The Seven Sages of Rome
(French Version A)
Translated literally by Hans R. Runte
from MS. Paris, BN f.fr. 2137, fol.
1-46 (13th cent.) (MS. T)
as edited on-line,
with variants from all manuscripts,
by Hans R. Runte
[Fol. 1a] In Rome was an emperor who had the name
Diocletian. He had had a wife. From this wife was left to him a male
heir. The emperor was old and the child was already seven years old.
One day the emperor called the seven sages by their names:
-- [My] lords, he says, tell me to whom of you I entrust my son to teach and instruct
[him]?
The first-born spoke before [the others],
and he was the richest and best-connected one and of the
highest lineage and old, [with hair] as white as wool, and was
tall and thin and his name was Bancillas.
He turned toward the emperor and spoke to him in this manner:
-- Sire, he goes, to me you shall [fol. 1b] entrust
him and I will teach him however much I know and however much my companions
know in seven years.
Afterwards the second [sage] got up.
This one was neither too tall nor too short but was of handsome
shape and handsome girth, and [his hair] was intermingled
with white hairs so that the white overtook the black,
and his name was Ancilles. He looked at the emperor and said
to him:
-- Sire, he goes, you shall entrust him
to me and I will teach him however much I know and however much
my companions know in six years.
Afterwards the third [sage] got up,
and he was a thin small one with curly hair, and his name
was Lentillus and he said to the emperor:
-- Sire, however much I know and however
much my companions know I will teach him in five years; entrust
him to me.
The fourth [sage] got up on his feet
before the emperor, and his name was Malcuidarz the Red, [fol.
1c] a practical
joker
who readily mocked people.
-- Sire, he says, you shall entrust him
to me. I cannot say that I will teach him my companions’ knowledge,
but however much I know I will teach him in four years.
Afterwards the fifth [sage] got up,
and his name was Cato of Rome. He was of a nice age and [his
hair] was intermingled with white hairs so that the black showed through the white. He addressed the emperor and said to him:
-- Sire, to me you shall entrust him, if
it pleases you. I do not say that I will teach him however
much my companions know, for I do not know his mind nor his
memory, but however much I know and however much I will [yet]
be able to know I will teach him as soon as he will be able to retain
it.
Afterwards the sixth [sage] got up,
and he had hair [that was] yellower than wax and curly, [fol.
1d] and he had eyes as green as a falcon’s, his nose [was] very
straight and well positioned, and he was broad across the shoulders
and thin down his sides. He had neither a beard nor a mustache,
and his name was Josse. He said to the emperor:
-- Sire, you shall entrust him to me and
I will commit myself [to the task] so that you will laud me
for it at the end of three years.
Afterwards the seventh [sage] got
up, his name was Martin, and said to the emperor:
-- Sire, I ask of you that you compensate
[me for] the service that I have put in for you all my life;
entrust me your son for instruction and I consider my entire service
paid and you will have compensated me well.
The emperor replied very humbly to
them all:
-- Gentlemen, great thanks for fending for my favour. I will not split
[fol. 2a] up this good company.
Now he took his son by the hand and
said:
-- I entrust him to the seven of you.
And they bowed before him and each
one individually gave him five hundred thanks.
The sages led the child amongst them
to the assembly hall (that is a place where they hold the great discussions and the great councils about
the matters pertaining to Rome). They counsel one another
that they will not leave it [the child] in Rome, for it could
well hear there some bad word from a town woman or a chambermaid or a bad
boy. They looked at a fruit-tree garden outside Rome, a league
away. This garden measured one league in all directions and was
planted in all directions with good trees and [was equipped] with
all [fol. 2b] the good fountains that one can design. In the middle
of this garden they looked at a beautiful, good and convenient spot
and had a beautiful square house built [with] big rooms in the back
and beautiful salons in the front. When the house was built and finished,
the seven sages had the seven arts painted in the four parts of the house: first
astronomy, then necromancy, music, arithmetic, rhetoric, dialectic
and grammar. They had the boy’s bed made in one of the corners of
[his] room so that [he could] see the seven arts. The sages began to
tutor and teach him, and when one left him, another took him over and
taught him to the best of his knowledge. Thus they [fol. 2c] held
him seven years, and he knew perfectly his way around the seven arts.
After these seven years they held
him a long while longer so that he already argued with them
about all
knowledge and [so that] they said among themselves that they
would test him. So they took sixteen ivy leaves and put four
under each post of his bed. When the bed was prepared the boy lay
down. It was night and he took no notice of [the leaves]. When morning
came and the boy was awake, he looked up and down and right and left.
The sages marveled much when they saw him so astonished, so they spoke
to him and asked him what he had heard or seen or felt, and that he tell
them. The boy answered them:
-- Surely, handsome gentlemen, either the
roof of this house [fol. 2d] has been lowered or the ground
has been raised or my bed is higher.
They looked at each other and said
together that he was wise.
It did not take a long time afterwards
that the wise men of Rome came to his father and said to him:
-- Sire, we marvel much that you do not
[re]marry, for you have sufficiently large lands and large
rents whereby three children or four, if you had them, would be
rich men.
The emperor was old; he reflected
[on it] and after his reflection he replied to them:
-- I would take her readily if she were
sought and you wanted to take on [the task], for I have indeed
only one heir.
They responded:
-- We will readily seek her for you.
Now they sought her and looked for
her in [fol. 3a] many a land until they found her and led her
to the emperor. The emperor saw [how] beautiful and well-bred she
[was], and they made him understand that she was from a great lineage.
The lady’s parents gave her to the emperor and he took her very willingly
according to the habits and the customs of the land and loved her
well [and] so much [more] than any man can love a woman, and the lady
loved him as much.
One day it happened that the emperor
and the empress were alone in a room, and one had well said
to the empress that the emperor had a male heir and [that,] if
he were dead, the heirs that would issue forth from her would be heirs
to the empire of Rome. In that room where they were the empress confronted [fol. 3b] the emperor:
--Sire, you have a son, he is mine as [much]
as yours. It can well be that we will never have [another]
one. Will he always be in hiding? It has been seven years since
you took me, yet I have not seen him, and I would willingly see
him. Sire, by the faith you owe me, send [someone] to fetch him.
You have held this empire all your life, never did you have as many masters
nor as many servants as you have now.
-- Madam, I will send for him in the morning.
-- Great thanks, Sire, says the empress,
for I hunger greatly after seeing him.
The emperor called two messengers:
-- Go, he says, and ride up [there] and
greet the seven sages and tell them that I ask that they come
to me and that they bring me [fol. 3c] my son, for I want to
have him tested and [I want] to know how much he knows [after]
all the time that they have kept him.
The messengers now mounted and went
to the place where they heard that the sages and the emperor’s
son were. They showed them great joy and so did the child. The
messengers greeted the sages on behalf of the emperor and said to
them:
-- Handsome gentlemen, the emperor asks
you that you take his son to him and come with him, for he wants
to know how much he has learned in as much time as you have kept
him.
They said:
-- Willingly.
So they spent that day. When evening
came after dinner and it was night and the moon was shining
brightly, the sages and the[ir] pupil went down from [fol. 3d] the
room [and] down into the garden. The seven sages looked at the moon
and at the stars. Cato, who was the wisest of [them] all, looked deeply
into the moon and into the stars, and he knew the constellations and
the movements of [their] paths. And when he had looked, he spoke and
said:
-- Listen all! The emperor asks us that
we go into Rome and that we bring him his son. And if we go there
and bring him there, he will die from the first word he will speak,
and because of it we will all be destroyed.
This I see, said Cato, in the moon.
The sages looked then at the stars
and at the moon and saw that it was true. Afterwards the boy
looked at a bright star which seemed to be twelve feet from the moon. He called
[out to] his masters [fol. 4a] and said to them:
-- Look what this bright star, which is
next to the moon, means to me. I see, goes the boy, that I will
be protected from death and you all from destruction if I can
keep myself from speaking up to [the] seven[th] day[s].
When the sages had listened to what
the boy had told them, they looked at the star that the boy
showed them, and saw that what he was saying was true.
-- By [my] faith, goes Lord Bancillas,
he tells the truth. So now it behooves us to take [and give]
advice among us.
-- By [my] faith, goes the boy, I will
advise you well, if you wish. It behooves me to keep from
speaking for seven days, and you are seven sages. Little reason
and discretion will there be in you if each one cannot make [fol.
4b] pass one day for me.
-- For sure, goes Lord Bancillas, I shall
well make mine pass.
-- And I, mine, says Cato.
-- This is good, then, said the boy. Each
one must thus come on his day, it could not be otherwise. And
you will be in a town close by, in the St. Martin borough. Gentlemen,
said the boy, I will have great trouble and many a persecution; for
God[’s sake], do think of me.
Then they left and took their leave
and came [back] into the room and fêted the emperor’s messengers.
The boy was deep in thought and thought
all night and all day, until it came [to be] morning and
he awakened and the sages were up. The boy’s horse was readied
as well as his master’s. And this [fol.
4c] master was the one who had provided them with what they needed
while they were together. The boy took leave of his masters, crying.
He came to Rome and his masters remained in the St. Martin borough.
The emperor heard [people] say that his son was coming. Now he got
on his horse and made part of his barons, who were with him, mount
[as well]. The emperor met his son in the middle of the street
and greeted him and took him by the chin and kissed him. And [the
son] bowed before him and [before] the other barons, too. They came
to the bottom of the stairs of the [palace] and the emperor and all
the others dismounted.
The emperor took his son by the right
hand, then they went up into the palace. The emperor asks his
[fol. 4d] son how it is with him. The boy bows and answers him
nothing.
-- What’s this, [my] handsome son, says
the emperor, will you not speak to me at all?
And he did not say a word. The emperor
called his [son’s] master of the household, who had come with him, and
asked him:
-- How is it that my son does not speak?
He has been at a bad school, in my opinion, he has lost his
speech.
He replied to him:
-- Sire, he was speaking this morning all
manners of talk.
The empress heard [people] say that
the child had come and that he did not speak at all, and she
derived great joy from that. She now dressed up in the richest
garments she had, then came into the hall with a great following
of ladies and damsels. The emperor and the other knights rose before
the empress. She [fol. 5a] came amongst them, then sat down next
to the emperor and said to him:
-- Sire, if he ever talked, entrust him
to me and I will make him talk if ever he is going to.
-- By [my] faith, said the emperor, I entrusted
him speaking well to the sages.
Then he took him by the hand and led
him to the empress, but the child did not want to go to her.
-- Go ahead, said the emperor to his son.
The boy did not want to refuse his
father, instead he got up and left with the empress for her
room[s]. The empress ordered all her ladies and her damsels to
be put into another room, and between her and the boy they stayed
in the room alone and sat down on a very rich blanket covered by a silk
sheet. The empress looked at him very attentively and wanted to
make him [fol. 5b] listen to her and said to him:
-- Handsome sweet friend, handsome sweet
sir, listen to me. I have heard [people] speak much of you,
and because of the great good that you know I love you. And because
of the great love that I have for you have I endeavoured that your
father has taken me as his wife, and I have kept my virginity for you in that he never had
any part of me. Therefore I want you to love me and I will love
you.
Then she threw her arms around his
neck and he drew back. The takes him by the chin and wanted
to kiss him, and he drew further back.
-- How[’s that], she goes, handsome sweet
friend, will you not at all speak to me nor make love?
The boy wanted to preserve his father’s
honour and his own, so he did not say a word. When the empress
saw [fol. 5c] that she would not draw a word out of him, she
threw her hands at a silk cloth she had put on and at the ermine
coat and at her shirt and ripped everything to the middle of her
chest; and moreover, like an evil plotter and [like] one full of evil
craft and evil trick[s] she threw her hands into her hair and tore
out part of it. She raised her hands up to her face and scratched herself
and was bloody all over. Afterwards, when she had done this, she “threw”
out a big and hideous shout, and the barons who were in the hall came
toward [her] room. When the emperor saw [that] the one whom he loved
so much was in so bad a state, he was furious and like beyond his senses.
-- How[’s that], he goes, who put you in
this state?
-- By [my] faith, she goes, this devil
(who is) here. He al- [fol. 5d] most strangled me. If you
had not come so soon, I would be dead or he would have had his
way with me. He is nothing to you, he is a devil, have him tied
up.
-- By my head, said the emperor, he will
not be protected [much] long[er].
The emperor then has his soldiers
come, those whose service it is to torture and hang people.
-- Go, he says, and destroy the one who
was to be my son.
-- Sire, they go, we will do your bidding.
So they left the room and entered
the hall. The mighty lords of the land were furious about
what they had seen happen and about [the fact] that the emperor
wanted to have his son destroyed, so they were much astonished
by it and did not know how this could have happened. They [fol. 6a]
came to him and said to him:
-- Sire, we marvel much at what you are
doing. Put off until tomorrow your son’s destruction and then,
by the verdict of your court, kill him if he has committed a
misdeed.
-- Certainly, says the emperor, I will
readily wait until tomorrow.
So then he ordered him to be thrown
down into the [prison] cell so that he may not flee.
The empress was very sad and enraged
that the boy has been given a delay of his destruction. So
she thought and murmured to herself until night, for she still
believed that she would find as good a reason to destroy him as
she had sought and pursued. When night had come, the emperor went to
bed. The empress gave him a very ugly frown
-- What is it, madam, goes [fol. 6b] the
emperor, what face do you make? Tell me your thought[s] and
what you have.
-- Certainly, Sire, I will tell you. You
are dead and destroyed, for he has come by whom you will be
stripped of your heritage and will lose [your] land[s], and this
will be in [a short] time: it is your son. And so, may happen to
you what happened to the pine tree from his (pine) off-shoot.
-- And what, says the emperor, happened
to the pine from his off-shoot?
-- Sire, she says, I will tell you willingly,
so listen to me.
“In this city there once was a burgher
who had a very beautiful garden which was big and planted
with all [kinds of] good trees. In the centre of this garden there
was a pine which was more beautiful and taller and straighter than
any other. The nobleman made [his gardener] look for the best soil(s)
[fol. 6c] one could find and had it put at the foot of the pine. The
pine sprouted forth and grew as one could wish, and out of the growth
arose a little pine from one of the main roots and came along as one could
wish. Whenever the burgher saw it, he derived great joy from it and made
[his gardener] look for the best soil one could find and had it put at
the foot of the pine. [So it went] until the nobleman had gone on his business
trip and stayed [away] a long time. And when he had come back, the first
thing he did was to go in his garden and found his little pine short.
So he called his gardener and said to him:
- What’s this? Why is my little pine [so]
short?
- Sir, goes the gardener, don’t you see
why?
- Not at all, he ges.
- I will tell you why. Look up [and see]
how the branch of the [fol. 6d] holds it [back] so that it
cannot go forward.
- Cut it off, goes the nobleman.
- Sir, willingly.
He took the axe and took a ladder
and put it against the branch and struck until the branch
was cut off. When it was cut off, the nobleman said to him:
- Cut [on] and make a path for it.
- Sir, willingly.”
-- Now, Sire, goes the empress, thus is
the big pine cut [back] and made ugly in favour of the little
pine. And there is still more,...
“... for the little pine came from the
front stump and cut, and [because] of the force [involved]
one of the main roots rose [through the soil] and dried out at
that point. When the nobleman came back into his garden one day
and saw the little pine which came along as one could wish and which
had already outgrown the other one, and when he saw the big one [fol.
7a] dried out in one section, he said to his gardener:
- What does, he goes, this big pine have
which is dried out?
- Sir, he goes, the shade of your little
pine does that.
- So cut [the big one] down altogether,
says the gentleman.
- Willingly, sir, he goes.”
[Frame resumes]
-- Sire, says the empress, thus is [the
big pine] cut down, thus has it been totally brought to shame
by the one which had issued forth from it. So it is with your son
who issued forth from you, who brings shame upon you, for the whole
empire is already against you in order to rob your heritage, and
you were the day before yesterday at the point of saving yourself. And
therefore may happen to you exactly what also happened to the [big]
pine because of his little pine.
-- By my head, Lady, such [a thing] will
not happen to me, for [my son] will die in the morning.
Thus [things] remained from that [moment]
to the next day. When the emperor had risen, he called [fol.
7b] his servants.
-- Go, he says, and pull my son out of
the gaol and destroy him.
-- Sire, they go, at your command!
They came to the [prison] cell and
pulled the boy out. The doors were opened and the palace filled
with the barons of the land. They saw that soldiers were leading the boy away.
All those who saw him had a great weight in their heart and several
fainted in the streets. Hear now that the first of the sages
came. He met the boy whom the servants were taking away to be hanged.
One did not say a word to the other. Lord Bancillas passes by and
came to the foot of the stairs of the [palace] hall. He dismounted.
There were quite a lot of people to take his horse. He climbed up the
stairs and came into [fol. 7c] the hall and said to the emperor:
-- Sire, may God give you a good day!
-- May God never bless you, said the emperor.
-- What is it, Sire, goes my Lord Bancillas,
what have you got? Why do you want to destroy your son?
-- Why? goes the emperor. There are enough
[reasons] why, and I will tell you. I had entrusted my son
to you to instruct and teach him, to you and your companions as
to men whom I loved much and whom I trusted, and you have already
kept him seven years. The first thing you taught him is that you
have taken away his speech; the second that he wanted to take my wife
by force; and of the other tasks there are enough wherefore I want
to have him destroyed, and as soon as he will be [fol. 7d] destroyed,
know that you and your companion[s] will die afterwards.
-- Sire, says master Bancillas, listen
to me! You say that he has lost his speech. For that he has
not deserved death, rather there is a greater reason to treat him
better than one has ever before. And if it is true that he wanted
to take your wife by force, for that he has not deserved death. Pace
your grace and your word, I will not believe that he ever thought of
it.
-- By [my] faith, said the emperor, like
she who is all disshevelled and all torn up, he loses a lot
in this matter..
-- Ha, Sire, goes my Lord Bancillas, she
did not carry him in her body nine months. And if you want
to destroy him in this manner, [fol. 8a] may happen to you,
too, what happened to the knight [and] his greyhound.
-- What happened, says the emperor, to
the knight [and] his greyhound?
-- Sire, I will not tell you if you do
not delay your son’s death, for he would be dead before I
would have told [the story], and then my story would not be worth
anything.
-- By [my] faith, goes the emperor, I will
grant him a respite.
-- Send for him, goes the sage.
The messengers ran [off] now, who
brought him back. When the barons heard the news, they all
felt a very great joy. The boy was brought back before his master
and he bowed [before] him, then he was put back down into the
gaol.
-- Now tell [me], goes the emperor.
-- Willingly, Sire.
“In this city it happened [fol. 8b] on
a day which is called the King of Sundays (that’s the day
of the Trinity) that the knights must go to amuse themselves in
the meadows. The knight’s meadow was down from his house and the
house was enclosed by an old and ancient and cracked wall. He was
rich and had from his wife a small child in the cradle. The child
had three nurses: the first served to breast-feed him, the second to
bathe him, the third to shake out the sheets and to put him to bed.
The knight had a strong and fast greyhound which reached all the things
after which he ran, and whatever he reached he took. The greyhound
was better than any other, and the gentleman loved him more than anything.
The knight had gone out [fol. 8c]
on his horse into the meadows with the others, [his] sword
girthed, the shield at his neck, the lance in his fist. And
his wife had gone out beyond the door onto the drawbridge, and
the nurses had brought the child to the foot of the wall and were
climbing up the stairs to the crenels of the wall. The knights
began to tourney against one another.
A serpent was living in the wall [and] it heard
the noise of the shields and of the lances, so it wondered
much about it [because] it had not at all learned such a custom.
So it raised its head and issued forth out of the wall through one
of the crevices. The serpent came toward the cradle, and on the threshold
of the hall was the greyhound which heard the noise of the tourney
and saw the big [fol. 8d] and hideous and poisonous serpent. Then
it went up to the serpent and took it in the middle of the fat [part]
of the stomach. The serpent raised [its] head and bit it in the neck.
From the anguish and from the pain it felt [the greyhound] cried
out, and then it returns to the serpent and leaps over the cradle
and then over the serpent. The cradle was turned upside down, but there
was such good luck that the two headboards of the cradle were high
so that the child’s face did not touch the ground. The battle between
the serpent and the greyhound began. The serpent wanted to flee, but
the greyhound took it in the middle of the fat [part] of the stomach,
and the serpent bit it in the side. The greyhound cried out from the
pain he felt, so it leaped once again over the cradle, so that the cradle
was all bloody from it [fol. 9a] and the whole place as well, until at
the end the greyhound took it by the head and strangled it with all its
might in such a manner that it killed the serpent and it was dead. [By]
then the greyhound had so much rage in itself that it did not want at
all to leave it as such, but it sliced it into three sections, then left
it thus. The cradle and the place around [it] were all bloody, and the
greyhound was all swollen and bloodied. It entered the hall and began to
shout and to scream and to writhe among the layers [of its blankets] and
was shouting like someone who was totally destroyed and anguished.
It was late afternoon and the knights’ tourney ends
and everyone left for his home. The nurses went down the
[fol. 9b] stairs of the wall and came into the hall and saw
the cradle upside down and the place around all bloody. They
looked towards the greyhound which was wailing, so they thought that
it was rabid and that it had eaten and strangled the child, for
the reason that they saw him bloody. So they began to shout and to
scream and to tear at their hair and to say:
- Ha, poor us, what shall we do? What will
we be able to become? Let’s flee from here!
That piece of advice was soon taken:
they hit the road and flee. As they were passing the door
they met their lady on the drawbridge. She saw [how] ugly and frightened
they were, so she asked them what was the matter with them, and they replied
that the greyhound was rabid and had [fol. 9c] strangled and
killed her child. [When she heard] this reply, the lady let out
a shout and fainted. And when she had returned [to her senses], her
lord had come, with the shield at his neck, who had tourneyed with
the others. He saw his wife who told him that his greyhound was rabid
and that it had strangled his child.
- For sure, goes the knight, this weighs
on me.
He came into the courtyard and dismounted.
There were enough [men] who held his horse for him and took
his shield and his lance.
The greyhound recognized his master’s
horse and thought that he had come. When it heard him speak,
it sprang up on its feet, sick as it was, and went up to his master
and put its two forefeet in the middle of his chest. The knight had
heard [the] news of his [fol. 9d] greyhound which had killed his
child. He was so anguished that he now draws [his] sword and cut its
head off, then handed it to one of his squires. Afterwards he went
up into the hall and looked in the direction of the cradle and saw
[that] it was all blood[-stained] and [that] the place [around it was]
all blood[-stained, too]. He came over there and found the three sections
of the serpent and then wondered much how this could have happened. He
came over to the cradle and saw [how it was] upside down and found
the child alive. So he called the lady and the people who had come
with him, for them to see this marvel. They looked at the serpent and
knew with certainty that the greyhound had fought with the serpent for
the child, to protect the child. [fol. 10a] So the knight said to
the lady:
- Madam, you made me kill my greyhound
over our child that he had protected against death. I believed
you, which [means that] I did not act wisely. But know this much:
for what I did upon your advice, nobody will give me penance,
rather I will give it to me myself.
He sat down and had his shoes removed and
then cut off the front part of his shoes and left without looking at
[any] wife or child he may have had, and fled into exile because
of the anger his greyhound [had caused him].”
[Frame resumes]
Then master Bancillas said to the emperor:
-- Sire, if upon the advice of your wife
you want to destroy your son without the advice of your barons,
then may happen to you what happened [fol. 10b] to the knight
with his greyhound.
-- By my head, said the emperor, it will
not happen to me like this, if it pleases God, for he will
not die today.
-- Sire, five hundred thanks, said master
Bancillas, for everyone would hate you for it and curse you.
It was late, the court departed, the
doors were closed. The emperor came to the empress. She was
extremely furious because she could not carry out [her plan
to] her advantage. The emperor asked her:
-- Madam, what bothers you?
-- Sire, she goes, I am furious, not because
of myself but because of your great damage and your great
debasement which threatens you, and I will tell you why. It’s
because of this devil whom you call son, who has come in order
to [fol. 10c] disinherit and destroy you. May therefore happen to
you what happened to the boar that was caught by way of scratching
[it].
-- Tell me, goes the emperor, how it was
caught by scratching.
-- Sire, willingly.
“In this country was once a big and marvelous
forest, abundant with fruits and shrubs. In it lived peacefully
a big, fully grown and proud boar, so that nobody dared enter
the forest in these parts. In the middle of this forest in a [certain]
place was a service-tree which was well loaded with ripe sorb-apples.
The boar got drunk with them once every day. One day a shepherd had
lost one of his animals [which] had fled into the forest. The shepherd
came there and saw the service-tree and coveted much some of the sorb-apples
[fol. 10d] which lay on the ground. He lowered himself and began to
gather them up until he had his apron full of them. While he was filling
his other apron, there came the boar. When the shepherd saw him coming,
he was afraid and right he was, and wanted to flee. But he saw the boar
coming so close to him that he did not dare, so he was so perplexed that
he did not know what to do. Then he looked up the service-tree and climbed
up. The boar came underneath the service-tree. It wondered much why it had
not found as many sorb-apples as it usually did, then looked up the service-tree
and saw the shepherd. Then it got angry and began to chew and to gnash its
teeth and to sharpen its two [front] feet against the ground and struck
with its teeth against the service-tree so that everything shook. [fol.
11a] It seemed to him who was up in [the tree] that it should split down
the middle. All the boar had [in mind] was to eat. And the shepherd then
looked [down] at the ground and saw that all the boar had [in mind] was
to eat. So he put his hand into his apron and let the sorb-apples go, and
the boar began to eat. While the boar was eating, it fell asleep. When
the shepherd saw this, he climbed down lower towards the ground and held
himself with one of [his] hands by the branches and with the other began
to scratch the boar. The boar felt drunken, so it bent [its] two hind-legs
and then [his] forelegs, and [the shepherd] began to scratch and held
firmly on to the branch and then put his [free] hand under [the boar’s stomach
and began to scratch until the boar lay down, and [fol. 11b] he [continued]
to scratch. The boar closed [its] eyes and fell asleep. The shepherd covered
its head with his overalls and scratched vigourously with [his] left hand,
then pulls his knife out of its sheath. The shepherd was strong and resolute
and was not at all scared. So he raised the knife and struck the boar right
through the body at the heart’s place. He recommenced and struck [the boar]
all the way through the heart and killed it. The shepherd left, who this
time did not want to do more, neither cut up nor carry off [the boar].”
[Frame resumes]
-- Now then, Sire, you have heard how this
boar, which was so strong and so big, died by being scratched,
and how a miserable shepherd, who knew nothing, killed it. So
is it with you who listen to [what] those sages are saying. By
their white words you can know that they want [fol. 11c] to destroy
and disinherit you.
-- By my head, madam, you tell the truth.
But know that I will not believe them [any longer], for [my
son] will die in the morning.
-- Certainly, she says, you will only act
wisely.
Thereupon they left [things] until
the morning when the doors were opened. The palace filled up
witth the barons of the land. The emperor called his guardsmen
and told them:
-- Take my son and lead him [to were] he
will be destroyed.
They executed his order, and when they
brought [the son] before the emperor, they asked him by which
death he should die.
-- Hang him, he said.
-- Sire, as you wish.
They left and entered the street. There
arose the shout[s] of the people who pitied him.
Then there was one of the sages who
was his master and was called [sic] Augustes. He looked at his [fol. 11d]
disciple whom they were leading to destruction, and pitied
him. He passed on and came to the stairs of the hall, dismounted
and came before the emperor and greeted him. The emperor did not
respond to his greeting, but threatened him and said to him:
-- I had entrusted you my son to teach
him, and you have robbed him of [his] speech. By the lord
who is called God, you did this at your risk; I will compensate
you for it.
-- Sire, goes my lord Augustes, I have
well heard how part of the things have gone. Your bad will
is not [directed] at him, that he does not speak; there is
something else. But if you want to kill him in this manner, then
may happen to you what happened to Hippocrates [at the hand]
of his nephew.
-- And what happened to him? says [fol.
12a] the emperor.
-- By [my] faith, goes he, if you wish
to delay your son’s death today, I will tell you, and then
you do what you want to do once I have spoken.
-- Sure, goes the emperor, this I grant
you.
There were enough messengers who ran
to bring back the child, then it was put into the gaol. Thereupon
master Augustes began his story.
-- Sire,
“Hippocrates was the wisest man on could
find. From all his lineage he had only one nephew. He did
not want to teach him anything of his knowledge, and nevertheless
the young man thought that it was proper for him to know certain
things. So he listened carefully to [his uncle] and paid him great
attention and worked at it so much that he knew [a lot] and revealed
to his uncle Hippocrates his [fol. 12b] knowledge. Hippocrates
saw that he knew enough.
Hardly any time passed before news
came that the king of Hungary had a son who was sick, so he
asked Hippocrates to come to him. And he replied that he could not
go there, but that he would send him a nephew of his. He ordered his
nephew to ready himself and loaded a pack-horse for him and told him
to leave with the messengers. They travelled until they came to the
king in Hungary. One brought the child before him. He looked at it and
then at the king and then at the mother. He took her by the hand, then
drew her aside and then asked to see the urine of all three. They showed
him. When he had seen it, he thought [and] then called the queen and
said to her:
- Madam, whose child is this?
- Sir, he is [fol. 12c] my son and the
son of my lord the king.
- Madam, I well believe that he is your
son, but he is not the king’s son.
- He is so, says the queen.
- That’s not true, he says, and if you
don’t tell me otherwise, I will leave.
- By [my] faith, she goes, if I knew that
you said it for sure, I would have your body put to shame.
- Madam, I shall leave; but know this well:
if you don’t tell me who fathered him, he cannot [find] healing.
Then he leaves [her] and began to
shake his head. When the queen sees this, she calls him back
and said to him:
- Sir, I will tell it to you on condition that no word of it get out.
- Madam, he said, none will.
- Sir, goes the lady, it happened that
the count of Namur was passing through this country, and
[fol. 12d] my lord put him up, and in the end he appealed to me
and he lay with me and fathered this child. Sir, for God[’s sake],
speak to nobody about it.
- Madam, I will not. He must have adultery
poisoning. Give him beef (meat) to eat.
They carried out his order, and as soon
as he had eaten some, he was healed. When the king saw that
his son was healed, he gave [Hippocrates’s nephew] all he wanted.
He now left all happy and came to
his uncle. The uncle asked him:
- Did you heal the child?
- Yes, sir.
- What did you give it to eat?
- Beef (meat).
- So it was adultery?
- True, sir.
- You are wise, said Hippocrates.
Hippocrates thought of treason and
of felony regarding his nephew. One day he called him and said
to him:
- Handsome nephew, come with me into this
garden.
And [fol. 13a] when they were in the garden,
Hippocrates said:
- God, what a good herb I smell!
[His nephew] leaps ahead and kneels down
and picks it and brought it to him and said to him:
- Sir, here, look at it!
Hippocrates took it in his hand, then advanced
a bit further and said:
- I smell yet a better one.
[The other] came forward to pick it and
knelt down. Hippocrates ha[d] equipped himself well and [now]
pulls out his knife and killed his nephew. And he did still
more: he took all his books and burned them.
After that, Hippocrates was sick to
death, he had diarrhea, (that is) death’s messenger. So he
had a 268-litre barrel fetched and had it filled
with the clearest fountain water one could find, then had the
bottom pierced in a hundred spots and had a hundred [fol. 13b]
wooden pins put into [the holes], then put powder around each [pin].
Thereupon he asked several people [to come] and said to them:
- [Dear] sirs, I am [close] to death from
diarrhea. Look, I have had this barrel filled from the clearest
fountain one could find. So now, pull all the pins out!
- Willingly, they go.
Now they pull them out, but not a [single]
drop of water issued forth from [the barrel].
- So you can see, said Hippocrates, how
I water-proofed this barrel, and I cannot plug myself. I know for certain
that I am dying.
Before long after that he was dead.”
[Frame resumes]
-- Sire, goes master Augustes to the emperor,
thus died Hippocrates and his nephew, and [thus] his books
were burned. What [13c] would have grieved him so if he had left
his nephew alive or had left his books?
-- Certainly, says the emperor, nothing
would have grieved him.
-- Sire, like that you want to act, [too].
You have only one son and this one you want to destroy because
of what your wife says. You are an old man and know well that
you will never have another child. And if you want to destroy him
thus, may happen to you what happened to Hippocrates through his
nephew.
-- By my head, says the emperor, such a
thing will not happen to me, for he will die tomorrow.
-- Sire, said master Augustes, five hundred
thanks, for you will do [yourself] honour.
Thus was he spared that night. The
doors were closed. The emperor came to the empress. [fol. 13d]
She presented him an ugly face and had swollen eyes from crying.
The emperor asked her:
-- Madam, what have you [gotten]? Tell
it to me!
-- Sire, she goes, great anger and great
rage.
-- Madam, goes the emperor, why?
-- Sire, she goes, my telling [you] would
not be worthwhile. But anyway, it grieves me that you once
took me [for your wife] in order [merely] to leave [me] so soon.
-- How[’s that], madam? said the emperor,
are we aleady at the leaving [stage]?
-- Sire, she goes, yes, for I would not
at all consider your vileness nor your debasement.
-- Madam, how [do you mean]?
-- Sire, she goes, I will tell you (it).
I see well that all the men of your court are after you and that, as far as he whom
you call son is concerned, they want him to have the empire.
And if it [fol. 14a] comes to [the point] where he must have
it, then may happen to you what happened to the one who threw his
father’s head into the cesspool.
-- For love[’s sake], madam, who was that?
Tell me (it).
-- Sire, she goes, what would my telling
be worth?
-- Madam, I beg you to tell me (it).
-- Sire, willingly, to see whether you
might gain knowledge from it. Sire,
[The empress: gaza]
“in this city [there] was an emperor whose
name was Octavianus. who loved gold and silver more than
any other thing. He loved [them] so much that he filled the
entire Crescent tower with them. And [there] were [also] seven
sages in this city. Five [of them] had gone off on a conquest.
And of the two sages who stayed behind, one was so generous and
so [free-]spending that he spent what he [fol. 14b] had, and when
he could not get [money], he borrowed it. His [money] was refused
to nobody. He had two sons and two daughters. He dressed nobly
and spent
much on
his body, his own and his children’s. The other sage was so
penny-pinching and avaricious that he did not want to spend anything,
and however much he could have, he kept it. To this one Octavianus
entrusted the protection of his tower and his treasure.
The generous sage one night called
one of his sons and said to him:
- Go, and take a pick-axe and I [shall
take] another one, and let’s go to the Crescent tower and
pick [at it] until we pull the treasure out. and with that money
we will be well-off and will pay our debts.
- Oho, Sire, said the young man, this we
will not do at all. What would we do if we [fol. 14c] were
found there? We and our lineage would be dead and dishonoured.
- It will never happen, goes the father,
that people find us there, and I want you to come [with me]
there.
- Handsome father, I will do your bidding.
It was overcast, the
did not shine nor does any star appear in the sky.
Now they went off there and began to pick around the foot of the tower
and picked away until they entered it. Then they loaded of those riches
[on their shulders] and carried away as much as they could and left their
pick-axe[s] in the tower and returned home and unloaded. The next day
they paid their debts, and [the sage] dressed his household richly and
had his houses, which were falling down, re-straightened and maintained
himself nobly.
[Fol. 14d] The sage who had the watch
of the tower came to the tower to find out whether anything
had touched it. He saw [that] it had miserably crumbled and [then]
he found the hole. So he entered inside and saw the pick-axe and
saw perfectly that somebody had carried away part of the [emperor’s]
possessions. So he came back to his house without in the least seeming
[to be upset]. Then he had a dyer’s vat made and put it in front
of the hole in the tower, and had a big, marvelous hole made in the
ground and had the vat buried in it. Then he took the strongest glue
he could find, and sea clay and wood tar and [molten] lead and mixed them
all together so that the vat was totally full, then he took little branches
and small sticks and put them over the vat and covered it with earth
on [fol. 15a] top, [and] then he left.
After that it took hardly a long time
before the generous sage had spent what he had carried home,
so he had nothing else to spend, for he had held court splendidly
and incurred great expenses. One night he called his son and said
to him:
- Son, let’s once again go to the tower.
- Oho, Sire, said the young man, we won’t,
control
yourself.
- Yes we will, said the father, let’s go
(there) another time.
- Sire, said the son, at your order, let’s
go, by God.
It was night and late. They started
on their way, the father in front and the son behind [him],
until they came to the tower. And as the father thought he was
entering inside, he fell into the vat and got in up to his throat.
He felt that the glue and the clay hold so tightly [fol. 15b] his
extremities that he could not pull one of them towards himself. He
shouted altogether beautifully to his son:
- I am dead.
The young man said:
- You’re not, handsome father, I will help
you.
The young man lowered himself to the vat
and the father said to him:
- Pull back, handsome son! If you fall
in, you are dead.
- So what shall I do?
- Cut my head off, he says.
- Oho, handsome father, this I would not
do in any manner, but I will go to get help.
- It can’t be, says the father, hurry up
[and decapitate me] before other people get a hold of me,
for, since I will have my head cut off, I will not be recognized,
nor will my lineage ever have any reproach in this.
The other one lowered himself toward the
vat with all the armour he had brought along and cut his head
off, then he was so panicked that he threw it into one of his
father’s cesspools. [fol. 15c] And when the daughters found out
about it, there was very great mourning throughout the house.
In the morning, when the avaricious
sage had gotten up, he came to the tower and entered it. He
looked [around] and saw the one in the vat, who had his head cut
off. So he called his men and had [them] pull him out. He looked
right and left, up and down, but [the corpse] could not be recognized.
So the sage ordered that one take two horses and had [the corpse]
tied by the feet to the[ir] tails and had it dragged through Rome,
and he ordered that, wherever [his men] saw people doing great mourning,
they turn [in there] and take them [into custody].
The men went on the horses all over
Rome until they came up to the house of the sage whom they
were dragging [behind them]. And [the sage’s] sons were inside
and his [fol. 15d] daughters [as well]. They came out. When
they saw their father being dragged [around], they began to shout.
[One] brother could not hold [his siblings] back, so he struck himself
in the thigh with a knife. Those who were going [with] the corpse
entered inside and asked for the master of the house. The young man
answered that he was in town.
- And what then is the matter with these
young ladies who are shouting so?
- [My] lord, don’t you see that I wounded
myself in the thigh with a knife? They were afraid that I had
lost my mind or would die.
- It’s true, sir, they go, we [can] see
it for sure.
So they left the house and took the one
they were dragging outside Rome and buried him.”
[Frame resumes]
-- Now then, Sire, said the empress, the
son was rich because his father died shamefully. [fol. 16a]
And his father’s head, why did he not put it in a nice cemetery?
Very little did he care about the body and the head as long as he
had the money. As much I tell you with respect to your son: he chases
after being emperor, and when he will have [your] land in his hand[s],
he will care very little about you. And thus, if you want to act [according
to the fact] that you do not want to believe me, then may happen to
you what happened to him whose head was thrown into the cesspool.
-- By my head, goes the emperor, such a
thing will not happen to me, for I will never believe anyone
regarding this. He will die in the morning.
-- Sire, goes the empress, may God give
you strength and courage for it.
That night went by until in the morning
the doors were opened. The emperor was up. The palace was
filling up with the high barons [fol. 16b] of the land. The
emperor ordered his guardsmen to destroy his son.
-- Sire, they go, at your order[s].
They pulled him out of the gaol and led
him before the emperor. They asked him which death he [sh]ould
die.
-- Bury him all alive, said the emperor.
So they went off and led the child very
humbly through the streets of Rome.
Here then came one of the masters
whose name was Lentillus. He met his disciple who bowed before
him. The sage felt great pity for him [but] went on until he
came to the foot of the stairs of the hall and dismounted, and
everyone shouted at him:
-- Hey, master, think of your disciple!
He came before the emperor and saluted
him. [fol. 16c] The emperor does not respond to his salutation
but says that God may not help him.
-- Oho, Sire, said master Lantillus [sic],
why?
-- I will tell you, goes the emperor. I
(had) entrusted you my son to teach and instruct [him]. [For]
the first doctrine you made him [learn], you took his speech
away; [for] the other one, he wanted to take my wife by force.
But may God never grant that you enjoy it, [nor] will you, for as
soon as he will be destroyed, you will die after him.
-- Sire, goes master Lantillus, suffer
that I reply. [That he wanted] to take your wife by force
is hard to believe. But if you want to destroy him thus and
without any other reason, then may happen to you what happened
to the rich man at the hand of his wi- [fol. 16d] fe.
-- What happened to him? says the emperor.
-- Sire, I will not tell you (it) if you
don’t grant your son a delay, for if I tell [you], he will
have no profit from it if he were to be destroyed [afterwards].
The emperor ordered that he be brought
back. There were many who ran [to get] the boy and he was
brought back. Then master Lantillus began his story.
-- Sire,
“there was in this city a man who was from
a great lineage and had no wife nor any heir who would hold
his land after him. So his friends came and told him to take
a wife by whom he may have heirs who would hold his land after him.
He said that he would take one willingly, that they search [one]
for him. They sought him [one]. The man was old and senile, the
lady was beautiful and young and had no delight from [fol. 17a] him
nor any [love-]sport, and [so it went] until she loved [someone]
in the city.
And it was at the time their habit
and custom that, if somebody was caught wandering all over Rome
after curfew had been sounded, he was, regardless of how important
his relatives were, detained until the next morning when the sages
had come into the assembly hall. Then he was chased and beaten throughout the city.
And so the rich man’s wife one night
felt desire for her friend. It was very overcast that night. She was lying close to her husband
and she remembered her agreement [with her friend] very well.
The lady feigns and said to her husband that she was sick. And
finally she got up from his side and went down the stairs and unlocked
the door and found her friend. He began by kissing her and em- [fol.
17b] bracing her, and they did [according to] their wish[es].
But [common] sense and jealousy entered
her husband’s heart and he got up and went downstairs as
fast as he could and heard them talking together. He was furious
and locked the door from his side, then came upstairs to the
windows and shouted and said:
- Hey, madam, lady, nothing [you do now]
is worth your [effort], for I have heard your lecher with
you.
- Hey, Sire, she goes, by God’s mercy,
you certainly did not, pace your grace.
- I certainly did, he goes.
- Hey, Sire, for God’s [sake], have pity
on me. Curfew is about to sound.
- I would like that for sure, he goes.
- Hey, Sire, I will be dead and destroyed
and will be beaten up tomorrow, and all my relatives will be
dishonoured.
- Too bad, madam, for him who cares.
There in front [of the house] was
a very ancient well.
- Sire, she [fol. 17c] goes, if you don’t
open the door for me, I will let myself fall into this well.
- For sure, madam, I would like that a
lot.
- By [my] faith, she goes, so you will
never see me again.
It was very overcast so that they
could not see each other. In front of the house was a big
stone. She raised it up to her neck and came to the well.
- Sire, she says, the heart cannot lie,
to God be [you] commended!
After [that] she let the stone fall into
the well.
- Ah, [by] Saint Mary, now my wife is dead.
I only did it in order to punish her and to test her.
She came [around] to the back of the house,
and he ran downstairs and opened the door and went to the well,
and she went in and locked the door. Meanwhile he called out
to his wife and said:
- Beautiful sister, are [fol. 17d] you
down there [in the well]?
- Not at all, she says, I am not dead at
all. You would like me to be in the well. So now your lechery
is apparent and [so is] your badness. I was not beautiful enough
for you.
- Ah, beautiful sister, I heard such great
grieving from you that I thought you had fallen into the well.
- May God help me, she says, you will not
get [back] into the house.
- Ah, beautiful sister, by God’s mercy,
the curfew is about to be sounded, and if I am taken, I will
be beaten up tomorrow.
- May God help me, she said, I don’t ask
for more. At last the good people will know what [kind of]
life you lead and have led for a long time.
Then it happened that the curfew sounded
and that the sentry came and took him and said to the lady:
- Hey, lady, never before did we hear [people]
talk about [fol. 18a] your husband’s vileness.
- So, she goes, you can see now that I
have hidden it as much as I could. But now I don’t want to hide
it any longer, and you don’t know at all [the kind of] life he
has led with me.
- By [our] faith, lady, they go, we will
take him away now that the curfew will have been sounded.
- Certainly, she says, that makes me feel good.
Then the curfew stops sounding and
they take him and lead him away into the tower as they were
sworn to do, and he was there until the next day when he was chased
and beaten throughout the city.”
[Frame resumes]
-- Now then, Sire, said Lentillus [sic]
to the emperor, the lady deceived her husband nicely. Have you
heard this disloyalty and this treason that the lady committed
toward her husband? Yours will treat you worse still, if you believe
her [reasons] to kill your son.
-- By [fol. 18b] my head, says the emperor,
never ever did I hear [people] talk of such a bad, treacherous
woman.
-- Sire, so take care, goes Lentillus,
that yours will not do to you similarly [in order] to kill
your son.
-- She will not, he goes, if it pleases
God.
-- May God preserve you from it, Sire,
goes the sage.
-- By my head, says the emperor, he will
not die today.
Thereupon they let [things] be until
it was evening [and] the doors were closed. The emperor came
to the empress. She showed him a very ugly mood. The emperor asked her what
bothered her.
-- Sire, she goes, I am the saddest creature
alive. I will leave in the morning, [may you] know it!
-- You will not, madam, rather you will
stay, if it pleases God and you.
-- Sire, I will not, for I [fol. 18c] want
to leave with honour rather than stayin shame. And I am a
young woman from a great lineage, and you don’t want to believe
anything I tell you. And therefore may happen to you what happened
to him who delivered his wife to the big king.
-- Madam, by the faith you owe me, who
was that? Tell me (it)! It is my opninion that he hardly loved
her.
-- Sire, what would my telling [you] be
worth? You don’t want to do anything I tell you.
-- Madam, goes the emperor, yes I will.
-- Sire,
“there was a king in Puille who was a homosexual.
He disdained women above all things. And so it was until he
became very ill and bloated, so that all his limbs became indistinguishable
inside him until he [fol. 18d] requested a physician, and the
latter came and looked at him and saw his urine.
-- Look here, goes the king, if you can
cure me, I will give you as much land and wealth as will please
you.
-- Sire, goes he, great thanks, and I will
cure you very well.
The physician took care of him until he
was cured. He gave him barley bread to eat and fountain water
to drink until his swelling receded and his limbs [re]appeared.
One day he said that a woman would suit him:
-- By God, said the king, I will [indeed]
have [my men] look for her.
He called the [chief] officer [of his court]
and said to him:
-- Seek me a woman.
-- Ha, sire, goes the officer, I would
be unable to find her, for they believe that you are still as
bloated as you used to be.
-- Give her beforehand twenty [fol. 19a]
marks from my treasury, goes the king.
-- Sire, willingly.
The officer came to his wife and said to
her:
-- Madam, you must earn twenty marks.
-- Sir, goes she, how?
-- You will lie, he says, tonight only
with the king.
-- Ha, sir, she goes, thank you. For sure,
if it pleases God, I won’t.
-- You will so, he says, I order you to.
-- Ha, sir, I will not do it, and if I
have to eat dirt.
-- Madam, may loss come to him who does
not want to win. [Your refusal] is worth nothing, you have to
do it.
-- Sir, she goes, by God, you will do with
me as you wish.
When night had come, the officer came to
his master in the chamber where one put him to bed. The king
said to him:
-- Officer, have you sought the woman whom
I mentioned?
-- Sire, yes, but she does not want to
be [fol. 19b] seen, because she is a noble woman.
-- By God, [so be it], said the king.
The officer himself put out the candle
and had all the sergeants leave the chamber. Then he came
to his wife, and she came before the emperor’s [sic]
bed. The lady disrobed, then she threw herself next to the king.
The officer locked the chamber with them inside. The king lay with
the lady until it was close to day[break]. The officer came to the
chamber and unlocked it.
-- Are you sleeping, sire? he said to the
king.
-- Officer, I am not.
-- Sire, he said, it is necessary that
that woman leave, that she not be seen.
-- By my head, goes the king, she will
not do that.
-- Sire, I had an agreement with her friends
that she would not be recognized.
-- By God, goes the king.
The officer left the cham- [fol. 19c] ber
and waited until it was day and prime was sounded. Then he
came back into the chamber and said:
-- Madam, madam, get up!
-- By my head, said the king, she will
not do that.
The officer could not endure [it] any longer.
He now opened the windows and said:
-- Ha, sire, by God, she’s my wife.
The king sat up and looked at the officer
and then at the lady. After that he was very sorely enraged
and said to the officer:
-- Scoundrel. traitor, why did you bring
her to me?
-- For sure, sire, in order to earn the
twenty marks.
-- Because of greed you are disgraced,
said the king. By my head, if you are found in here when I
have risen, I will have your eyes torn out and your body dragged
at [the end of] a horse’s tail.
The officer [fol. 19d] fled, and all having been said
and done, the king married [the officer’s] wife in his
land.
[Frame resumes]
-- Now then, sire, have you not heard what
the officer did out of material greed? Look what happened
to him: he has for ever lost his wealth and his wife is well
married. Similarly you must take care of yourself, for you are greedy
to hear those sages’ words and greed will vanquish you so that because
of it you will be impoverished and miserable and shameful in the
world. About myself I worry not at all, for my friends will maintain
me well and richly. May [my story] be appealing to you, for if you
are not careful, those who have nothing and are not supposed to have
anything will be the masters.
-- By my head, said the [fol. 20a] [emperor], they will not, for I say to
you that nothing can protect him from dying tomorrow.
-- For sure, sire, you would be acting
wisely.
Thus [things] remained until the next day
when the emperor was up and the doors [were] open. The palace
filled with the high barons of the land. The emperor called his
servants:
-- Go, he said, take my son and torture
him for me.
-- Sire, at your command.
They left for the jail and led him before
the emperor on top of the [palace] steps and went through the
streets of Rome, and all those who saw them took great pity of
him.
See here now how his master came whose
name was Malcuidarz the Red. He pitied his disciple. The boy
bowed before him. The master continued on and ro- [fol. 20b]
de until he came to the steps of the hall. He dismounted; many
were there to take his horse. He comes before the emperor and salutes
him. The emperor does not return his salutation but curses him.
The sage answers him:
-- Why do you curse me?
-- Because, he goes, I had given you my
son and you have robbed him of his speech, and he wanted to
take my wife by force, and for [all] that I have him destroyed.
-- Ha, sire, goes the sage, thank you.
If you, without judgment and without the advice of your barons,
were to destroy him, then may happen to you what happened to the
ancient sage because of his wife.
-- And what happened to him, goes the emperor,
tell me, for I would gladly hear the ancient sage’s life,
and I would gladly hear how his wife deceived him.
-- Sire, she did not deceive him, for as
a sage he protected himself very well against that.
-- Tell me, goes the emperor.
-- Sire, then send [people] get your son.
-- Gladly, goes he.
There were enough [people] who ran [to
get him]. He came back. The boy bowed before the emperor
and his master, then he was put in the cell. And my lord Maucuidarz
began his tale.
-- Sire,
there was in this city an old sage of great
age who had rich and good land. His friends came to him and
said to him to take a wife, and hardly would you ever see an old
man take [more] willingly a young wife. He said to them to seek
him one. They found him a young and beautiful and blond [woman].
The sage had [already] had two [wives]. He was old and passed his age.
[fol. 20d] The lady was with her husband one year and not once did he
have sex with her, even if it is that
she had inclination for it. [But] at the end of the year she came
to the convent [and sat] beside her mother and said to her:
-- Lady [mother], I get no solace from
my husband. But know that I want to have sex.
-- Phew, [my] daughter, goes the mother,
this you won’t do.
-- Certainly, madam, I will do [so].
-- Do you want to do so according to my
advice?
-- Yes, my lady.
-- I advise that you test your husband
beforehand.
-- Gladly, mother. And on what?
-- Pretty daughter, [test him] on his tree
which is in your garden, which he loves more than all the
other trees. Have it cut down, then you will see what he will
say to you.
-- If it pleases God, he will not kill
me, the daughter says.
So the lady returned to her home and askrd
where her husband was. They told her that he had gone to amuse
himself on [fol. 21a] his horse in the company of his hunting
master and dog trainer. She then called a servant of hers and said
to him:
-- Take an axe and come with me.
-- Madam, willingly.
They entered the garden and she said to
him:
-- Cut this tree down for me.
-- Ha, madam, he said, I would not dare;
that’s my master’s special tree.
-- You will do so anyhow, I order you to.
-- For sure, madam, I will not do so.
The lady takes the axe from his hand and
starts to hit [the tree] so much [from] right and left that
she cut it down, and he cut it into logs, after [which] she
ordered him to [have the tree] carried [away]. While they were
carrying it [away], her husband came. He looked at the logs of the
tree and the leaves and the branches and was altogether beyond himself
and said:
-- Where did you take this branch?
-- For sure, sire, goes the lady, when
I just now came [back] from the [fol. 21b] convent, they told
me that you had gone for birds by the river; and I knew well
that you were sensitive to cold and that there was no log in the
house, so I went into this garden and cut down this tree.
-- Madam, said the husband, I think that this is my special
tree that you cut down.
-- For sure, sire, I don’t know whether
it is.
The husband went out to have a look and
found that it was the [special] one that had been cut down,
so he returned to his house and said:
-- Ha, madam, you have served me badly,
that’s my special tree that you cut down.
-- Ha, sire, goes the lady, truely I was
paying no attention to it and I did it because I knew [full]
well that you would come [home] all wet and rained on.
-- Madam, for that reason I will leave
things for now, inasmuch as you did it for me.
So they let it be until [fol. 21c] the
next day when the lady got up and went to the convent and found
her mother and greeted her. The mother asked her how it was with
her, and she said:
-- Good. I tested my husband.
-- Did you cut the tree down?
-- Yes, for sure.
-- And did he say anything?
-- Sure, he did not greatly pretend to
be angry. Really, madam, I want to have sex.
-- You will not do [anything of the sort],
let [things] be.
-- For sure. mother, I could not contain
myself.
-- So in that case I will tell you what
you will do. Test him again.
-- Madam, gladly.
-- I will tell you on what. He has a little
dog that he loves more than any living thing. He would not suffer
that one of his men move it from beside the fire, nor that anyone
except him feed it.
-- I will kill it tonight.
-- I approve it, says the mother.
Then the mother departs from her daughter.
[fol. 21d] The [young] lady returned to her house. In the
evening the fire was lit and burned brightly. The beds were
well appointed with pretty quilts and with pretty rugs. The lady
was dressed in an entirely fresh squirrel cape. Now came the husband
from hunting. The lady got up toward him and removed his cape,
then she went to remove the spurs and committed herself much to serving
him. Then she prepares for him a bright red mantle and put it over
her husband’s shoulders and prepares a chair for him. The husband
sat down, and [so did] in turn the lady on a stool. The dogs lay down
all over the beds, and the husband’s little dog lay down on the lady’s
cape which was entirely fresh. When she saw that she was very angry.
[fol. 22a] Then she saw one of the cattle handlers from plough[ing] who
had a knife at his belt. The lady lept forward and took it, then with
it struck the little dog through the entrails and killed it, so that
the cape and the room were all bloodied from it. The husband looked
at this marvel and said:
-- How, madam, were you so daring that
you dared kill my little dog in front of me?
-- How, sire? So you don’t see every day
how they turn our beds upside down? Never will two days go
by without it being necessary to do a washing because of your
dogs. By God’s death, I will strike them with my hands if they lie
down on my beds this way. Now look at my cape that I had just put
on, [how] it has been mistreated. [fol. 22b] Do you believe that I’m
not sad because of it?
The husband replies:
-- Certainly, madam, you have served me
badly, I hold it against you. But for now I will leave it be, this time,
[and] I will speak of it no more.
-- By [my] faith, sire, goes the lady,
you will do with me at your pleasure, for I am entirely yours.
And know that I repent much for what I have done.
Then she started to cry very hard and says:
-- For sure, it weighs much on me, for
I know [full] well that you loved it much.
When the husband saw her crying, he let
[things] be. The next day it happened that the lady came to
her mother [in] the convent. The mother, when she saw her, greeted
her and [the daughter greeted her mother], then [the mother] reasoned with her and said to
her:
-- Pretty daughter, how have things been
for you?
-- Madam, good, [fol. 22c] but I tell you
that I want to have sex.
-- Ha, pretty daughter, so you will not
be able to retain yourself?
-- For sure, pretty mother, no.
-- Pretty sweet daughter, I have all my
life stood by your father, so that I never committed foolishness
nor had any inclination for it.
-- Madam, it is not so with me as it was
with you, for my father was a young man, and you [were] a
young girl when he took you, so you enjoyed one another. But
I have no joy nor any distraction from mine [husband], so I must
chase after [them].
-- And with whom will you have an affair, pretty daughter?
-- I will tell you who has asked me: the
priest of this town. I won’t love a knight, for he would gab
about me and boast about it and ask me to commit to my promises,
and I would be ashamed of it.
-- On we go, pretty daughter, [fol. 22d]
do once again [according to] my advice, for you will never
see worse vengeance than [that] of an old man.
--Madam, gladly will I carry out your advice.
-- Pretty daughter, test him again, and
I will tell you on what. Tomorrow will be Thursday and Christmas
Eve; so your husband will hold his Christmas [festivities] and
will hold great court, for all the valiant men of this town will
be there, and you will be at the head of the table. And when the
first dish will be sitting [on the table], you will hurl your keys
into the fringes of the tablecloth, then you will get up and will
pull everything behind you. This way you will have testes your husband
three times.
-- Madam, you speak well, and I will do
so.
She then left and came to her house, and
[stayed there] until Christmas Day came. [fol. 23a] The vassals
of the town had come and plenty of others. The tables were set
and the tablecloths and the salt shakers and the knives, and they
sat down. The lady sat down at the head of the table. The servants
brought the first dishes and the spices with them on the table.
While the servers began to slice [the meat], the lady entangles her
keys in the fringes of the tablecloth, then gets up and makes a big
step forward, and the dishes spilled [all] over the tablecloth. The
husband was very angry, and the lady pulls her keys, which were entangled
in the tablecloth, toward her.
-- Madam, said the husband, you have acted
badly.
-- By [my] faith, says the lady, I can’t
[take it] anymore. I was [simply] going to fetch your good
knife which was not [fol. 23b] on the table, and that weighed
on me.
-- Well, madam, by God, bring us another
tablecloth!
Then another one was brought and they ate
happily. The husband did not show that he was angry. When
they had eaten and the tablecloths were removed, the husband
honoured them much and they left. Thr husband suffered this night
[to go by] until the next day when the husband came to the lady and
said to her:
-- Madam, madam, you have set me three
bad traps. If I can, you will not set me the fourth. Bad blood
makes you do this, you must be bled!
Now he gave orders to the head servant
and had the fire made. When the lady saw such a great fire
being made, she asked her husband [fol. 23c] what he wanted to
do.
-- Madam, he goes, I want to have you bloodlet.
-- Ha, sire, goes she, I have never been
bled in my life.
-- It is necessary, goes the husband, to
do it, for bad blood has made you set the bad traps you have
set me.
Right then, whether she wanted or not,
he had her bare the right arm and had it heated by the fire.
The bloodletter struck her, and the blood gushed forth with
great force. A [mixture of] mucus and mud came out, so much so
that [in the end] the red blood came out. Then he had the arm bandaged
up and [had] the other arm stretched forth out of the dress. The
lady began to scream, but it did not help her in the least. He had
the arm heated, and the bloodletter struck into it. The same [matter]
came out of this arm as [fol. 23d] [had come out] of the other, so
much so that the red blood came out of it. When the sage [sic] saw
the red blood, he had her bandaged up, then had her carried into a bed
in her room. She began to scream and to wail. The lady asked for her mother
and she came. When she saw her mother, she said to her:
-- My lady, I’m dead.
-- How[’s that], pretty daughter?
-- Madam, he had me bled.
-- Now then, pretty daughter, do you feel
like having sex?
-- For sure, madam, not I.
-- Daughter [mine], I told you so exactly:
you will never see such cruel vengeance as from an old man.
-- For sure, madam, I will never again
have sex.
-- By [my] faith, daughter, you will act
wisely.
[Frame resumes]
-- Sire emperor, goes master Malcuidarz
the Red, so was this [man] not wise? His wife set him three
traps [that were] ug- [fol. 24a] ly. The fourth one was nastier
still, for she would have loved the priest of the town. As much I’m
telling you about your wife. She wants to set you a nasty trap, [she]
who wants you to kill your son. Look now how the old wise man avenged
himself well.
-- Certainly, said the emperor, [that]
he truly did.
-- Sire, therefore do not believe your
wife with respect to whatever she will tell you.
-- By my head, says the emperor, I won’t.
Then they let the words [be]. It was night,
the doors of the palace were closed. The emperor came to the
empress who was very angry and irritated. The emperor asked
her:
-- Madam, what have you?
-- What, sire, I have plenty of what, sire,
[plenty] of [the fact] that you have en- [fol. 24b] tered [the
realm of] such bad covetousness [that you] listen to treasonous
and false words. So it was no wonder at all that Cras[s]us coveted
gold and silver, nor that he died of such covetousness.
-- How, says the emperor, did he die of
it?
-- Yes, truly.
-- So tell me, [by the] faith that you
owe me.
-- Sire, what I tell you, what is it worth?
For you remember nor hear nothing of it.
-- Madam, for sure I will hear it perfectly,
so speak.
-- Sire,
there was in this city a learned man whose name was Virgil, and
he was a very good man learned in all [of] the seven arts. He knew a lot
of magic, and through magic did he make in this city a fire that burned every
day. And those poor women, who had those little children, when they [fol.
24c] could not enter where those rich men [live] in those high houses, who
sleep until nine o’clock, they warmed themselves by this fire and took hot
water to bathe their children. Next to this fire there was a man cast in
copper, who held a bow and was aiming to shoot. On the forehead of this man
there were letters written which said: Whoever will strike me, I will shoot.
In this city there was [also] a learned man from Lombardy, a noble and rich
man, and he was at school. This learned man came to see the fire and looked
at it and saw the letters that [the copper statue] had written on its forehead
and understood them and knew that there was written: Whoever will strike
me, I will shoot. So he said to his companions:
-- Shall I strike him?
-- Sire, yes, if it pleases you.
He now [fol. 24d] struck him, and he shoots
into the fire and extinguishes it immediately.
[Frame resumes]
-- Sire, goes the empress, did he not commit
a sin?
-- Certainly, madam, yes.
-- Indeed, goes she, for those poor women
from all over the city took [their] fire there.
-- It’s true.
-- Sire, [Virgil] did still more. For
[Empress resumes]
at one of the gates of Rome he made a man
cast in copper [who] held a ball in his hand, and at one of
the other gates he made a similar one, and one threw the ball
to the other on Saturday night.
[Frame resumes]
-- That he did?
-- Sire, he did still more. For
[Empress resumes]
he made through magic a mirror on a huge
marble column by which those of this city saw those who wanted
to come to Rome in order to do [it] harm, and as soon as they
saw that some territory wanted to rise up against Rome, they sent
orders to the communities of the cities [fol. 25a] in the area, so
that they armed themselves [and] then went into that territory and distroyed
it. [This went on] until the king of Puille was furious about it and
assembled all the wise men of his land and asked them what he should
do about Rome which was thus doing harm to his land, and what was their
thinking and should he make truce with Rome. There were two young men
there who were brothers. One of them got up and spoke to the king
and said to him:
-- By [my] faith, sire, if you were willing
to give us of your [riches], we would fell the mirror of Rome.
-- By [my] faith, said the king, I will
give you whatever you demand (for what [else] could I have it?),
whether you want towns, whether you want castles, whether you
want land.
They replied:
-- We will put ourselves in your household.
-- Great thanks, goes the king.
The first-born [of the two] said:
-- Sire, now have two baskets filled with
gold for us.
-- Gladly, says the king.
Filled they were. He had them put on a
sturdy cart with two horses, then they took to the(ir) road
all the way to Rome. At that time Crassus was emperor of Rome,
who was very covetous. They came so late to Rome that they took
care [to watch] that nobody came out of the city. By one of the
gates they buried one of the baskets and by the second [gate they
buried] the other one, and then they found lodging in the city
and spent lots of money. In the morning, when the emperor was up,
they came to the palace and greeted him and said to him:
-- Sire, we are diviners and finders of
treasures, so we have come to [fol. 25c] you, for we know [full]
well that in your realm there are lots of them.
-- May you be welcome, said the emperor,
and you will stay with me.
-- Sire, gladly, but we shall want one
half of what we will find, and you [keep] the other.
-- By [my] faith, said the emperor, I agree. I can never have anything if
not through you.
-- Sire, says the first-born, I will dream
tonight and tomorrow I will tell you what I dreamt.
-- I grant it, says the emperor.
They left for their lodgings and were much
at ease that night. And when it came to the next day, they
came to the emperor and the first-born said to him:
-- Sire, I dreamt.
-- So tell [me] what [you dreamt], said
the emperor.
-- Sire, I dreamt [of] a small treasure
at the gate toward Puille.
-- Let’s go there, said the empe- [fol.
25d] ror.
-- By [my] faith, sire, gladly.
The emperor came there with a great company
of people [who were] with him. He brought miners, and they began
to dig where the diviner said. When they had dug, they found one
of the baskets that [the brothers] had put there. The emperor had
it pulled out, and then it was divided so that the emperor had one
half of it, and the brothers the other. The emperor was overjoyed and
coveted it much. The other [brother] said that he would dream [also].
He found his basket as well. The emperor congratulated himself for
[having employed] them:
-- By [my] faith, gentlemen, he said, now
I truly know that you are for real.
They replied:
-- Certainly, sire, That’s nothing. We
have dreamt [of] one of [those treasures] under that mirror
[that is] so big that all the horses which are at your court could
hardly pull it [out].
-- Certainly, says the emperor, this I
would not want at any price: that I cause the mirror to be
felled, for we see in it all those who want to do harm to this
city.
Those replied to him:
-- Sire, do not worry that it may fall,
for we will save it very well.
-- By God, said the emperor, so be there
in the morning.
-- Sire, gladly.
They took leave and went to their lodgings.
When it came to the [next] morning, they came to the mirror
and began to dig until the foot of the mirror was completely dug
up, until it held only a little bit. When it came to the night, they
left and so did the workmen. When it was midnight, they brought fire
and put it [fol. 26b] at the foundation, then they sealed it up [all]
around. It burned inside. And when they saw that the fire had well taken,
they went on their way. They had not gone [a] great [distance] when
the mirror fell and the marble columns broke into pieces. They saw
it fall beautifully, so they went on being very joyful. In the morning,
when the high barons of Rome and from nearby there assembled to see the
mirror, they looked and saw that it had fallen [over] because of the emperor’s
covetousness. The emperor came and was very angry [because] of this
misadventure. He had [his men] look for the diviners, but they could
not be found. He felt deceived and was very much afraid. The high-ranking
men of the land ask- [fol. 26c] ed him why he had done this. He did
not know what to answer them, except that [he had done it] out of greed
for gold. Now they took him and put a restraining device on his stomach because of
the great scorn they had about the great loss they had suffered, then they
took molten gold and poured it down his mouth and into his eyes and into
his ears, and then they said to him:
-- Gold you wanted, gold you coveted, gold
you shall have and gold you will lose and by gold you will
die.
[Frame resumes]
-- Sire, says the empress to the emperor,
so now this one is dead to his great shame and because of greed.
-- True it is, says the emperor.
-- Sire, now you can truly know that you
as well will die.
-- Alas, [my] lady, says the emperor, what
are you saying?
-- Sire, I am telling you the truth. Is
it not entirely clear that you a- [fol. 26d] re so greedy to
hear and remember the words of those sages that you will lose [your]
honour because of it and will die shamefully? You will well die
shamefully when you will lose the crown of your life for [the sake
of] a scoundrel whom you have reared, whom you call son. Woe on a son
who seeks his father’s ruin.
-- Madam, said the emperor, don’t be angry
now, because by the faith I owe you, he will not disinherit
me, for he will die in the morning.
-- Well. sire, may it not grieve you: I
don’t believe you.
-- Madam, he will, know it [for sure].
-- Sire, may God give you good courage
for it.
Then they let [things] be until the next
day when it was light. The emperor got up. The doors were
opened and the noblemen were assembled in the palace. [fol. 27a]
The emperor called his servants and said to them:
-- Take my son and destroy him.
-- Sire, willingly.
They dragged him out of the jail and led
him so swiftly up into the palace before the emperor that
they did not even let him bow before his father. They rushed
down the steps and entered into the street. All tthose who saw
him took great pity of him. At this point came his master whose name
was Caton, he who wrote the book because of which children go to school
and are taught. His disciple bowed toward him when he came before
him. [Caton] had a very great [feeling of] pity about their leading
him away in this manner; he travelled onward a very good distance and
got off [his horse] at the foot of the stairs of the hall. There were
more than enough people to take his horse. He ascended up [fol. 27b]
the steps until he came before the emperor and saluted him. And the emperor
spoke to him of shame and wickedness and threatened him and said:
-- I had given my son over to you to be
taught and you have taken away his speech, and my wife he wanted
to take by force.
-- Sire, Caton says, [concerning] his speech
I don’t say that he has lost it, for if it were that he has
lost it, little thanks should you owe us for it. But as to your wife whom he
wanted to take by force, as she tells you, she has nothing,
and if you destroy your son because of that, then may happen
to you what happened to the burgher with his magpie.
-- And what happened to him, says the emperor,
and his magpie?
-- By [my] faith, says Caton, my words
would be worth nothing if your son were to be killed. But
make him [enjoy] some respite and I will tell you the tale.
-- I will grant him [fol. 27c] a respite
until you have spoken, goes the emperor.
-- Sire, so send for him.
-- Willingly.
Messengers hurried out to bring the young
man back. He came before the emperor and before his master
and bowed toward them and then was led into the jail. Then master
Caton began his tale.
-- Sire, said Caton,
in this city there was a burgher who had a magpie
which spoke the Roman language very well. And when the burgher
came from outside, the magpie told him whatever it knew and [had] heard and
seen. And it often happened that the magpie told the man the truth. When the wife’s friend
had been with her, he believed [his magpie] entirely. Until the gentleman
had gone away on business and did not return that [fol. 27d] night. The
lady asked her friend [to come]. The magpie was high up in a cage [which
was] attached to a pole. The friend came up to the house and did not dare
enter because of the magpie. He asked the lady [to come]. She came to him.
He said to her:
-- [My] lady, I don’t dare enter because
of the magpie, because [I can’t be sure] that it will not
tell your husband.
-- Come [in, it’s] safe, she goes, for
a way
[out of this] I will well think of.
-- [My] lady, he goes, willingly.
He passed through and entered the [bed]room.
The magpie looked at him and recognized him, for he had done
it nasty tricks many times. So it said:
-- Ha, sire who are reposing in [my lady’s]
room, why do you not come here when my master is here?
Then it fell silent and the lady thought
of a grand stratagem. When night had fallen, she took her
chambermaid and gave her a big pot full of water and a cand-
[fol. 28a] le brightly burning and a hammer [made] of wood. When
it came toward midnight, she made her climb up on the house right above
the spot where the magpie was, and she began to hit hard on the shingles.
When she had hit enough, she took the candle and thrust it between
two shingles, which gave the magpie light[ning] into the face. After
[that] she took the water and poured it on the magpie. That kind of
life she made it lead until day[light]. When day had broken, she descended
with the hammer in one hand and the candle in the other, and the lady’s
friend left.
Hardly [any time] remained after that before
the master [of the house] came [back]. He came right straight
to his magpie, greeted it and asked it:
-- Friend, how is it with you? Did you
eat today?
-- Sire, says the magpie, my lady’s friend
was last night all [fol. 28b] long in here and lay with her.
He left only a little while ago. I saw him go through here.
The master looked at the lady with a felon’s
eyes. Then he turned toward his magpie and said to it:
-- Certainly, [my] beautiful, very sweet
friend, I fully believe you in this matter.
-- Sire, goes the magpie, last night it
thundered and rained all night and lightning came to me from
all directions right into [my] eyes, and but for a little I [could
have] died last night.
The master looked at the lady and she at
him.
-- By [my] faith, goes the master, last
night there was a very beautiful and very clear night.
-- For sure, sire, goes the lady, in my opinion one of the clear[est] of this
year.
The master asked his neighbours and they
told him the same thing. The lady saw [as] her [advantage]
point that she could speak up, and she said to her husband, within
earshot of his neighbours:
-- Now then, gentlemen, now [fol. 28c]
you can hear for what my husband has always blamed and hit
me, [he] who believed his magpie about anything it told him.
Now it has told him that my friend had last night laid with me
all night. For sure it lied as [it lied] about the weather.
The husband was furious that his magpie
had lied to him about the weather, similarly he thought that
it had lied about his wife. So he came to his magpie and said to
it:
-- By my head, you will never lie to me
[again].
Then he took it and broke its neck. When
he had done this, he was so astonished that he did not know
what to say. Then he dismounted the cage where the magpie was
and saw the undone shingles. Then he took a ladder and climbed on
top of the house and saw the pot that the chambermaid had left there,
and saw the wax [that had] dripped on [fol. 28d] the shingles and
that the roof was undone, and he saw the large hole through which she
had thrust the burning candle. Then he realized the treason that his wife
had done him and began to mourn terribly and said:
-- Ha, poor miserable [creature that I
am], why did I believe my wife?
Then he chased his wife out of his house.
[Frame resumes]
So, sire, goes master Caton, if he had
informed himself beforehand, he would not have killed his
magpie. Now he repents and is in mourning. Now he has chased
his wife away because upon her advice he had killed his magpie.
In exactly similar fashion I see and hear that the empress is working
on how to destroy your son, and if you believe her in this without
believing other advice, then may happen to you the same that happened
to the burgher [because] of his magpie.
-- By my head, [fol. 29a] said the emperor,
nothing similar will happen to me.
-- Sire, goes Caton, you will do the right
thing. One must not kill one’s child because of what its stepmother
says.
Thereupon they let [things] be until evening
when the doors were closed. The emperor came to the empress.
She made a bad expression toward him. The emperor, who loved
her much, looked at her and said to her:
-- [My] lady, what is the matter, tell
me.
-- For sure, sire, I will leave [tomorrow]
morning for my friends and my family, for I am of high lineage.
-- [My] lady, why? Tell me.
-- By [my] faith, sire, I know [full] well
that you will be destroyed eventually, for you do not want
to believe any advice. And therefore may possibly happen to
you the same [fate] that happened to king Herod who [fol. 29b] so
much held in contempt the saying of his wife to the advantage of the
advice of the seven sages that he lost his sight over it.
-- His sight? said the emperor, how? This
I would dearly like to hear.
-- Why would I tell it to you? You would
do nothing about it.
-- By my head, [my] lady, you will tell
it.
-- Willingly, sire, since it pleases you.
-- Sire,
there was in this city an emperor [sic]
whose name was Herod, and he had seven sages such as there still
are. But they had put forth in this city such a custom that whoever
had a dream, he came to the seven sages and brought them a gold
coin and they told him his dream and explained to him what he had
dreamed and what according to it could happen. And they had so much
gold and possessions that they [fol. 29c] surmounted the emperor in
riches. The emperor had such an illness that, when he wanted to ride
outside of Rome, he went blind and could not go outside [the city].
Until one day he called the seven sages and said to them:
-- Sires, tell me what I will ask you.
They replied:
-- Willingly.
-- Why, he said, do my eyes go blind when
I must go outside this city?
-- Sire, the sages say, to this we do not
know how to reply to you without a delay.
-- Must there be a delay? says the emperor.
-- By [our] faith, sire, yes.
-- And I give it to you: up to eight days.
-- Sire. that would be little, [give us]
rather up to fifteen.
-- By God, [so be it], said the emperor.
Thereupon they leave. They do not want
to let [fol. 29d] a long time [go by since] the emperor’s request;
rather they sought advice from several people until one told
them that a child was in the land, who had had no father, [and]
who gave explanations for whatever one asked of him. They went forth
outside Rome and came to the area where [the child’s presence]
had been indicated to them, and they eventually found him in a town
where he was mingled amidst his companions who reproached him that
he was born without a father. The sages stopped there and asked who
he was and what his name was. Those [companions] replied that his name
was Mellin. There came now to the sages a man who was disturbed by a
dream he had dreamed, and he held a gold coin [fol. 30a] in his hand. Mellin
came toward him and said to him:
-- I know perfectly where you are going
and what you are asking and what you are bringing.
The sages listened to him.
-- You dreamed, said Mellin, a dream because
of which you are disturbed, and therefore you are going to
Rome to the sages and are bringing them a coin. I will tell you
[the dream], and you will take your coin [back]. You dreamed that
in the centre of your house there is a fountain and that all those
of your household were served and watered by it. The fountain
signifies a great treasure which is underneath your house. Go and
have it dug up and from it you and your entire family will be rich,
if it is not taken away from you.
The man returned to his house and the sages
and servants [as well]. The man asked for workers and had [them]
dig until they found the treasure and pulled it [fol. 30b]
up. There was a lot of it, a great plenty. The sages took as
much as they wanted and offered some to the child, but he had no desire
for it. The sages left and took the child with them. When they were
outside the town they asked him whether he would be able to tell the
emperor why his eyesight gave him trouble whenever he wanted to leave
Rome. Mellin said:
-- Yes, [very] well.
So they took him to Rome before the emperor
on the day that had been set for the response. One of them spoke
up and said:
-- Sire, we have come on our day to respond
why your eyesight gives you trouble whenever you want to go
outside Rome.
-- That’s true, says the emperor.
-- Sire, we have brought a child who will
respond for us.
-- Do you take [fol. 30c] upon you what
he will say?
-- Sire, yes.
-- So speak, I will hear it willingly.
-- Sire, goes Mellin, lead me to a room
and there I will speak to you.
-- Willingly, says the emperor.
So he led him into his room and Mellin
began to say to him:
-- Sire, listen to me. Under your bed there
is a cauldron which bubbles in great waves, and there are seven
bubbles and as long as the seven bubbles last and as long as
that cauldron is there, you cannot go outside Rome, [whatever]
road or path you may know. And if you take out the cauldron without
extinguishing the bubbles, you [will] have lost your eyesight forever.
-- By [my] faith, handsome, gentle friend,
goes the emperor, you must advise me in this matter.
-- Sire, willingly. Have the bed taken
[fol. 30d] out and have [your men] dig.
The emperor had the bed taken out. Afterward
he had [his men] dig until the cauldron was found. The sages
were there and several people who saw it. The emperor spoke to
the child and said:
-- Young man, he goes, now I know perfectly
that you are wise. So from now on I want to act according to
your advice.
-- Sire, he says, great thanks. Have all
these people draw back and go out from in here. Now they went
away, then Mellin said to him:
-- Sire, do you see these seven bubbles?
This signifies these seven devils that you have every day
at your council.
-- Ha, [my] God, says the emperor, will
I be able to remove them from around me?
-- Certainly, yes, easily, says Mellin.
-- Can I see them and hear and touch [them]?
-- Sire, yes.
-- And who are they, handsome [fol. 31a]
gentle friend? Tell me it.
-- Sire, willingly. By [my] faith, they
are those seven sages that you have around you. They are of
your land richer than you are, and they are used to a bad custom
because of which the land is lost and they are rich because of
it. For if a man, be he a knight or a burgher, dreams a dream,
it is absolutely necessary that he come to the sages and bring a
coin and give it to them in order [for them] to explain his dream.
And if they did it any other way, they would believe that they are shamed.
Thus the sages have given the people to understand. And because you
have suffered this bad custom, your eyesight gives you trouble when
you go outside this city. So, take the oldest of the sages and have
his head cut off, and the [fol. 31b] largest of the bubbles will be extinguished.
-- By [my] faith, said the emperor, I will
do it.
Now he had the oldest brought forth with
the help of many people and had his head cut off, and immediately
the biggest bubble was extinguished. The emperor went to have
a look at the cauldron and found the big bubble extinguished.
-- By my head, he goes, from now on forward,
Mellin, I will believe you [and] what you will tell me.
Then he had the head[s] of all the sages
cut off and the entire cauldron was extinguished and became
totally cold.
-- By [my] faith, sire, goes Mellin, now
you can remove the cauldron, and you [can] wash your hands
in it and your whole body.
-- Willingly, says the emperor.
The emperor did as Mellin commanded him.
When the cauldron was removed and the [fol. 31c] filled in
and the bed was made again as it used to be, Mellin said:
-- Sire, now you can mount and ride [off].
-- By my head, says the emperor, that I
will do. But you will ride with me.
-- Sire, said Mellin, willingly.
The saddles were put on. The emperor and
Mellin mounted, and the barons and the burghers of the land
mounted afterward in order to see the great marvel. It had well
been five years that the emperor had not gone outside Rome. When [the
moment] came to pass through the gate, Mellin was beside him and said
to him:
-- Sire, you will go ahead.
Then [the emperor] struck the horse with
the spurs and passed [through] the gate and his eyesight
gave him no trouble. When the emperor saw this, he [felt] very
great joy. Then he took [fol. 31d] Mellin and began to kiss and
hug [him] and kept him with him. And all the others made him a great
feast when they saw that the emperor had regained his eyesight as he
used to.
[Frame resumes]
-- Sire, have you heard this adventure
that happened to Herod from his seven sages who had blinded
him with their trickery and with their treachery and [who could
have destroyed him] because he believed them too much? And if
you believe [that] your sages [want to] destroy you and take the
empire from you, [then] may happen to you what happened to Herod.
-- Thus it will not happen with me, for
I will not believe them, so much so that I [am ready to] lose
[my] land and become blind.
The empress replies:
-- May God preserve you from it.
Then they spent that night until it came
to the morning when the emperor got up and [32a] the empress
[too]. The doors were opened. The emperor ordered that one lead
his son to be destroyed. Then there came the other sage whose name
was Jesse, and at the step [leading to] the hall he got off his
horse; there were many [people] who held it. Then he went up and
saluted the emperor and the other noblemen. After that he said to
the emperor:
-- Sire, I marvel much at you who are a wise man,
that you want to destroy your son because of what a woman is saying [and]
without [any other] judgment. Mark my word, you are committing the greatest
marvel that ever a great man like you committed, and mark my word, you are
because of it much blamed by your barons and other people when you believe
the empress so much. Mark my word, she does not like [32b] your honour nor
your wealth when she thus wants to destroy and kill your son. So I pray to
God that may happen to you what happened to a viscount who once was [and]
who died because he had injured his wife a little on her thumb with a knife.
-- How was that, handsome sire? Tell me [as a sign
of our] friendship.
-- Sire, I will tell you willingly, but the child
must [first] be respited from death.
-- Friend, says the emperor, so shall he, for that
tale I want to hear and
retain.
Then he said to his seargents:
-- Bring me back my son.
’
Notes