When the emperor’s justice was satisfied,
  His mighty wrath did awhile subside. 
  Queen Bramimonde was a Christian made. 
  The day passed on into night’s dark shade;
  As the king in his vaulted chamber lay,
  Saint Gabriel came from God to say,
  “Karl, thou shalt summon thine empire’s host,
  And march in haste to Bira’s coast;
  Unto Impha city relief to bring,
  And succor Vivian, the Christian king. 
  The heathens in siege have the town essayed,
  And the shattered Christians invoke thine aid.” 
  Fain would Karl such task decline. 
  “God! what a life of toil is mine!”
  He wept; his hoary beard he wrung.

Here ends the Song of Theroulde.

FOOTNOTES: 

[Footnote 8:  Another version of this story can be found in the author’s “Legends of the Middle Ages.”]

[Footnote 9:  See the author’s “Story of Old France.”]

[Footnote 10:  All the quotations in this chapter are from John O’Hagen’s translation of the “Song of Roland.”]

[Footnote 11:  See the author’s “Legends of the Rhine.”]

AUCASSIN AND NICOLETTE

  Who would list to the good lay
  Gladness of the captive grey? 
  ’Tis how two young lovers met,
  Aucassin and Nicolette,
  Of the pains the lover bore
  And the sorrow he outwore,
  For the goodness and the grace,
  Of his love, so fair of face.

  Sweet the song, the story sweet,
  There is no man hearkens it,
  No man living ’neath the sun,
  So outwearied, so foredone,
  Sick and woful, worn and sad,
  But is healed, but is glad. 
       ’Tis so sweet. 
  So say they, speak they, tell they the tale.[12]

This popular mediaeval ballad is in alternate fragments of verse and prose, and relates how the Count of Valence made desperate war against the Count of Biaucaire, a very old and frail man, who saw that his castle was in imminent danger of being taken and sacked.  In his distress, this old lord besought his son Aucassin, who so far had taken no interest in the war, to go forth and fight.  The youth, however, refused to do so, saying his heart was wrapped up in love for Nicolette, a fair slave belonging to a captain in town.  This man, seeing the delicacy of his slave and realizing she must belong to some good family, had her baptized and treated her as if she were an adopted daughter.

On account of Nicolette’s lowly condition, Aucassin’s father refuses to listen when the young man proposes to marry her, and sternly bids him think of a wife better suited, to his rank.  The young lover, however, vehemently insists that Nicolette is fit to be an empress, and vows he will not fight until he has won her for his own.  On seeing how intractable this youth is, the father beseeches the owner of the slave to clap her in prison, so that Aucassin will not be able to get at her in any way.