It should not be forgotten that the majority of these stories were intended to be recited, and not read. Repetition, therefore, is the more easily excused. This also accounts for the dramatic use of dialogue, so noticeable in "The Palfrey" and in "Aucassin and Nicolette." But it is evident that this Introduction, already over-long, will not permit me to go seriatim through these tales, "Item, a grey eye or so. Item, two lips, indifferent red." Let me therefore content myself with appreciating the most lovely of them all, "Aucassin and Nicolette."

A single copy of "Aucassin and Nicolette," transcribed in the thirteenth century, and preserved as by miracle, has retained for us not only a charming tale, but also an unique specimen of the minstrel's craft. Without it we could not have gathered that so elaborate a blending of prose and verse was possible to a strolling player of mediæval France. The cante-fable was designed for recitation, with illustrative gesture, to the accompaniment of viol and pipes. In this, and not only in this, it seems to suggest an Eastern origin, and to-day, in any Moorish coffee-house, the tales of the Arabian Nights are delivered in a manner very similar to that witnessed in Provence seven hundred years ago. The peculiar quality of pleasure afforded by "Aucassin and Nicolette" is not to be found in the story itself. That, indeed, is very simple, and, perhaps, a trifle hackneyed. Aucassin, the only son of the Count of Beaucaire, is passionately in love with Nicolette, a beautiful girl of unknown parentage, bought of the Saracens, whom his father will not permit him to marry. The story turns on the adventures of these fond lovers, until at the end their common fidelity is rewarded. Portions have faded sadly, like old tapestry, and the laughter sounds especially hollow, for of all precious things fun dies soonest. But in "Aucassin" the part is emphatically greater than the whole, and its charm must rather be sought in its graceful turns of speech—jewels, five words long—and in the pictorial quality which makes it more a series of pictures than a narrative. Who can forget the still night of May on which Nicolette escapes from her prison, and hurries through the garden, kilting her skirt against the dew; or the ruined tower in whose kindly shadow she remains hidden, whilst the watch march along the moonlit street, their swords beneath their mantles; or that bower of branches, built by her own white hands, through the trellis-work of which her lover looks upon the stars! In such felicitous picture-making the dainty little classic is equalled by no work of its period.

May I express the pious wish that every reader may find it all as delightful to read as I have found it to transcribe?

Eugene Mason.

Note.—The originals of these narratives are to be found in Romania; in the Fabliaux et Contes des Poètes François, edited by Barbazan et Méon; in two volumes of the Nouvelles Françoises en prose, edited by Moland and D'Héricault; and in Les Miracles de la Sainte Vierge, by Gautier de Coinci.

CONTENTS

PAGE
'TIS OF AUCASSIN AND OF NICOLETTE[1]
THE STORY OF KING CONSTANT, THE EMPEROR[39]
OUR LADY'S TUMBLER[53]
THE LAY OF THE LITTLE BIRD[67]
THE DIVIDED HORSECLOTH[75]
SIR HUGH OF TABARIE[85]
THE STORY OF KING FLORUS AND OF THE FAIR JEHANE[91]
OF THE COVETOUS MAN AND OF THE ENVIOUS MAN[129]
OF A JEW WHO TOOK AS SURETY THE IMAGE OF OUR LADY[133]
THE LAY OF GRAELENT[145]
THE THREE THIEVES[161]
THE FRIENDSHIP OF AMIS AND AMILE[173]
OF THE KNIGHT WHO PRAYED WHILST OUR LADY TOURNEYED IN HIS STEAD[195]
THE PRIEST AND THE MULBERRIES[199]
THE STORY OF ASENATH[203]
THE PALFREY[213]