‘Per sordes gradior, sed sordis conscia non sum,
Ut rosa in spinis nescit mucrone perire,’ &c.
1681 ff. Several of her riddles are given in the original story and he succeeds in answering them all at once. One is this,
‘Longa feror uelox formose filia silue,
Innumeris pariter comitum stipata cateruis:
Curro uias multas, uestigia nulla relinquens.’
The answer is ‘Nauis.’
She finally falls on his neck and embraces him, upon which he kicks her severely. She begins to lament, and incidentally lets him know her story. The suggestion contained in ll. 1702 ff., of the mysterious influence of kinship, is Gower’s own, and we find the same idea in the tale of Constance, ii. 1381 f.,
‘This child he loveth kindely,
And yit he wot no cause why.’