THE ROYAL HOUSE OF FRANCE - outriders poetry project

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© 2009 Max Wickert
good fortune.” None of the kings and great lords there failed to rise to do reverence to her. The
she played upon a harp while the other ladies danced. While they were dancing, Mainet carved,
kneeling, before the king. She gazed at him, and he pleased her so greatly that she fell fiercely in
love with him. She was not yet of an age to fall in love, but this was the work of a higher power that
she was forced to obey, though she was not yet twelve years old.
When King Galafron had eaten, he left the place and returned to the city. Mainet, strolling though
the garden, amused himself by fashioning a crown or garland of leaves and put it upon his head.
Galeana pointed him out to one of her intimate companions and said: “That youth who carves
before my father—may Mahomet grant that he become my husband!” The other lady stared at her
and said: “Be silent, you silly girl! You are of such a high lineage. Would you take a servant for a
husband?” Galatea answered: “Oh, what do you know of who he may be? His apparel certainly
proclaims him for a gentleman. I want him to give me the garland that he wears on his head.”
Modestly coming up to him, she asked him for it. Mainet made a quick curtsy and said: “My lady,
this garland is not fitting for you, for yours should be of flowers and roses; it is more fitting for
reaper. But in the end he gave it to her. Her delight at this caused her love for him to grow and she
long kept the garland among her jewels. Mainet felt no love for her, since he had turned his mind to
other thoughts. Moreover, Mainet was in the habit every morning of offering countless prayers to
God that he might grant him the grace of returning home, and offered many vows to Jesus Christ if
he could regain his realm and his crown. Upon returning to the city, they remained, thus disguised,
for many years in Saragossa. Five years passed from the time that Galeana fell in love with him, so
that he was twenty-on years old, and Galeana fifteen.
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