette, and gladly I will keep them company."

_II.--Love's Song in a Dungeon_

Auca.s.sin returned very sorrowfully to the castle, and there his father put him into a dungeon.

Auca.s.sin is cast and bound In a dungeon underground; Never does the sunlight fall Shining on his prison wall; Only one faint ray of it Glimmers down a narrow slit.

But does Auca.s.sin forget His sweet lady, Nicolette?

Listen! He is singing there, And his song is all of her: "Though for love of thee I die In this dungeon where I lie, Wonder of the world, I will Worship thee and praise thee still!

By the beauty of thy face, By the joy of thy embrace, By the rapture of thy kiss, And thy body's sweetnesses, Miracle of loveliness, Comfort me in my distress!

Surely, 'twas but yesterday, That the pilgrim came this way-- Weak and poor and travel-worn-- Who in Limousin was born.

With the falling sickness, he Stricken was full grievously.

He had prayed to many a saint For the cure of his complaint; But no healing did he get Till he saw my Nicolette.

Even as he lay down to die, Nicolette came walking by.

On her shining limbs he gazed, As her kirtle she upraised.

And he rose from off the ground, Healed and joyful, whole and sound.

Miracle of loveliness, Comfort me in my distress!"

As Auca.s.sin was singing in his dungeon, Nicolette was devising how to get out of her tower. It was now summer time, in the month of May, when the day is warm, long and clear, and the night still and serene.

Nicolette lay on her bed, and the moonlight streamed through the window, and the nightingale sang in the garden below; and she thought of Auca.s.sin, her lover, whom she loved, and of Count Garin, who hated her.

"I will stay here no longer," said Nicolette, "or the count will find me and kill me."

The old woman that was set to watch over her was asleep. Nicolette put on her fine silken kirtle, and took the bedclothes and knotted them together, and made a rope. This she fastened to the bar of her window, and so got down from the tower. Then she lifted up her kirtle with both hands, because the dew was lying deep on the gra.s.s, and went away down the garden.

Her locks were yellow and curled; her eyes blue-grey and laughing; her lips were redder than the cherry or rose in summertime; her teeth white and small; so slim was her waist that you could have clipped her in your two hands; and so firm were her b.r.e.a.s.t.s that they rose against her bodice as if they were two apples. The daisies that bent above her instep, and broke beneath her light tread, looked black against her feet; so white the maiden was.

She came to the postern gate, and unbarred it, and went out through the streets of Beaucaire, keeping always in the shadows, for the moon was shining. And so she got to the dungeon where her lover, Auca.s.sin, lay.

She thrust her head through the c.h.i.n.k, and there she heard Auca.s.sin grieving for her whom he loved so much.

"Ah, Auca.s.sin!" she said. "Never will you have joy of me. Your father hates me to death, and I must cross the sea, and go to some strange land."

"If you were to go away," said Auca.s.sin, "you would kill me. The first man that saw you would take you to his bed. And, then, do you think I would wait till I found a knife? No! I would dash my head to pieces against a wall or a rock."

"Ah!" she said. "I love you more than you love me."

"Nay, my sweet lady," said he. "Woman cannot love man as much as man loves woman. Woman only loves with her eyes; man loves with his heart."

Auca.s.sin and Nicolette were thus debating, when the soldiers of the count came marching down the street. Their swords were drawn, and they were seeking for Nicolette to slay her.

"G.o.d, it were a great pity to kill so fair a maid!" said the warden of the dungeon. "My young lord Auca.s.sin would die of it, and that would be a great loss to Beaucaire. Would that I could warn Nicolette!"

And with that, he struck up a merry tune, but the words he sang to it were not merry.

Lady with the yellow hair, Lovely, sweet and debonair, Now take heed.

Death comes on thee unaware.

Turn thee now; oh, turn and flee; Death is coming suddenly.

And the swords Flash that seek to murder thee.

"May G.o.d reward you for your fair words!" said Nicolette.

Wrapping herself in her mantle, she hid in the shadows until the soldiers went by. Then she said farewell to Auca.s.sin, and climbed up the castle-wall where it had been broken in the siege. But steep and deep was the moat, and Nicolette's fair hands and feet were bleeding when she got out. But she did not feel any pain, because of the great fear that was on her lest she should fall into the hands of the count's men.

Within two bow-shots from Beaucaire was a great forest; and here Nicolette slept in a thicket, until the herd-boys came in the morning, and pastured their cattle close to her resting-place. They sat down by a fountain, and spread out a cloak, and put their bread on it. Their shouting aroused Nicolette, and she came to them.

"G.o.d bless you, sweet boys!" said she.

"G.o.d bless you, lady!" said one that had a readier tongue than the others.

"Do you know Auca.s.sin, the brave young son of Count Garin?" she said.

"Yes, lady," they said. "We know him very well."

"Then tell him, in the name of G.o.d," said she, "that there is a beast in this forest that he must come and hunt. If he can take it, he will not sell a limb of it for a hundred marks of gold. Nay, not for any money."

"I tell him that?" said the boy that had a readier tongue than the others. "Curse me if I do! There's no beast in this forest--stag, boar, wolf or lion--with a limb worth more than two or three pence. You speak of some enchantment, and you are a fairy woman. We do not want your company. Go away."

"Sweet boys," said Nicolette, "you must do as I tell you. For the beast has a medicine that will cure Auca.s.sin of all his pain. Ah! I have five pieces of money in my purse. Take them, and tell him. He must come and hunt within three days, and if he does not, he will never be cured."

"Faith," said the boy, after consulting with his fellows, "we shall tell him if he comes, but we will not search after him!"

_III.--Auca.s.sin Goes in Quest of Nicolette_

Nicolette took leave of the herd-boys, and went into the forest down a green way that led to a place where seven paths met. Close at hand was a deep thicket, and there Nicolette built a lodge of green boughs, and covered it with oak-leaves and lily-flowers, and made it sweet and pleasant, both inside and out. And she stayed in this lodge to see what Auca.s.sin would do.