"You have said quite enough, my boys," replied Aucassin. "God grant that I may meet her!"
| [Now they sing it.] |
| Aucassin most gladly heard Every sweet and loving word Of his darling of the charming face: In his heart they pierced him so, That he left the shepherds good, And plunged into the deepest wood, Where'er his horse might choose to go. "O Nicolette, my sweet!" He sighed as sadly as before, "It is you I hope to meet: I do not hunt nor deer or boar. In this forest black It is you I track, That I this blessed day Your pretty smile may greet, May see your pretty eyes of gray; See you, my darling sweet! For oh! the Almighty I implore That I may see your face once more, My dear!" |
[Now they tell it, and speak it, and talk it.] |
Aucassin wandered here and there in the forest, just as his horse might carry him. Do not think that the brambles and briers spared him. I can tell you that they tore his clothes so that he had hardly a rag left upon him. And the blood ran down his arms, his sides, and his legs, in thirty or forty different places; so that you might have tracked him in the wood by the red drops which he left on the grass wherever he went. But Aucassin was all the time thinking of his darling sweetheart Nicolette, so that he did not once feel any pain.
So he travelled through the forest all day long, without gaining any news of his beautiful sweetheart; and, when he saw the night coming on, he began to weep bitterly.
As he was riding along through an old path, where the bushes had grown up thick and high, he saw before him, right in the middle of the road, a man whom I will describe to you.
He was large, and marvellously ugly. His face was blacker than broiled meat, and it was so large that there was a palm-breadth between his two eyes. His cheeks were enormous; and so were his nostrils and his nose, which was flat; his lips were big, and redder than coals; and he had frightful great yellow teeth. He had on sandals of leather, and greaves of leather, which were tied with thongs up to his knees. He was covered with a great double cloak, and was resting on a heavy club.
Aucassin was frightened, and said to him, "Good brother, may God help you!"
"God bless you!" replied the other.
"What are you doing there?" said Aucassin.
"What affair is that of yours?"