Aucassin and Nicolette

XVII

Sung

Nicolette of the luminous face
climbed the ditch's embankment.
She started to despair
and so invoked Jesus:
"Father, king of majesty,
now I don't know where to go:
if I go into the dense forest,
I will surely be eaten by wolves,
lions and wild boars
that teem there;
and if I wait for dawn
so that someone could find me here,
they will set fire to a stake
where the flames will surround my body.
But, by God's majesty,
I much prefer
to be eaten by wolves,
lions and wild boars
rather than go into the town:
I will not go."