THE ROYAL HOUSE OF FRANCE - outriders poetry project

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© 2009 Max Wickert
know whether I shall be able to come.” The king departed and went to mount his horse; as he leapt
into the saddle, he said to Gryphon: “Go to the queen and tell her to mount up and to ride to meet
her father.” Gryphon went to her and found her weeping and trembling with fear. She said to
Gryphon: “This is what you have done to me!” He encouraged her to have no fear. “Feign an
illness,” said he, “and we shall make the doctors say that you have a malady that will not allow you
to speak, since you are dying of joy. We shall see to it that there will be little light. If the queen
speaks with you, reply in as horse and halting a voice as you can, and we shall soon find a remedy.”
Then he went to mount his horse, and she feigned sickness and went to bed. When Gryphon
reached King Pepin, the king asked him: “What is my lady the queen doing?” Gryphon said: “By
my faith, I fear that she will die of a sudden illness that has befallen her.” Said Pepin: “I saw it
coming when I told her of her father’s arrival.” Riding on, they found King Philip, and they made
much feasting and rejoicing together. As they were riding toward Paris, King Philip began to
wonder and asked King Pepin: “Why has Bertha, my daughter, not come to meet her mother?” Said
King Pepin: “The joy of it has made her ill,” and told him what had happened to her when he told
her of her father’s coming. When they arrived in Paris, King Philip was given a royal palace next to
the king’s palace, and they went, Pepin into one, and Philip into and the other palace, and all his
company was given lodging there.
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After the queen of Hungary had rested a little, she said to King Philip: “I want to go to see my
daughter.” She set out with many ladies and many attendants and nobles and approached the
bedchamber of Falisetta, who had gone to sleep in fear. The queen desired to enter the room, and
some of the Maganza followers there, as well as some of the girl’s, said: “You may not enter, for she
is asleep and the doctors do not wish anyone to speak to her. But if you wait a little, you may return