The Days of Chivalry; Or, The Legend of Croquemitaine
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CONTENTS
IN translating L’Epine’s charming legend, I have felt it my duty to adhere as closely as possible to the text. “Adaptations” and “versions,” whether presented on the stage or set down in black and white, seem to claim for those, who give them in English, a greater share of the glory than I feel myself to deserve, in the slightest degree, in this instance. The delicacy with which the moral is interwoven in the narrative, without in the least injuring the true legendary tone of the adventures related, is as far beyond any improvement I could make, as it is above the usual clap-trap “tag” with which dramas and children’s stories are ordinarily burdened.
I scarcely know to whom I should appeal as my readers, for the story I have delighted in rendering into English seems to me likely to afford pleasure in the perusal to older heads than those which I am sure would gather over the pages in the nursery. For there are a quiet humour and a delicate fancy running through the legend, amid all the exciting accounts of loves and wars, tourneys and battles, accidents and adventures, which do not lose interest because they are illustrated by the powerful pencil of Gustave Doré. That great artist’s fancy supplies these introductory lines with a tail-piece, which aptly typifies the book. Its author has ably made the doings of knights and paladins point a useful moral as well as adorn an interesting tale, just as the artist makes the arms of the chivalric age serve to frighten the birds from the fields that supply our humble daily bread.
Quatrelles
THE DAYS OF CHIVALRY
OR THE LEGEND OF CROQUEMITAINE
Freely Translated From The French of L’epine by Tom Hood.
PREFACE.
BOOK THE FIRST — THE TOURNEY AT FRONSAC — A.D. 769.
CHAPTER I. CHARLEMAGNE.
CHAPTER II. WHICH THE AUTHOR CONGRATULATES HIMSELF ON NOT HAVING TO READ.
CHAPTER III. CHARLEMAGNE’S CORTEGE.
CHAPTER IV. HOW GANELON, COUNT OF MAYENCE, WAS NEARLY SMOKED IN THE COMPANY OF TWO HOGS, AND WHAT FOLLOWED THEREAFTER.
CHAPTER V. ANGOULAFFRE OF THE BRAZEN TEETH, GOVERNOR OF JERUSALEM.
CHAPTER VI. MURAD’S THREE WHIMS.
CHAPTER VII. A FORMIDABLE FRIEND.
CHAPTER VIII. WHEREIN THE GOVERNOR OF JERUSALEM BEGINS TO SHOW HIS TEETH.
CHAPTER IX. WHEREIN THE EAGLE STOOPS, THE RAVEN CROAKS, THE WOLF HOWLS, AND THE LION ROARS.
CHAPTER X. ANGOULAFFRE THE MERCIFUL!
CHAPTER XI. HOW ANGOULAFFRE HAD AN ATTACK OF TOOTHACHE, WHICH WAS THE DEATH OF HIM.
CHAPTER XII. THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF ANGOULAFFRE.
CHAPTER XIII. THE TWO ROGUES RELEASED.
CHAPTER XIV. THE CORSELET OF CAMBRIC.
CHAPTER XV. MONTJOIE! MONTJOIE! ST. DENIS!
CHAPTER XVI. A FUNERAL MARCH.
END OF THE FIRST BOOK,
BOOK THE SECOND — THE PROPHET’S PARADISE.
CHAPTER I. HOW CROQUEMITAINE WAS CHRISTENED.
CHAPTER II. THE KING OF BEAUTY,
CHAPTER III. HOW THE EMPEROR CHARLEMAGNE SAW A VISION.
CHAPTER IV. HOW KING MARSILLUS SAW A VISION.
CHAPTER V. THE TWO ALCALDES.
CHAPTER VI. CHARLEMAGNE IN SPAIN.
CHAPTER VII. THE TRAP.
CHAPTER VIII. HOW ROLAND UNDERTOOK TO CARRY SARAGOSSA BY STORM.
CHAPTER IX. A TRIP TO MAHOMET’S PARADISE.
CHAPTER X. WHEN ROLAND REMEMBERS HIS LATIN, AND THE DEVIL FORGETS HIS.
END OF THE SECOND BOOK.
BOOK THE THIRD — THE FORTRESS OF FEAR.
CHAPTER I. THE FOUR FOES OF CROQUEMITAINE.
CHAPTER II. THE SIGN OF THE CROCODILE.
CHAPTER III. HOW ALLEGRIGNAC, MARAGOUGNIA, PORC-EN-TRUIE, AND MONT-ROGNON OPENED THE CAMPAIGN.
CHAPTER IV. ALI PÉPÉ’S LITTLE HARVEST.
CHAPTER V. HOW ALI PÉPÉ, HAVING DONE ALL THAT COULD BE EXPECTED OF AN HONEST MAN, WAS HANGED.
CHAPTER VI. SHOULDER TO SHOULDER, FACE TO FACE!
CHAPTER VII. MITAINE OPENS THE CAMPAIGN.
CHAPTER VIII. THROUGH THE FORESTS.
CHAPTER IX. A NIGHT IN THE FORTRESS OF FEAR.
END OF THE THIRD BOOK
EPILOGUE — RONCESVALLES — A. D. 778.
THE END.
