When Nicolette heard this, she was sorely grieved, and said,—
| [Now they sing it.] |
| "Sire, king of Torelore, Puissant prince and lord of glory," Said the pretty Nicolette, "You think me like a fool in story: I am not one yet. Aucassin shall I forget, Who loves me as his own? Not all your shows and dances proud, Not all your harps and viols loud, Are worth my dear alone." |
[Now they tell it, and speak it, and talk it.] |
Aucassin and his darling Nicolette took great delight and ease in the Castle of Torelore.
While they were there, some Saracens came up by sea, who assaulted the castle, and took it by storm. As soon as they had taken it, they carried off the people prisoners. They put Nicolette into one ship, and Aucassin into another, tied hand and foot. Then they set sail again.
As they sailed, a violent storm arose; and the ships were separated from each other. The ship in which Aucassin was was thrown so far at the mercy of the waves that at last she came to the Castle of Beaucaire.
The people of that country ran to the harbor; and when they recognized Aucassin, they were very happy, for he had been away for three years, and his father and mother were dead. They took him in triumph to the Castle of Beaucaire, and acknowledged him as their lord and master in place of the Count Garin. He took possession of his lands in peace.
| [Now they sing it.] |
| Aucassin did repair To his town of Beaucaire, And well governed kingdom and city. How glad would he be, If he only could see His own Nicolette so pretty! "Dear child of sweet face, How I wish that I knew To what sort of place I must go to find you! There is no land or sea God has made here below, Where to look after thee I would not gladly go." |
[Now they tell it, they speak it, and talk it.] |
We will leave Aucassin there, that we may tell about Nicolette.
The ship on which she had been taken away was that of the King of Carthage and his twelve brothers, who were princes and kings like himself. When they saw how beautiful Nicolette was, they did her great honor, and asked who she was; for she seemed to them a noble lady of high degree. But she could give them no account of herself, having been carried from home when she was a very little girl.
Soon they came to Carthage. As soon as they saw the walls of the castle, and all the country round about, Nicolette recollected that it was here that she had been nursed, and had grown up, and that it was here where she had been taken as a slave; for she had not been so young but she remembered perfectly well that she had been daughter of the King of Carthage.