The days slipped away and were none too long. I fed the pet squirrel with its collar of fair pearls which the King had given to my mistress, and the monkey too, and the flying birds, for my mistress loved ever to have antic creatures about her. At the hunts I ride close at hand, and as at Orthez, where my mistress the Duchess goeth, there goeth Jehan. Once when we chased the deer at Val-la-Reine, the stag, a-weary and dazed, took refuge in a barn. Our King, the Well-beloved, crieth out,—
“Spare him, spare him,” for the huntsmen ran into the barn to cut the poor beast’s throat. Then saith the King from his kind heart,—
“Never shall this deer be hunted more. His life shall be his own from this day forth.”
Saying which, he pulled from his saddle-cloth a splendid fleur-de-lys, and turned to some of his men for a chain with which to hang it on the creature’s neck. None had one; so my Duchess took from her own neck a chain of gold, and it was hanged about the deer’s neck to show that it was the King’s, and none might do it ill.
Each day there was some new sport, and I had scant time to do aught but follow my mistress. As one morn she stood playing with the monkey, a beast that had no regard for my fingers, but was ever pleased to be petted by my Duchess, my Lady’s eyes roved to the beds of gay posies that bloomed without on the terrace. They put to shame the ones we tended in the old days by the castle wall, but my Duchess cried,—
“There is not a posy here as bright as the poppies that grew at Orthez, nor one so white as the gillyflowers. ’Twas a pretty garden, and I loved it well. Yet I cannot say but what I love these too.”
She stepped out on the terrace, and called back over her shoulder,—
“See that the cup of gold that the monkey broke be mended.” I loved not this task, since it seemed a shame to me that so grievous a beast should have his food from so fair a cup, while many of his betters had none.
Soon after my mistress was wedded to my Lord Duc, the great fair of St. Denis was set out in the meadow, “Pré aux Clercs.” Thither went we with the King, Queen, and all the court. Such marvels as were spread out there for sale! Jewels and stuffs wrought with gold and gems; pictures and holy books painted in colours and with gold; carvings made from wood, and from the great white teeth of strange beasts which they saith live in the sea; cups of gold shaped like unto lilies and roses; swords and spears, battle-axes and shields, armour and horse-trappings, till one knew not which way to turn.
If it was a fine show in daytime, my certes, what a sight it was at night! Every stall was ablaze with torches, and there were crowds of strange peoples of divers colours and from far-away lands, with soldiers and singers on every hand.