“There must be some reason why this beast holds these twain in such mortal hate,” he said. “Let this woman and her husband be brought hither so that they may be straitly questioned. She was once the wife of one who was near to your heart, and many marvellous happenings have ere this come out of Brittany.”
THE WERE-WOLF
The King hearkened to this sage counsel, for he loved the were-wolf, and was loath to have him slain. Under 289 pressure of examination Bisclaveret’s treacherous wife confessed all that she had done, adding that in her heart she believed the King’s favourite animal to be no other than her former husband.
Instantly on learning this the King demanded the were-wolf’s vesture from the treacherous knight her lover, and when this was brought to him he caused it to be spread before the wolf. But the animal behaved as though he did not see the garments.
Then the wise counsellor again came to his aid.
“You must take the beast to your own secret chamber, sire,” he told the King; “for not without great shame and tribulation can he become a man once more, and this he dare not suffer in the sight of all.”
This advice the King promptly followed, and when after some little time he, with two lords of his fellowship in attendance, re-entered the secret chamber, he found the wolf gone, and the baron so well beloved asleep in his bed.
With great joy and affection the King aroused his friend, and when the baron’s feelings permitted him he related his adventures. As soon as his master had heard him out he not only restored to him all that had been taken from him, but added gifts the number and richness of which rendered him more wealthy and important than ever, while in just anger he banished from his realm the wife who had betrayed her lord, together with her lover.