THE ROYAL HOUSE OF FRANCE - outriders poetry project

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© 2009 Max Wickert
emperor. He laughed and went through the wedding ceremony with her, and fondled and kissed
her. Then they went to bed and she did as he wished so that she grew pregnant that very night with
a boy child. The emperor believed that he had lain with Bertha, and stayed with her in great solace
until daybreak.
6
At midnight, while she stayed below, Bertha was attacked and taken by the above-mentioned
servants. They threatened to kill her and she, terrified, fearing for her life and afraid of being
recognized, did not know what to do. They gagged her and dragged her from the garden and took
her outside the city, for the gates of Paris stood open night and day. They carried her to the Forest
of the Maine, which was two ships’ leagues distant from Paris.
When they had traveled a long way in to the forest and reached its darkest part, it was daylight.
They took the wooden gag out of her mouth, and one of them said to the other: “By our Faith, to
do this would be a great shame.” Bertha heard these words and understood that they wanted to kill
her. Therefore, trembling with fright, she began to raise great lamentation, and said: “O King Philip,
my father, what kind of a country you have sent me to! O most noble queen, how will your
daughter’s blood be shed!”
When those who had taken her there heard her speaking about being the King of Hungary’s
daughter, they stared at each other. One of them said: “What do you have to do with King Philip
of Hungary?” She replied: “He is my father.” The other said: “You do not speak truly, for your
father is William of Maganza.” But she said: “William was the father of my companion, Falisetta.”
It seemed to them that they had acted amiss, and they asked her: “What, then, were you doing in the
garden?” She told them in order the whole state of affairs. Then they began to be afraid and said:
“We are dead men, for if either King Philip of King Pepin hear of this thing, they will have us killed;