THE ROYAL HOUSE OF FRANCE - outriders poetry project

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© 2009 Max Wickert
way, for toward evening the weather grew troubled and a heavy rainfall descended on his back,
followed by a terrible burst of hail. All the mountains were covered with snow, and the rain and hail
melted the snow, so that the roads were awash with water. Toward evening, the Duke arrived at a
stream, and was unable to cross it because of the great downpour. He rode toward a great valley;
when he arrived there, the river seemed somewhat broader, so that he set about fording it. The
water was so deep that his horse had to swim, and often both the horse and the duke went under.
Finally they reached the shore, dripping in streams. He dismounted and went on foot, arguing with
himself and often remembering Charles. His horse trembled all over, and it continued to rain. The
duke found a high, overhanging cliff, and he retired into a cavern to escape the rain. He did not stay
long, for the rush of water from above descended so that he had to leave that place. Seeing that his
horse was shaking all over, he feared it would perish of cold, he mounted it, commended himself to
God, and began once again to ascend the mountainside. It cannot be told what hardship he
suffered, and because he had lost his way, he did not see the tower-fortress that Almont had erected.
Riding along a path that he discovered, he arrived beneath a cavern in a great mountain cliff and
there lodged for the night. Let every man imagine what rest and comfort he found there! In the
morning he found a valley where the road was all flooded, since the rocks that had been dislodged
from the mountain on either side had dammed up the valley’s outlet and made a little lake. The
duke needs had to climb with great effort toward the mountain’s top. The effort and the
slipperiness nearly made him faint away. At last he tied up his horse in a small copse of trees, and it
was hidden under its branches. But the duke moved away from the trees because of the water that
dripping from them. Then a huge bird, driven by hunger, struck him and, as a goshawk carries off a
partridge, so that bird flew off with him. But being unable to lift him long, because of the weight of
his armor, it flew from that mountain top to another and there put down the duke at its feet. By the
duke’s guess it had carried him some four hundred steps. After it had put him down, it came