THE ROYAL HOUSE OF FRANCE - outriders poetry project

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© 2009 Max Wickert
news that he had heard. Bertha, to instill him with fear, began to say that if he returned there, this
Charles would have him seized and thrown into prison, and that he would have him hanged as a
thief; and she begged him not to go back there. He said to her: “I will never go back there.” And
that day he did not return to the city.
64
Because of the delight that King Charles felt when Young Roland snatched the bowl, he laughingly
commanded that he should be allowed to enter at any time. On the next morning, Young Roland
returned to the city to beg, and could get no alms. Everyone told him: “Go to court.” So he went
to court. When the time came, he entered the hall and arrived there before Charles sat down at table
and waited in a corner.
Many men saw him and whispered to each other: “He is getting ready to filch.” One said: “He’s was
bred from a nest as a burglar.” Another: “He’ll live long enough to hang from a gibbet. 49 ”
Everybody had his say. When the food arrived, he did as he had done the day before and snatched
the bowl. One of the nobles stood in his way as he fled, but he gave him a shove so that he fell
down and carried off the dish with the meat.
Seeing the boy’s great daring and great strength, Charles said, in the presence of all his nobles:
“That boy must indeed be the son of some poor man of noble birth, and this event is no less than a
portent of great things to come.” A little later he said: “Last night a strange vision appeared to me.
I dreamt that we were on the battlefield against numerous beasts, and it seemed to me that our side
was losing the battle. Then a dragon wound about my hands and stripped me of all my armor, and
49 Andrea conveys the courtier’s supercilious tone by the insertion of a French phrase: “Egli sarà ancora ‘impendu’
per la gola.”