Aucassin and Nicolette

IV

Spoken: Story and Dialogue

When Count Garin de Beaucaire understood that he could not tear his son Aucassin away from his love of Nicolette, he went to visit the town viscount, who was his vassal, and hailed him:

"Sir Count, send Nicolette your goddaughter away! May the earth be cursed where she was brought into this country! Because right now, because of her, I'm losing Aucassin, who does not want to be a knight, nor fulfill any of his duties. Also be convinced that, if I could catch her, I'd burn her at the stake, and you should also fear for your own life."

"Sire," responded the viscount, "I don't like that Aucassin comes and goes to see her, nor that he speaks to her. I bought her with my own money; I became her godfather and baptized her: she has become my goddaughter, and I counted on giving her in marriage to a young man who earns his living honorably: this shouldn't concern your son Aucassin. But since you want and desire it, I will send her to a far land and in such a far-away country that he will never see her again."

"Beware, then," said Count Garin, "if you do not, a great misfortune may befall you."

They separated. Very well-off, the viscount possessed a luxurious palace that looked out over a garden. He ordered Nicolette shut away in a room, on an upper floor, in company of an old woman who shared her life; he ordered bread, meat, wine and all other necessities brought to them; then he sealed the door in order that no one could enter or leave on any side: only, one small window, looking out over the garden, gave them a bit of air.