Magister Nivardus: Ysengrimus

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YSENGRIMUS

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YSENGRIMUS By Magister Nivardus

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F. J. Sypher & Eleanor Sypher

New York · 1g80

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Letterpress composition and printing by The Stinehour Press, Lunenburg, Vermont, for F. J. Sypher, iiO East 60th Street, New York, New York lii, in an edition of 260 copies, of which this is number

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o 1980 by F. J. Sypher

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To E. H. S.

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Contents .

Introduction

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i. Ysengrim and Reynard

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ii. Ysengrim the Fisherman

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iii. Ysengrim the Surveyor

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iv. Ysengrim at Court

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v. The Animals' Pilgrimage

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vi. Reynard and Sprotin

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vii. Ysengrim in the Cloister

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viii. Ysengrim and Corvigar

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ix. Ysengrim and Joseph

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x. The Parting of the Spoil

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xi. Ysengrim's Oath

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xii. The Death of Ysengrim

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Notes

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S ENG RIM US is the story of a wolf named Y sengrim-literally "ironmask," in reference to his ugly face. He is old, grey, fat, stupid, ignorant, ill-mannered, vain, selfish, hot-tempered, impulsive, verbose, arrogant, cowardly, malicious, lying, hypocritical, incorrigible, impenitent, and a glutton of boundless rapacity. His clumsy scheming, and the temptations laid before him by the fox, lead him into a series of encounters-with people and with his natural enemies among the other animals-in which he is repeatedly bested by those whom he seeks to take advantage of. He is beaten, bitten, mocked, and mutilated. In the course of his inevitable progress towards destruction, he loses his tail, his skin, and his foot, before finally being devoured by a raging herd of swine. The manner of his death is an ironic conclusion to a tale that opens with his triumphant consumption of a stolen ham. It isnotaprettystory;certainlynota "charming" one, as it has been incongruously termed. But Tsengrimus is a brilliantly written and constructed work-a literary masterpiece. Ysengrim's adversary is Reynard the fox; although he is small and weak, he wins out over the wolf by means of craft. But Reynard and the other animals and humans who take action against Ysengrim are far from being heroes. They are selfinterested and cruel. But the wolf is an alien because all know that they are never safe from his lawless depredations. On the literal level of interpretation, Tsmgrimus is a story

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about animals. But the allegorical meaning of the story is everywhere apparent: the wolf Y sengrim is represented as a monk, dressed in a woollen cowl-"sheep's clothing"; by extension he represents the entire ecclesiastical establishment, especially the chief administrators, the abbots and the bishops. Rufan, the lion, is of course king of the beasts. He and the princes of his court represent the sphere of secular power. The third estate is represented by a mob of peasants, whose most conspicuous member is a silly, ferocious old woman named Aldrada. Reynard is the prince of foxes, but throughout the poem he also stands apart from the others. His mastery of deceit makes him both admired and mistrusted. But since he is small and knows his place and poses little physical threat, except to the cock and the goose, he does not suffer at the hands of the others. His weak point, as the cock Sprotin knows, is his pride and his scorn of the rude and baseborn. He is an outsider who has mastered the system-a talented observer who takes sides as necessary but is ultimately for himself.-a figure such as the author of the poem must have been. As an allegory of the human world, Tsengrimus is a work of broad social and political scope. The author's foremost concern is inevitably with the place of the Church in the secular world. In the Bible and in European folklore, the wolf is regarded as a type of rapacity, on aunt of his habit of killing valuable livestock, especially sheep. And in Christian iconography, God's people are his flock. Christ is a lamb, and also the Good Shepherd. The priest is a pastor-one who feeds the flock; and the bishop, or episcopus, is an overseer. The characters of wolf and priest are therefore exactly opposite. One feeds the sheep, the other feeds on the sheep. Therefore, when the poet makes the central figure of his poem a wolf who is a monk-priest-abbotbishop, he is representing a complete perversion, or rather inversion, of the role of the Church in relation to its people. The Church. that Y sengrim represents is an organization that the apostle Cephas, the fisherman, or the Benjaminite teacher, Paul,

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would have known nothing about. Pastors like Ysengrim not only shear the flock, but flay them and devour them-and so Ysengrim himself is flayed and devoured. The Church, as depicted in the poem, lays greedy hands upon its people's money and provisions, and wastes them in the private luxury of expensive food and drink, and in public disasters, such as the Second Crusade. And the rapacity of the ecclesiastics is accompanied by hypocrisies and false pleadings with which they justify their actions. Ysengrim is not only a wolf; necessarily, he is a hypocrite and a liar as well. The monasteries were not separate from the rest of the ecclesiastical establishment. On the contrary, they were a recruiting ground for bishops and popes. Nearly all of the ecclesiastical figures who are mentioned by name in the poem were monks too: St. Botulf, St. Vedastus, St. Aegidius, St. Martin, St. Bavo. Ysengrim is particularly identified with the poet's contemporaries, Anselm, bishop of Doomik ( d. 1149), and Pope Eugenius Ill, who reigned from 1146 to 1168. Anselm is accused of simony, as well as of stealing like the devil and holding on like hell; the pope is called an ''idle monk,'' and his teacher, St. Bernard, a "gaping preacher," for their sponsorship of the disastrous Second Crusade. Y sengrim meets his death from swine who appear as nuns, led by Abbess Salaura, who is nearly as cruel and gluttonous as Ysengrim himself. Nivardus's indictment of the Church's greed is unrelenting. There is no· good priest to balance the picture, as there is in Chaucer's Canterbury 'Tales: "Cristes lore and his apostles twelve/ He taughte, but first he folwed it himselve." (The lines on Walter and Baldwin, the good abbots-V. 455-640appear to be an interpolation; for details, see the notes on the passage.) And yet the author of Tsmgrimus was far from being alone in his outcry over the corruption of the Church-it is a constant theme in medieval literature. Widespread sympathy with the complaint is evident in the events of the revolution that is politely called the Reformation. In the last episode of

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the poem, Y sengrim is compared to an old church building in need of consecration. The secular estate, represented by Rufan, the lion, and his court, is shown in Ysmgrimus to be more powerful than the Church, because of its strength and numbers; although Ysengrim's death blow is given not by secular forces, but from within the Church-an appropriate oonclusion and a true prophecy. Because Y sengrim does not recognize or realize the superior strength of the king, he acts like an ill-mannered rustic who knows nothing of the requirements of urbanitas, and he suffers grievous consequences. When he enters the lion's oourt, his behavior is shockingly rude. In his speech on the applicability ofthe law to the ruler, he takes the opposite view of Socrates in the Crito. Y sengrim's speech is a profound tactical mistake-it contains much truth, but of the sort that is better left unspoken. Later, his division of the spoil is utterly thoughtless and rash. Reynard, by oontrast, is well aware of the rule about the lion's share, and understands the reasons why the rule must be observed. Y sengrim also misjudges the power of the princes of the realm, like Joseph the ram, or the animals on the pilgrimage. He is no match for their strength and numbers. His encounter with the horse, Corvigar, is one situation that Ysengrim gets into on his own, without Reynard leading him into it. Corvigar is not an aggressive beast-on the contrary, his docile nature is emphasized by the prelude to their encounter, when he is frightened by a trick of the stork's. And the delightful scene of him cavorting in the field stands out in the poem as a rare moment of simple joy. But the horse knows that he is a match for the wolf. In the outoome, he kicks Ysengrim so violently that his shoe is impressed upon the monk's crown. With heavy irony ( so to speak), he tells the wolf that the shoe in his head is the seal on a letter to the pope, which he should deliver to Rome: " ... a pope's seals are leaden, and a bishop's are waxen. But ours are of iron. As wax is to lead in hardness, as lead is to iron, so a bishop is beneath a pope, and a pope is be-

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neath me:, The message of the letter is clear. The iron seal of Corvigar represents the strength and weapons of the secular establishment-tame, but fierce when roused. The authority of the pope cannot compete as an agency of worldly power, as historical events have shown. The third estate is treated less prominently, but no less vividly; it is represented in person-by the unruly crowd that comes after Ysengrim when he is stuck in the ice. They take cruel delight in an occasion for venting their hatred of wolves in general, but there is nothing admirable or heroic about them. They are not noble peasants but a base rabble, ignorant and violent; when stirred up they are a menace. Reynard,s speeches are full of reflections on the social order. Vain as he is, he nevertheless smiles at claims of long descent, because he knows that the real basis of worldly distinction is not hereditary nobility, but the money that titles represent: "Money takes priority over justice. Money takes priority over honor.,, Every conceivable human activity is food for profit, and all proceed according to two basic principles: Yenit homo argento; uenit et ipse Deus "Every man has his price; and God himself does too,, ( V. 98). The poor as well as the rich follow this rule. But the rich have a larger field to graze in; they possess not only their own riches, but also those of the poor, which are available to them for the taking. The poem also contains references to specific professions: the physician, the lawyer, the professor, the schoolmaster. Many of the similes in the poem are drawn from the unepic techniques of tradesmen and laborers: fuller, smith, miller, thresher, wool carder. And there are glimpses of other sorts and conditions of persons: the woodsman, the hunter, the merchant, the milkmaid, the old woman who squats on the side and sells quinces, the felon dragged to the gallows. The geographical world of Ysengrimus is as wide as the range of people and animals that inhabit it. The author's political geography extends from the Iberian peninsula to remote

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lands beyond the Dniester and the Don; and from England to Sicily and Arabia-in other words, it comprises the entire world as it was then known. The mention of the Second Crusade, at the end of the book, focuses attention on the polity of Christian Europe, and its opposition to the nations of Islam. But the roots of Tsmgrimus in the real world are even more obvious in references to specific places like Cologne, Rheims, Arras, and Doornik, or the monasteries of Blandigny, Sithiu, and Cluny. And the world of people, cities, and nations, is realistically placed in a natural setting, where the cold of February freezes the Danube, and the heat of August breeds sickness; where fishermen suffer from wind and waves, and floods threaten coastal farms; where woods lie next to fields, and lonely roads are full of danger on dark nights; where the moon and stars are guides and portents; and where time is told from the height of the sun. Tsmgrimus is filled with reminders ofevery sort that its real concern is with the essential conditions of human survival. It is a work ofacute, wide-ranging observation, and careful realism, which even extends to details of animal appearance and behavior. If there is a limitation to the poem, it is that it contains nothing of idealism or of kindness, or gentle humor, or love. Nivardus's portraiture is damning. And yet, an author who had such profound enmity for the perverters of the Chw-clt, must also have had profound loyalty to the doctrine of the gospels; one who had such scorn of injustice must have longed for its opposite.

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Tsmgrimus belongs, in the first instance, to the literary genre known as the beast epic, which is in tum derived from the beast fable. The distinguishing characteristic of the beast fable is that the characters are animals endowed with human speech, intelligence, and feelings, who also retain their animal natures. The fox appears as a physician or a monk, but he steals

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chickens-in fact, the author's portrayal of animals is exceptional in its naturalistic exactitude. Thus, beast fables are differentfrom stories concerning animals that are strictly animals, like Jack London's White Fang; and they are different from stories where the characters have merely the appearance of animals, but behave entirely like humans. A beast fable is a relatively brief narrative; a beast epic is a collection of beast fables tied together into a more or less coherent shape. In some beast fables, the animals belong to a society exclusively composed of animals, but organized like human society, with its king, nobles, and commons. Occasionally humans and animals appear together as more or less equal members of a fictional society, as in the cloister episodes in Tsengrimus. But more often, in cases where humans appear in beast fables, they are proprietors, farmers, or hunters, and regard the animals with solicitude or hostility in accordance with their customary utility or noxiousness. Even the simplest beast fable is a sort of parody, for a parallel is implied between animal behavior and human behavior; and the stories are often accompanied by concise statements of the moral lesson to be derived from the story. But the closer one looks at beast fable stories, the more the morals appear open to interpretation; and the ambiguities lead to the sort of skeptical inquiry that is implied in the artful fables of La Fontaine, and expressed in those of Nivardus. Furthermore, the ambiguity of the moral issues in beast fables provides an occasion for debate, which in tum·leads to dramatic presentations of the stories, and that is where Nivardus excels. In their simplest form, the stories that he makes use of in Tsengrimus turn upon a trick. The smaller, weaker creature, the fox, wins out over the larger and stronger, the wolf, because he understands his enemy and leads him into traps through his skill in the "useful art of public speaking." The strong, who are used to taking as they please, have had no occasion to acquire expertise in such things, and so they become victims when they cannot

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or will not use their strength. The clever tricks are the core of the plots. In some versions of the tales, the bare events are presented and little more-rather like the brief plots in that vast quarry, the Gesta Romanorum. But the stories offer opportunities for developing the dialogue, and so, in Nivardus's poem, the main interest lies in the speeches of the characters, rather than in the merry jokes and japes. Insofar as his poem is dramatic, it is the drama not of action, but of the school and the hall of justice: clerkly, not courtly drama. In fact, it might be said that the beast epic is at the opposite pole from courtly literature. The courtly epic is peopled with men and women who strive to fulfill high ideals of Christian, knightly conduct; their opponents are base villains who are faithless and cruel. In the beast epic, the contenders are animals. They are as much involved in life or death matters as are the knights on a field of battle. But in the beast epic, the prize goes not to the best man, or rather beast, but to the one who wins. There are no heroes; only antagonists. Mankind prides itself on being innately superior to the animal world; but the fundamental point of the beast epic is that if animals were endowed with human faculties, their behavior would parallel the behavior of mankind. The implication is that men, in spite of their reason and faith, practice a bestial way of life. Once that subversive premise is established, the way is open for an author to satirize, as Nivardus does, religion, law, the political order, learning, science, and all that is conventionally held sacred in human society. The rule that governs the contests in Tsengrimus is not the merciful dispensation of the New Testament; the weak win out over the strong only if they are sufficiently clever and unscrupulous. In extent, the beast fable is one of the most widespread of all literary genres-widespread in time, place, and in popularity among readers of every sort. Examples are known throughout the world, from the tales of Aesop and of ancient authors of India, to the West Indian Anancy stories, the American Uncle

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Remus stories, and antics of present day characters in comics and cartoons. On one hand there are the polished compositions oflearned authors like Nivardus, or Marie de France, or Chaucer, or La Fontaine, or Goethe; and on the other, the transient entertainments of anonymous writers composing strictly for a popular audience. To unravel the interrelations of the different versions of animal stories would be a task of no less magnitude and complexity than that which Sir James Frazer addressed himself to in 'The Golden Bough, or which the fictional Casaubon attempted in his Key to All Myfbologies. However, one may justly ask, without venturing into the broad and deep waters of comparative folklore, what the immediate links are between Nivardus's Tsengrimus and the tradition of the beast fable. Nivardus himself implies that he drew upon written sources for his tales ( I. 1061; V. 818. 17; VII. 4-88). We know that he was acquainted with classical literature. And there is ample evidence that medieval authors, such as he, were generally acquainted with the written tradition of the beast fable. Aesop's fables were known through the Latin versions of Phaedrus ( 1st century), and those of Avianus ( +th century), and the collection titled Romulus ( I oth century). The tale of the sick lion was told in Poenitentiarius ( 8th century), attributed to Paulus Diaconus, and in an eleventh-century poem, Ecbasis cuiusdam captiui. The latter represents the earliest recorded attempt in European literature at the composition of a unified literary work woven out of beast fables-a sOunts balance well now. The pauper makes a remarkable profit at this point. If anyone rich had brought what I have before the king, the whole household would gladly have gone to meet him now. And the king would have greeted him first. He would have been seated second only to the king. He would have tasted food and drink. But because we are poor we are forbidden to serve without being punished. This is surely the customary lot of the pauper." The king is said to have smiled a little at this speech. "Tell what you have brought for my sake. I am grateful," he said. Stalling again, holding back his speech for a little while, the fox oiled his reply with such cleverness as this: "Your Majesty, I was about to undertake a dangerous journey through a certain crossroads, and I was afraid of being ambushed there. The evening star led the way. While I searched the heavens and the pole, which would reveal what fate holds in store, suddenly a threatening star, a sign of a change of rulers, commanded the attention of my eyes by its fiery mane. I grew rigid with fear, and collapsed. It called for your head! I vowed to help you, but first I consulted certain stars; another one shone forth with an indication that you might still be capable of being cured. Hope began to return to my spirits and strength to my limbs. Hope was my concern. Hope was my sole companion. In a moment I ran to Salerno, and the entire body of medical knowledge descended upon my shoulders. I ran with all my might. A tiny delay was as hateful to me, almost, as the

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portent of the oomet. After I had mastered these skills, I was sped like a bolt of lightning. The entire oourt can examine these worn-out buskins.Wearing these I travelled all the way down there and then came back here again." He elaborated upon the six pairs of buskins in three languages, speaking Hungarian, Turkish, and Latin. And three times he oounted all of them: once in each language, not resuming the counting with the same six numbers, but going on as if six more pairs of shoes still remained to be oounted. He changed languages with the last number in each series, intending to finish with the one that the king was most familiar with. He explained the six for the third time in Hungarian. And he added: "I'm swollen with hunger, my lord. Look, I'm bursting! What need is there for words? Our death is in the offing. I shall barely survive while the potion which is ooncocted for you is taken. And the medicine which brings relief for you is of no use to me. I have been brought to this fatal moment in my life so that you will not die. And after I greeted you three times, you don't even give me a how do you do! Furthermore, the most renowned professor under whose instruction I studied gave me these herbs as a gift!" Then he picked out various ones and put them in a dish. When they were thoroughly mixed their pervasive scent spread throughout the whole palace. "Where might Y sengrim have left his jar full of medicinal herbs?" asked the bear and the goat. "Is it possible, Berfrid, that he handed them over to you for safekeeping?" they said. "So, doesn't he know how to mix them up?" The goat answered: "It was done otherwise than you think, my lords. He still retains a knowledge of the art of medicine, but he doesn't have any herbs. He had been in the habit of crossing the Alps to buy herbs, just as his wise old grandfather did. But in our territory he lost his communications with the Gallic tongue, so his herb pot sits at home, empty." At that moment the king, taken with the pleasant scent of

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the herbs, invited Reynard to sit down closer to him; and then he began, without delay, to get his herbs ready to drink, for the trembling caused by the fever was starting to come on. The physician now turned his eye upon his uncle's face, and then, looking back again at the king, he spoke as follows: "What good is it to have ground up the herbs if you haven't first made the acquisition of that one thing which we still need? Taken this late, the potion alone will not drive off your complaint. You see, that other thing that we require is a source of anxiety to us. The potion has to be drunk up as soon as it is made, so that it doesn't burn itself out with the delay that weakens its potency. Call right away for the thing whose absence is harmful. A brief moment is enough for the preparation of a little mess of herbs. I've said you should hurry to get it, but why should it be advisable to hurry? You can grab it, you can pull at it, but it won't want to come!" "How dare you!" said the king. "What is there in my kingdom-what could you find anywhere-that I couldn't get right away?" The physician replied: "The thing is not to be handled the way you think. You are very powerful, but you don't own everything yourself. The first thing one finds is often the last thing one looks for. And it is a rare thing that ever comes of its own aocord to the one who's looking for it. Indeed, everybody keeps his fist tight on what he's got, and while he's hanging on to his possessions his great expectations founder upon manifold disasters. What I'm looking for, you'll find, and perhaps examine it carefully. But what good does that do? A twisted claw holds it tight. Even if everything else is ready, the miser keeps what he has. He steals what doesn't belong to him; will he give up what he's got? Argue, demand, command, give, promise, beat, threaten-he always pursues a devious path. Neither love nor loyalty nor contracts have any influence over him. When he is prevailed upon with force, he will hand over whatever there is to be handed over. So long as the miser

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values his own property at more than he is offered for it, you will under no circumstances make him honest!'' The furious king said: "Tell us immediately what's missing! Whoever withholds it shall be put to trial, by mel Say it out loud and clearI" "I'm going to do as you say right away, my lord," he replied. "I wish that he could be persuaded by our request-the one who has the thing we need! The pelt of a wolf that has added half a year to three years of age is what you need if you want the potion to help you without delay. Nature has blessed the wolf's hide at that age with such a wonderful gift of medicinal power, that if, after drinking the herbs, you wrap yourself in it and perspire freely, soon the same restful sleep which you used to enjoy should return to your well-warmed limbs. Just as greedy Mulciber licks out the pitch from firewood, so once your fever has burnt itself dry it will be gone. Do what remains to be done. I have mentioned certain restoratives. Well, here are the herbs, and the apothecary is right here. Quick, this instant, right away-the mortar and pestle for getting things ready! The king is starting to tremble with this critical illness. And meanwhile it is essential that the remaining things be obtained. In order to save time-see, nothing slows me down-whoever will give us the remaining items should hurry up. Look, I'm starting to press my herbs right now! Quick, who'll get the mortar? Run, bring it here!" And then each one was ready to outstrip the other in the race. When he heard this, Ysengrim thought it would be a good idea to slip into a dense crowd and to try to get outside. "Although," he said, "these words don't scare me at all, lots of things can hurt the unlucky. Just as someone who is secure and well-off is accustomed to disregard things that he ought to be afraid of, so a poor creature ought to be afraid even when his property is safe." Reynard realized what he was up to, and coughed, and bristled like this: "Where do you think you're going? Is the

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whole crowd of you going? Eight of you are strong enough to carry the mortar without difficulty! ..-Excluding the old beast, that many were about to go.-"But the ninth may take his seat. Where is he getting ready to go off to? He can stay here, and I'll forgive him his bad manners for sitting down while we are all standing:• The old wolf made no mistake about this particular speech being intended for him. He had no idea what to do, and he stuck to the spot that he had reached, as much afraid to leave as sorry to stay. Meanwhile the uneasy king turned over many considerations in his mind, and after hesitating for a bit about what he ought to do, he called a few names: "What shall I do, Bruno? What do you say, Grimmo? What say you all? In this situation we need someone who•s intelligent, and has our own interest at heart! .. To this the bear replied: "We shouldn•t waste time in longwinded discussions. W e•re not sure where you ought to look for what you want. Y sengrim is here and he is well-acquainted with every means of obtaining it. And his own family has been well-known for ten generations down to the present. Speak to him. If he should refuse, don•t look any further for what you want. If he can•t advise you, nobody else can. Do you agree with me, Reynard? .. He answered him: I deny some of the things which, my lord bear, you say. And certain unassailable facts you call to mind with appropriate attestations. If he is well-disposed towards the king, he will give good advice. But I know that he remembers few of his ancestors, unless perhaps his lineage has been recorded in some sacred books.•• When the wolf heard this, he would have liked to be anyplace but where he was. And he cursed the doors, which were out of reach. But he made his retreat and struggled to conceal it with an unlikely stratagem, so that no one would think that he was running off. He faced his companions and while they 0

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were looking away, he quickly moved backwards. When he was noticed, he came back again, but always one step less than the distance he had gone, and kept this up until he had slipped away almost as far as the doorstep. The fox had seen what was going on. He kept his right eye on the herbs, and his left on the old wolrs attempted getaway. "Uncle," he cried out, "I've never seen anything so amazing -that is, if you're actually doing what you appear to be doing -but I can hardly believe my eyes-I must be dreaming. Either you're hurrying out by coming in-because the more you hurry back in here, the more you head for the door-you're slipping out, or else the door's moving in! Come here instead so that you can earn the gratitude of those of us who are looking after the arrangements for the sick king. Enlighten the uncertain and help the anxious!" Then the wolf, coming back along the same path, since the king ordered him to, with his hopes shattered, gave up his unsuccessful journey. "Why should I join your deliberations," he said. "I tell you, as you know me, so you know the whole race of wolves. You go look for a skin, and you put it over the king. It can be two years old or three. I don't care how many. I don't want any gratitude. I don't want to bother looking for it. The reward is waiting for you. That job is yours to do!" He spoke angrily. He little knew that in the presence of rulers a pleasant tone of voice is advantageous to the accused. The master physician, swearing, touched his head with his claw, and said: "Here, look at this red head, my lords! By this red head! We ourselves have been looking for a wolf fit to serve the king, and we've found him! I don't want to say who. The present court has a good one. He knows, if he can hear us, whether he's the one. He'll give his hide with great difficulty, or rather, scarcely without difficulty. Let those from whom it has come receive appropriate thanks for this acquisition!" Ysengrim said: "This boor is out of his mind. Where is there a wolf here except me! Except me there isn't any. I wish this wolf could be of use!"

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When his enemy said that, Joseph couldn't conceal his delight: "Ysengrim, take up a schoolmaster's rod. You have a right to it. Par Saint Gilles, take it. That was quite a speech!" Bruno cheerfully added: ''The school which taught you to compose verses, Joseph, also teaches how to pay compliments to wolves! So, since there's a certain wolf here, and none other but he who could be useful in the king's service-now that these questions are settled-tell us, Reynard, what the next step should be. The assembly will not be of two minds on this point." At this moment the fox called the wolf aside and rounded in his ear: "Uncle, what things this day will bring us! Didn't our fathers set a good example for us with their success in business and moneymaking! We are barely the shadow of our fathers. But which of them was worthy to confer a skin upon the lion? Which of them dared aspire to such a thing? See how God has designated this honor for you by means of our clever stratagems. I shall let it be known once and for all how devoted I am to my uncle. From this point on, however often the genealogy is recited, the noble lineage originates with you. Such glory is in store for you today-you overshadow all the honor of your ancestors with this one success! You shall be distinguished as the magnificent progenitor of our race, and the entire posterity will call you their forefather, and the most distant generation to spring up from you will pride itself at having grown to such repute through your glorious renown!" He was so stimulated by this encouragement that he leapt backwards. "Whether I go or stay, won't I be done for?" "Any hardship becomes easier to bear if it seems to be borne of one's own free will."-The master physician resumed his place.-"All this delay," he said, "is fatal. Uncle, you know Bruno said a moment ago that it's enough to have put up with all this talk for this long. It's clear to me that you won't help the king of your own accord. The stem of the pear always looks back to where it came from. Villains would rather lose something than sell it at a fair price. Those who give grudgingly

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lose the gift and their thanks as well. So long as the miser hangs on to his goods with his claws dug in too far, he often suffers terrible losses for the sake of a trivial profit. I'm bearing witness to the fact that our sovereign is eating petals and leaves. You should have faith in this sacrament; it will be effective. I shall not let the king go without the wolf skin any longer, since what he needs is here before us. I held offsaying it right out because I was hoping that you would give it of your own free will, so that you would be thanked appropriately for your service. Now I assert my claim to it, since you are of an age that corresponds to what our prescription requires for the skin. He who conceals the truth, whether out of goodwill or fear, and tells lies, whether by request or for a price, should suffer every indignity. When the treatment was explained to you so many times, didn't you realize what was so obvious to me? You knew very well, without any help from me, where the cure would have to come from. But your heart was far from being generously inclined." The old wolf seemed to reply as if he would rather not have heard this speech, for he answered this way: "The king had better believe it: you'll cure him if there's as much healing power in the herbs as there is in my skin. Even if I say nothing, my age is apparent from the testimony of my grey old head. I've gone through four times eight lustra. Your handling of this affair, Reynard, has mixed things up completely. Moderation is the best course for those who have made excessive gains. You're spinning out your plot as you please. And why shouldn't you? You're pleading on behalf of the leaders. One must wait till evening before being grateful for a pleasant day. A scorpion has an attractive face but its tail stings. Perhaps there is yet time for us to meet on the field of battle!'' The bear said: "You can say what you want, Y sengrim my friend, there are many who get prematurely grey. Grey hair is something that just happens. And it's not always an indication of age. The newfallen snow is white, and so is a swan that's barely three years old."

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The master physician took the other side, because he wanted to calm down his harsh-spoken uncle with a gentle reply: "Uncle, you're frightening your own relative, who is scared of you even when you're not making threats. And although you are full of hate, he wants to be friends with you. Lay aside your threats, I beg you. I want good things to happen to you. But the court is holding you aocused of a serious affront, for it will be said that as a citizen you still owe taxes to the king, and you're always holding back, and now you're lying low. The tax collector figures up the amount at more than we can both pay and then demands what's due. It's permissible-the king has approved it, if I pledge it on your behalf.-for you to pay the sum together with the penalty, at the expense of your hide. I was ready to pay half if you needed someone to help out. But your hide alone is quite enough. But if you lay claim to the skin for yourself on the ground that it is worthless because it's grey, you can be convicted on the basis of your own incriminating testimony. For it is a year today, not one night more nor less, since the eight of us were all under one roof. You came in as the ninth and right away we all applauded when we saw you, thinking that with you presiding over us all would go well. We insisted that insomuch as you were laden with years and endowed with great intelligence you should be appointed an advisor to our group. But you said that you were under three years old by half a year, and excused yourself from that duty by reason of your age and inexperience. Where do so many lustra come from all of a sudden, when you weren't more than two and a half then? If anyone says I'm not telling the truth about this-witnesses, back me up! Get up quickly, Joseph! Confirm what I say! And you too, ass, and you, goat! The three of you are concerned in this. I won't call in outside witnesses. I call upon you, whom he likes, and who are friends of his. You tell the truth, since you know it." The witnesses pretended to take no notice; although they had been asked to step up, they hesitated. They answered that they didn't remember enough of the details. The second time

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they were asked to step up, they still remained seated as if wondering: "-whether we can give testimony against a friend or a lord or a priest?" When they were called for the third time they were still lingering. Reynard said: "You have wronged the king himself if you don't hurry up." They got up as if intimidated by this. They were commanded to make haste; they came forward slowly. The entire court was hushed. The bear said: "Is it possible that I might suppose that these witnesses, who have been asked to stand up three times now and barely comply, would give false testimony?" The order for speaking was arranged. The fox said: "Keep back a bit, you two leaders. You, woolly one, come forward! You are older than the other two, and you have a better knowledge of public speaking. You may speak first." He spoke into the wolf's ear in a stage whisper, so that what he was saying could be heard everywhere: "Look, godfather, you see, we're forced to give testimony against you. This affair will come off to your advantage if you handle it right from here on. We're asking you, so that your gift will be received with due thanks, to give it freely-not as a debtor paying what he owes-sparing the need for cross-examination of witnesses. The king requires of you nothing except a mere wolf hide. If you hold back such trifles, when would you make a generous contribution? Only a white crow can tell what's in someone's mind when he doesn't say anything. Here you are keeping quiet; and you can go on keeping quiet, but for my part, I'll say what I know: once upon a time there was someone named Ysengrim of the same age as Reynard says. I'm not testifying against this one here. He doesn't have a tail, like an Englishman. The other one did. But if he's not the one who's here, then it was nobody at all. I'll add a little something more which the fox doesn't know, but the whole court together with the mighty king are aware of it. If someone named Y sengrim should suffer a loss on account of the missing skin, nothing would be lost by breaking the peace: this monk is ready to

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provide indulgence for every offense. Thus beyond a doubt I'm covering up the misdoing of my companion." The ram had done, and the fox added the following: "You've covered it up well. Thank you very much! It is a sign of your mutual bond of friendship that you're standing so close. If you do that, luck will always be with you. If the two of you were standing by yourselves in some field, anywhere, the fond fellow feeling of your ancestors would be apparent in their offspring! Hey, goat-right now-get over here! Let's hear you tell us about what you love." He was full of excuses as he testified, and spoke as follows: "I'm appearing as a witness under duress. I'll say what I'm supposed to say. Out of fear of Reynard I'm compelled not to keep silent.We're all aware of what Joseph said. I won't say any more along those lines. But I do know that what I'm going to say is extremely important to have understood. I shall freely admit what would be detrimental to conceal. Today's moon is a favorable one. Tomorrow's will certainly be baleful. Because of this, the skin of any wolf which is now at its best will lose its potency if it ages until tomorrow.'' Carcophas, the ass, is summoned as the third witness. The ground shook with the sound of his rustic voice: "Ysengrim, you aged youth, you should be happy! With a little objection I'm going to overthrow the testimony that these witnesses have presented. Are you aware who am I? I am born at the city of ~tampes, and between Easter and Rheims I'm known as Master Carcophas. I am amused of learning. I'm called Carcophas because from the clever way I bray out 'Peter.' I'm very learned. You've come in there just as ignorant as you are perhaps a youth. So you should become one of my pupils. You're going to know your grammar. Come on-tell me now -when n c is written with a line over the letters, what syllable does it make? Aren't you going to answer?"-He was keeping quiet.-"You thief! Skin him! Good-for-nothing! Thrash him! Who's got the birch? I'll flay the dog! Put the

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little letters together, the syllable nunc appears. That is because now you are here to be stripped of your skin. I point out - I don't testify-look at the fresh hairs! He is young, I repeat. Therefore he should give up his skin. This boor Joseph composes verses and puts together be band you can't pronounc.e nunc? You don't know the least bit of grammar, and you try to pass yourself off as a doctor of medicine and you say that you entered the cloister too! How well the prime was sung by you today! Do you usually find that it's done the same way in the cloister as it is elsewhere? Any monk who doesn't know how to chant-I recommend that he strip off his skin. With his skin stripped off, he will become expert. How far from here-if luck had been on your side-you might wish you were! But first I want to know how well you chant. The series of the hours is the reason for observing brevity. When you give up your habit, the whole series must be sung all together. Strip off your sackcloth, robber! Our king will be the first to use it. Then it will be used to make my schoolmaster's rods into cat-o'-nine-tails. He is scornful of obeying me. Berfrid, you tell him! Maybe he performs more quickly when you give him the word. By Saint Bavo, we're not getting anywhere by being nic.e. A monk has his own way of doing things: he takes by force and hangs on with his claws dug in!,. The witnesses had finished. Sinc.e the monk was refusing the requests, the scheming physician advanced these arguments in the Greek language: "Now that the witnesses have been heard, the defendant-that's you Y sengrim-is compelled to undergo his punishment, or else suffer execution. However, just so that you don't go away sad or put into a rage, the king intends to do exactly as you yourself permit, rather leading you on out ofloyalty than forcing you by violence. The king insists upon his rights in a very moderate fashion. If it displeases you to give up your pelt, remember that you are lending it. When the king has sweated, he will give it right back to you. You can say anything you want in reply. You

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won't find the same point of advantage again in thrice eight nights! "What! You poor beast! Are you still keeping quiet? Don't you have any sense of shame? Whatever you're going to do, do it. The potion is almost compounded. It's the height of summer now. You have no need of a pelt in this heat. In fact, for this reason we're wondering why you're dragging it around. It's so heavy, and seen from up close it bristles most unattractively. Why, you mad creature, does that wolfish covering please you so? If I saw eight like it in the middle of winter, I wouldn't deign to shame my shoulders with a single one! But you are almost in doubt about whether you want to keep the skin or hand it over. And what would you do if we were in the depths of a harsh winter? Would you follow the example of the saint of Tours if you were asked to give up half your pelt? Certainly you would not be any more ready to pay a tithe of your hide than a myrtle would be to yield peaches, or a willow to yield strawberries! The king himself is asking you to do your part. Furthermore, the whole court is burning with desire to thank you, and you'll barely consent. And if I were threatening you later, would you finally give me the skin which you refused to furnish when the king asked you a moment ago? "You're not being asked to give it-what are you waiting for, you demented beast?-but to lend it. And the pelt will be returned to its master without delay. And you would not be lending it to a peasant or an ordinary commoner. The king himself is asking for your pelt! Wouldn't you have run off naked to the shelter of your home three times today? What the devil prevents you from taking off your skin here just once? Can't you survive for a little while without your skin? I've never seen someone who's honest so afraid over nothing at all. If you had known what you were about, you surely would have asked the king on your own whether it were permissible to give this thing that you're refusing to lend. Woe is me!because nature unfairly denied me a pelt suitable to the service

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of my master. Whether Aegoceros was pouring down snow or Cancer pouring down fire, I should not have concerned myself for a moment about providing it. I would have been delighted, not to lend it, but rather to offer it as a present. But no little effort for your own glory incites you to action. u At this point, hoping that some last resort was available to him, Y sengrim, who was not well-versed in the useful art of public speaking, replied: "You treacherous little fox! You're pulling the wool over the eyes of the unsuspecting king. I have thought of a more effective antidote. The skin of a Frenchborn wolf, and of an old one, is better by far than the hide of a young and Teutonic wolf. You know that I'm Teutonic. And you've proven that I'm young. But my pelt does not have medicinal power as well. Let the king leave matters as they are. I'll carry on and come back right away. I'm going to go look for an old French-born wolf for the king.'' In spite of what the clever master physician might have objected to this, without hesitating he again started to speak to the monk in an easy tone: "Uncle, what if his should be smaller than your pelt, since all the king's limbs must be covered up? We know of no hide anywhere, an old one or a young one, that could cover the king entirely except yours." The abbot replied to this: "There seems to be no need to worry on that account, if you're as concerned about the king as you claim to be. If the pelt I were to select were too small for the purpose, just add your own. It can be made into a cap then. The two will be satisfactory. If you want to win over kings you should not put confidence in your clever wits for long. You should press your suit from the heart. Honesty achieves results by honest means. The gratitude of princes is short-lived, unless it is continually bought anew. So as not to lose your reward, you should keep on performing deserving services. The greatest rewards appear insignificant to those who are eager to obtain still greater ones. The man of goodwill applies every advantage for the better. A friend of the king should not fear

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the loss of anything except the king himself. It's enough for me to remain among the wolves of the forest." "Uncle," answered Reynard, "you make good points. But that potion needs a skin of uniform color. So don't suppose that linguistic distinctions make any difference. No mention of a Gallic wolf will be to any advantage in this case. We might just as well recommend a Sarmatian one as an Iberian one. Where he comes from hardly matters at all. Ifhe's a wolf, he'll do. You are certainly insistent upon this notion that an old one would be better for the patient. As for me, I say a young one will do; and I say an old one will do: whichever seems good to the members of the present council. The merits of an older one are proclaimed by two of them; one of tender years is suggested by four. I won't know which is better for the cure, a young one or an older one, until, with the pelt itself making the decision, I can demonstrate which is more effective. Therefore we might want to have an old one and a young one here together, and each one might lend his skin to the king. Fortune has offered us a young one and refused an old one. We'll do without the one that's not here, and we'll take what's before us. We don't know much about hunting, so we keep a tight fist on what we've got. A bird in a snare is worth eight in the air. So you're not going anywhere. If you left, you wouldn't let yourself be headed back in eleven times nine days. If you absolutely deny that a young one would help the patient, then be an old one instead of taking flight. I would rather you were transformed into a diminutive old wolf than have you go anywhere at all. Before this, I-and you as well-knew that you were really old. So whether you want to be young, or whether you want to be old, either way, you're like a bowl: however old you are, it's apparent that you're useful. Now get moving! Hand over your cloak, so that you won't look like a bumpkin. Make believe you're old so that you can be useful according to your own testimony as well. If neither dread of the king nor the king's gratitude can make you come round, at least be

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moved to give it for the sake of my fondness for you! Now I think, unless you're a fool, you'll gladly do whatever I tell you to do, especially since you know how fond of you I am always, and how I constantly-even now-recommend the best course for you." He was deafer than a pear tree that has been ordered to produce acorns. He let these sweet-tempered words be carried off on the breeze. Then for the first time the physician became furious, and castigating the inflexibility of his stubborn uncle, he regretted his kindness: "Bah! You're holding back even now?-and when will you be capable of being agreeable? Now I know for sure that you're being asked for all too little. So you refuse to clothe the king with your pelt? Which of the princes would not have been pleased with such an honor? There's no point in serving up a peacock au poivre to a peasant. Glory comes to you of its own accord, and you tum away. Uncle, if my own pelt were the subject of a request, as yours is now for the king, would I perform my service in this way? I have great confidence in you-from whom a lion can't procure a wolf hide! I've heard it said-and true it is-that pitch is no good for a wet dish. You love your pelt as a fool loves his bauble. Who can trust anybody? We were born of the same stock, but you don't think that I've advised you properly. I'm not acting in the manner of someone who wins the favor of his masters by denouncing a pauper; instead I'm loyally expressing my concern for your reputation. For it may be that the king will be able to survive without your pelt. You, unless you offer it, will be known as a greedy bastard. From here on I '11 let things take their inevitable course. You can do this, you can do that -you know well enough what will be done without my telling you. "My lord, is the style of lupine honesty apparent to you now? Thirteen times I've said 'That one will give you nothing.• But you didn't believe me until he himself declared it to you. Now do you finally believe that I'm telling you the truth? Look at him in whom you take such pride! He has not, I believe, con-

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ceded a thing to you. And he loves his hide more than your kingdom. Indeed, you might die sooner than he would even pull off that worthless thing with which he clothes his back. I'm not exerting myself about someone remote from me, dearest of kings. I am embarrassed by my uncle's rude behavior. Especially since he himself knows that I have attained the rank of grand master among the peltmakers. And he should have no doubt that by means of our skill he can be splendidly rejuvenated and could come back here before five days were up." After the physician had done with the lengthy vacuities of his speech, the king tersely expressed himself in this way: "Although, Reynard, Y sengrim tries to be a gentleman in any way he can, he came into our residence without a servant. It is unseemly that he should remove his coat himself, you see. Let someone take it off for him. He won't refuse me. You, Bruno, will do one of two things: either pull off our abbot's cloak, or hand over your own to me.'' At this point the ram spoke up: "What's your choice, bear? Go off to one side and consider which would be more to your advantage.'' Bruno answered this: "Joseph, my friend, I know very well, by my own judgement, which of these courses is preferable. I would gladly take off my hide to give it to the king, were it ever so useful and valuable to me; but so that it won't perhaps be said that I am jealous of my associate, I decline to steal by foul trickery a privilege which does not belong to me. So let him on whom fate is smiling fulfill his duty, and let him invest the king with his robe of state." The wolf did not think this was said in admiration, and he did not make a pretense of laughing or joking. In any case, Bruno didn't think that there was any need to ask his advice or opinion on which course he might choose. And so he sprang up and rushed forward, quick as lightning. The fox turned round in the path of the charging bear: "Otake pity on my uncle, illustrious Bruno!" he said. "He

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didn't realize that the king needed his pelt, and so he didn't bring any other pelt but this one. He is heir to one, and he is giving it voluntarily. Let him be allowed at least to keep his claws intact. You can take the rest of what he's offering, and with my permission. Someone who is being obliging of his own aocord shouldn't be pushed too far. One shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth too much!" Joseph became angry at him for making these demands, and argued: "Ha, Reynard! Now your deceit is apparent! And so the hollow vastness of Orcus will be satisfied, and many bodies will fill up the infernal lakes. You too must surely have been anguished by great jealousy because your uncle is in greater demand and goes ahead of you. Someone who is clever and strong is continually injured and weakened by the great successes of his betters and equals. And what's more, although it may be to your regret, he is worthy to take precedence over you, and he shall! Reynard thrives by virtue ofhis unprincipled cunning. He advises aocording to his inclinations, not aocording to his judgement; and so he resents, my good abbot, your good fortune, which is positively killing him. Someone who decreases his own meritorious actions forces praise to become less frequent. This base traitor is demanding that your coat be reduced by half. Y sengrim, look out for yourself! I'm regarded as an enemy of yours, but my counsel is given to you not as if from an enemy: one who performs a servic.e should do it to the fullest. Let him give his entire obedience, or, to be sure, he will reserve it for himself. I suggest, out of my great love for you, that if you want undivided thanks, you should beware of dividing your service! Without the claws, what good is the rest of the skin? The warm air escapes through four openings in it, and beneath the four-holed pelt, the sweating king melts away; so for you, and for the king, this prescription is well-advised. My lord Ysengrim, give your claws with their roots. Give hide and flesh. You shouldn't want to keep anything back. I'm warning you now, so that your pelt doesn't lose the least little hair, for if they were lost, it would be utterly useless."

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When Joseph said this, the court applauded his speech. Nor was there anyone who kept silent. Then the bearer of the herbs said with a sigh: "Bruno, most excellent prince, since it is resolved upon by the public assembly, proceed! But I want to make a little request-it may be appropriate-allow me-I shall make myselfdeserving: please don't take more than you find. Indeed, he never took away anything more than what he found, anywhere. It's permissible to take what is available. It's wrong to take more than what is available." Taking pity, he granted the supplicant's prayer, and flew at him again, ready to take the hide off the little old priest. Berfrid stood in his way and spoke up in an arrogant tone of voice: "Bruno, poor Bruno, stop right there for a moment. I swear by Saint Botulf, whom I often invoke, I wouldn't give a flea for an empty pelt. Take away more than the whole! If more than the whole hide isn't pulled off, you'll do even less of a job than a worm would. The master physician is making a ridiculous request, and favors which are illegal and excessive deserve to be refused!" The bear gave a short reply, and he was past the point of being turned back: "What I granted, I granted, and what I agree to, I do. You certainly don't know the language of Latia, my lord abbot. I'm lending a hand so that your hide doesn't get any worse. You put your head down, you hold out your limbs: I'll show you how you can take your coat off the French way." And then from top to bottom, from left to right, the bear read through the ephod and peeled it off the aged youth. He took the measurement from the place where the top of his crown stood between his ears all the way to the tips ofhis heels, and cut. Not otherwise does a sharp scythe rush flying through the hay. Not otherwise does the gleaming steel slice up thick fat. But the stockings on his forefeet were left, as well as the skin that lay across his forehead from ear to ear. In addition, a strip along his nose ran like a twisted sinew from the ridge of his forehead down as far as his lip. Since his claws were too

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strongly held fast from within, the bear left them on both sides, for he was speeding along with great rapidity. Then he briskly called out: "My friends, hece endeth the lesson! Anyone who isn't satisfied with the reading can read it better, if he likes. But the parchment is as ignorant of the Teutonic language as if it had been stripped off the body of a wolf from Poitou. Carcophas, what do you say? Do you think I read nicely? You too, ram, and goat, tell mel"-Both kept quiet. The ass answered: "I'll drop down dead if you didn't read skillfully, as far as you went. And he kept quiet while it was being read. If you read further, he'll be aware of it now. See what a trifling thing it was that you read. He was scarcely aware of it." At this point, the furious boar gnashed his menacing teeth: "Ysengrim, you do nothing properly! I wonder how long Bruno served as an acolyte, and where? He knows how to disrobe a young father in proper style: as well as if a cantor dressed in his alb had taken offhis chasuble for him. The whiterobed boy, soon after getting up from his knees, would devour thrice three apples as his reward for his good service. But you express no thanks for this service, as though it were devoid of honor and benefit. I don't understand you at all. It could be said that you are foolish if good manners did not forbid it. But in the future you might act more circumspectly and more properly. Be grateful for the honor and say something in return for a great service. It is unbecoming always to deny a response to those to whom one is obligated. And don't disdain to avail yourself of such a deacon, in whatever place you might be called upon as a priest." The woolly one objected: ..On the contrary, it seems to me that Bruno doesn't deserve any thanks for his service. It's less objectionable not to have begun something at all, than to have left the job half done. A service elicits thanks by virtue of its thorough performance. Bruno, pull off his mitre! If you don't

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pull it offhim, they'll say he's overdressed. Bruno, pull offhis mitre! I'm less grateful for what's been removed than I am uneasy over the part that's left-and Bruno expects to be thanked! Since, as they say, a dog deserves a piece of cake that's had bites taken out ofit, Bruno deserves this, and should get nothing better. I would have said good things about his ablution if his crown had been shaved; but now one can't believe any longer that he's a monk. To what see is the king thinking of appointing him bishop? A great mitre reaches from ear to ear now. Up to this point he's been an abbot-is he finally going to be made a bishop? Why do wolves receive such great honors, and so many of them? It's true that I wouldn't have deserved any thanks for this performance either-I'm no stronger than the bear. I would have gouged out his eyes and ripped offhis ears, if he hadn't wanted to let the mitre be taken off any other way. I do believe that the wolf would be taken care of by a few others besides just you, goat, and me, if he went around with his eyes put out. If the two of us were allowed to take away his sight, there would be no complaints about his ears being pulled off. No doubt with his robe removed his insides have more freedom of movement, and would lead his sense of hearing far and wide." The ram had done speaking. Berfrid swore that he had been intending all the while to say the same thing about Bruno, and he demanded a three-day fast as a punishment for his offense, repeatedly making the point, so that afterwards he would avoid doing the same thing again. By now the wolf with his hide torn off poured out a river of blood, like the water that rushes down in a heavy shower, and he was redder all over than a drop of the stream that flows from a deep cut in a lamb's throat. The triumphant physician exclaimed: "We were chosen from the entire kingdom, and came here to do and say what was right. And because the goat has learned to give milk, or Carcophas has learned to piss honey, our group is grieved.

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Well, when such a great injury is affronting the king, I'm amazed that you are not ashamed of the fact that you're complaining about something else. Not silk brought out from beyond the Don gleams more; nor has age made ancient ivory so crimson as the twice dyed robe which this creature prides himself upon blushes scarlet. He was once my uncle indeed, but not now. What person of no consequence would dare to claim kinship with the powerful? The rich and the poor tow a cable with unequal strength. So long as he appeared to be a pauper, cloaked in that worthless rag, it was impossible for him to be ashamed of me. But at this moment he is perhaps ashamed, now that he has been prevented from concealing the purple which has been revealed beneath his wolf's hide. For now the merchant has drawn it out of the Tyrian dying vat; the fresh tincture still drips with golden dew. Bestir yourselves, 0 princes, for your own, and for the king's honor. See the lordly splendor of his radiant garment! Ah! how dazzling are the rich in the eyes of the poor! But what benefit can wealth confer when it is a miser that clutches it? I entrust myself to my rich uncle, I am thrown in with a miser. Prosperity is evident where there is a foul stench. An avaricious man of wealth is hardly better than a generous pauper. You brush aside, uncle, the disgrace of my poverty. My needy condition does not trouble you nearly so much as I am certainly ashamed at your greed. What provident spirit intending to visit the king's court would have gone out wearing his worst coat? When you clad yourself in a wolf's pelt, you were dressed in an unadorned style,just like a Caesar. How appropriate was it for the Tyrian purple to be beneath such a hide-the brilliant purple beneath the hairy pelt of a wolf! But I realize why you didn't give the pelt of your own free will. You were afraid that the precious cloth might be in demand. So you came in here meanly, in a wolf's pelt, with intent to conceal your distinguished apparel. We could hardly wrench it from you with lengthy entreaties, you base creature, so that you would finally let your splendid dress show. At least

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if the purple had been worn outside and the pelt underneath, the offense could have been tolerated. If the court is of one opinion with me and has the well-being of its governor at heart, it hands down a decision concerning the affronted king, and it is grieved. An insult to the king must be punished with a corresponding act of courtesy. The king's cause lodges complaint on the grounds of two deviations from courtly conduct: the medicine was delayed while the monk held on to his cowl; the court was offended at sight of his disgusting clothes. It was rashly presumed; nor will the offense remain unpunished; and it shall not be put to rest so long as the accused goes unharmed!" The court shouted their assent to this speech of the physician's• .,Justice requires that the accused either be punished, or do penance for his offensive deeds. This one before us, as much an abbot, and a bishop too, as he is usually an ignorant and ill-mannered wolf, stands four times accused. Let the punishmentor the penance be equally commensurate with the crime!" The leaders cheered, and there was great noise all around. Then, after the barons had done with their applause and were in their seats and quiet, the physician spoke again: "Uncle, don't you hear the princes' decrees? Why are you standing back? Do your penance at once, if you care at all for yourself. Fool, don't you know what you must atone for?"He was actually asking.-"Didn't we say enough before about what had been neglected? The purple worn inside was an offense to the king, and the coat was offered much too late to the one who asked for it." Like one who was violently angry, and didn't want to be there at all, the abbot stayed where he was, without complaining about his rough treatment. The master physician raged furiously: "Uncle, what are you thinking about? Do you think that what I say means nothing unless I take three oaths on it? Uncle-by the lordly pinion of holy Gabriel, which seven yokes of oxen are barely strong

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enough to budge-unless you do your penance at once, I'll take off your tunic as well as your robe. You may disobey my command, if you wish." And now the old beast recalled that fate had hurt him before, and feared it might hurt him again, and started to perform his penance. The goat admonished him: "You wicked monk, do you think that you can speak that way before a great king and his nobles? Take off that nasal which hangs down all the way to your lip so that you don't babble and stammer. The nasal keeps you from closing your lips freely. A thousand snares lie in wait when one appears before a skeptical judge. A slight uneasiness turns a sound defense against you. Take it away, so that you won't get caught in a hidden trap." The woolly one loudly objected: "Berfrid, how can you make such a mistake? Anyone who tries to teach an intractable beast to understand profound truths is a fool! Although it is a small nasal, do you think that he values it as little as I do my wool? He was so niggardly about hanging on to his skin for such a long time, that he wouldn't have let it be bought for three pieces of gold." Performing the rites of atonement, the wolf stretched out both arms, and prostrate before the royal throne, his head pressed down upon the floor, with a supplicating gesture he got ready to pronounce the conciliatory words of a penitent. When the malign archphysician saw that he was ready to confess, he flew into a rage and chided him sharply in harsh terms: "So that's it! Hah! you devil's uncle! So this is how you behave, you demented uncle! Get out of there, you uncle of Satan, get away from there! That was excellently done! Always do it the same way, I beg you. You're doing a pretty penance! How I like your performance! But if your shaggy cloak still covered you, surely you wouldn't resort to such horrible actions? I thought you were about to make your atonement, and you attack the king with warlike hostility! This additional of-

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fense is worse than the other one. The rich purple has altered your courage and strength. Quick, give the king a shield and lance-Ysengrim wants to drive the king from his throne. He charges the king's royal person-what a fighter! Princes! Will this outrage upon the king be allowed to go on? Ah, I can't believe what brazen things this wearer of the purple tries to get away with! He was fit for the gallows, but his crime was rendered capable of being atoned for through the barons' intervention, and mine. And now his helmet and glove offer a warlike challenge! Nobles! Who would stand for this baseness? You lunatic, do you think that these emblems of war will keep our anger in check? Instead, these emblems stir up our anger more fiercely. What Satanic spirit persuaded you to come forward? Before, when I was advising you, wouldn't you have known what ought to be done? If you had had my advice, you would certainly have left these tokens of foolish presumption far outside of here. Then the king might perhaps have been able to show leniency to your requests, which he can hardly do now, even if someone else intervenes on your behalf. "Tell me, Your Majesty, what order are you going to give in the face of this impudence? You have within you the spirit of a great and noble nature. Spare, I pray you, this bungling fool. He is said to be my uncle. And-albeit unwillingly-he has served you. "The king, conducting himself in kingly fashion, says this to you, uncle-the king actually commanded me to speak his words for him: " 'The debtor needs forgiveness; the guiltless give their own best counsel. And there will be no pardon unless there is a party to the crime. The one who bears the blow is stronger than the one who strikes. And God did not do as beautiful a thing in creating the world as he did in suffering for its sins. So put fear aside. Leave, Y sengrim, and go home. Since Reynard asks, I pardon your guilt, the cause of which is as much because in my unwell condition you attacked me with a hostile glove,

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as because the robe was offered late to me. Nor do I deny or delay on the ground that you are not asking for pardon. Thanks are thankless when they are asked for. I spare you, although you are unwilling. I am pleased to spare an ingrate. When you return to your senses, your thanks will be worth mum more. Therefore, whether you linger, or wish to hasten off, I shall warn you: don"t complain that anything grievous was done to you here. If you wish to put up with a delay, after I sweat you can then go back home with your clothes on again. If you leave right away, on whatever day you come back here I shall see that the loan is paid back to you.• •• The physician had brought the royal mandates to a conclusion, and, turning towards his uncle, spoke in his own right as follows: "Uncle, it is apparent that with my intervention I have helped you again, although you deny it; because of me, the king"s anger has abated."" He replied not a word, and he was not so mum pleased that his lent-out hide would be taken care of, as he was grieved at having given it up. He firmly refused to stay there, and approaching the cursed doors he again thought of walking out of there. The stag, the boar, the fox, the ram, the goat, the bear, the ass-each one spoke out and bade the fugitive farewell: "And from this moment on, you are now, dear friend, commended-now you"re commended, dear friend, to God."" He made no reply, and leaving his well-wishers as if he had not enjoyed their hospitality, he went away. When King Rufan, after drinking the herbs, had sweated underneath his warm wrap, his former composure returned. He asked for food, and ate; and from it, by turns, his constitution grew strong and the medicine did its work. Soon his spirits were fully restored, and he asked Reynard to while away the long hours with an amusing story of some kind: how the wolf had left the cloister, or entered it, and how he was once the roe"s guest, and went back again; or something about the adventures that the fox and the wolf were both involved in-the

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things they said and told each other, or why he lied about his age there; and, the king added with a smile, how the cock tricked Reynard himself.-he was eager to hear that too. Reynard was reluctant. With all the speeches he had made, he was tired out from talking so much. He asked Bruno instead to relate the oft repeated stories. But Bruno had composed some new verses, which, when the king was asked whether he wanted to hear them, he commanded to be read. Gutero sped off to get them and quickly returned, and gave them to the bear. The bear gave them to the boar, and he read them out. The entire court kept silence as they all listened to the sweetly ringing song.

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v. The Animals' Pilgrimage E CA US E'ofher enthusiasm for worship, Bertiliana the roe from time to time went with her friends on visits to sacred _shrines. She started out by herself, but in oourse of time fell in with seven oompanions. Notice how their names are suited to their station in life. Rearid the stag, the leader of this estimable troupe, bore sharp weapons upon his branchy crown. Berfrid the goat, and Joseph, the satrap of the rams, similarly protected the convoy with the weaponry of their foreheads. Carcophas the ass, who was adept at bearing burdens, took his name from the nature of his service. Reynard laid down the law, and said what not to do, and what to do, the way a rudder turns the compliant bark to one side or the other. Certainly it was not apparent whether the fox, who was clever and had approached a certain age, had mastered his skills through long practice, or whether he had mastered his years by means of his skills. Gerard the goose was greatly occupied with guard duty, and he chased off nocturnal enemies with his terrific noise. Sprotin, the cock, custodian and indicator of the hours, sang as much in the daytime as in the dark nights. By day he sang out the times for travel and for rest and for meals. By night he warned the wakeful to discharge their vows to God. I shall explain where and how the roe chose these oompanions of hers-the whole group didn't get under way all at once. She had left home by herself to go abroad and visit saints whom she had often prayed to long before this. She especially wanted to see the pillar that stands in the Church of Saint Gereon, and appears differently to the wicked and the good.

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It happened that when she had reached the halfway point of the journey she had started out upon, the roe came to a crossroads that was shaded over by dense foliage. There, the fox ran up through the thorns and brambles to meet the wandering lady. They exchanged greetings. Then he said: "Where are you coming from? Where are you going? Why are you travelling alone? What has happened along the way? Answer point for point-I have a reason for wanting to know.'' The lady replied: "I have no idea why you should be asking these questions, but listen; perhaps you'll learn something from my example. I set out from my home to visit the restingplaces of saints' relics in Rome and elsewhere. No retinue accompanies me to retard my labor of devotion. I go on my way unaccompanied, with no need for a flock of servants." Reynard, who always had his wits about him, interrupted the roe's foolish rambling, and pressed some good advice upon her: "Dear sister, can't you serve God and please the saints without running about all by yourself? If what Job says is true, there's never been such a thing as a prosperous hypocrite. Nothing is more faithless than feigned faith. It is plain that everyone is what he is. Poverty is necessarily the lot of the pauper; it is appropriate that wealth accompanies the rich. The pauper doesn't know how to manage money, and no one respects him. Take away his money, or give him money-either way he's ruined. When honors are conferred upon him, the pauper swells with pride; when thefre withdrawn, he withers away. Take away his goods and he's hopeless. Give them back and he'll run wild. For someone who's poor, the best thing is never to be well-off. The surest course lies along the familiar, well-worn path. Someone who doesn't know what it is to possess goods, doesn't know what it is to lose them. Either condition alters the disposition of a fickle person. But the rich man, whose spirits are supported by the fullness of his wisdom, endures losses with as much equanimity as he holds his possessions. He loves his friends at home and his friends abroad. Take

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away his good reputation, and in disgrace he still deserves to have his wealth. "You too should live respectably. Make use of a handsome escort. Be generous at home, and still more generous away from home. The glory of a splendid retinue is not going to damage your meritorious purpose. Let your faithful heart be esteemed for its innocent purity. Also, maybe among these sedgy beds some stranger might be lurking with whom you wouldn't wish to speak if you were out unacrompanied after dark. The stag, the ram and I, the cock, the goat, the goose, and the ass-we all have made vows to travel along the same route. Let us join you as your companions who will be faithful, come what may. We are well-known for our strength and our good judgement." His offer was well-received, and Reynard called his friends, and they all agreed among themselves and went on together. That schemer Y sengrim had overheard them, and had listened as they sealed their agreement, since he was lying low nearby. The wolf had lived through four times eight lustra as of the day when the roe fell in with her companions. Y sengrim had barely caught sight of the donkey-who was carrying all sorts of valuables stuffed in his saddlebags as he crept along in front of his packs-when he was stung by the attractions of all that loot, and anguished over what he should do. His spirit was willing, but his belly was immoveable. He had eaten and drunk more than he should have, and more lavishly than usual; so much so that his heavy belly made a deep dent in the surface of the ground. His flanks were pushed out a hand's breadth beyond his spine and his ribs, and were harder than his tight belly. And his skin was so stretched out from the pressure of his stomach that it wasn't entirely clothed, even though his coat was thick. He called upon all the strength of his whole body and three times tried to get up and three times fell down. He heaved a sigh and, looking the image of death, he lamented his plight a thousand times.

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"Ohl Agony!"hesaid, "I mustmeetmydeathhere! 0-most wretched outcast that I am-what a lodging I am losing now! I will go; whether I'm able or unable to travel, by whatever means I can be moved. I can at least follow their tracks by creeping like a snake. I can be rolled along, the way a pig is. If I can't go as a member of the group, I'll be a guest!" And so he rolled over and over from his belly to his back, and from his back to his belly. Hope gave birth to strength, and strength to hope. Desire hastened his progress. The leader, whom nothing escaped, knew that the wolf was lurking in those woods, and that he wished to be useful to few. Going off to one side with his companion, Joseph, he took the mounted head of a lifeless old wolf, and told Joseph what he should do if a certain guest came whose name was wolf, greyheaded and treacherous. As they went on, it grew dark, and when Sprotin sang out, they arrived at a place to stay, and parked their goods and themselves. Joseph called Carcophas and appointed him to keep watch over the house: "Right in this spot is where you'll stand, ass, as the doorkeeper, fixed as fast as a solid post. Our bark has landed on unfriendly soil. Do you think you're any safer because no weapons are threatening us now? The hook that snares the watery tribe is baited; sometimes the proffered cup is more to be feared than the sword. You know very well what sort of stratagems brought about the fall of Troy. A pleasant place has more often misled travellers, since a deceptively peaceful atmosphere keeps one from being warned in advance. But if some unfriendly intruder should creep into our fold, keep this instruction in the back of your mind: whatever I tell you to do, do the opposite of what I say." He gladly stood before the door, as he was told. They were sitting at table. A violent desire to eat began to prick the ass, and he put up with his hunger in rude country style: leaving his place at the door, he headed for the fireplace and ran over

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to some plates that had been put down there and grabbed some scattered bits of food. Joseph chided him: "Go on back to the door, you mindless rustic. With your responsibility you ought to be alert and on the job. A major advantage is lost for the sake of a trifling advantage. Vital concerns are being neglected for the sake of your appetite." The doorkeeper was so concerned to give relief to his raging belly that he lectured pointlessly, but in all seriousness. He answered: "What have you asked me to do, may I ask, except to look after the door? Let me at least not be blamed for carrying out your orders! I don't chew with my eyes; I entrust food to my teeth. My mouth empties the plates, and my looks guard the door." The wolf had begun to move along little by little on his broad belly; his earnest efforts exceeded his own strength. And while Joseph was fiercely berating the reluctant ass with promises, entreaties, blows, and threats, the treacherous foe arrived. He wished for all the best for those he met up with, not thinking what he expressed, and not saying what was on his minddisguising his evil designs with pleasant talk. He veiled his deceit with feigned good faith. Although he planned to murder them in the night as they slept and together with the loot get a place to stay, when he crossed the doorstep he said: "Peace be with you! It is the hermit's wish! Blessings be upon you, brothers! Peace be with you, yet again! The hermit desires it!" Their first reaction was to freeze up as one does when suddenly some hostile presence makes itself known to ears or eyes. As soon as they realized they faced a single enemy and not an army, the recognition of the strength and numbers of the opposing parties made their fighting spirit return. The newcomer added: "I am a hermit, going to admonish the brothers so that they will keep peace and observe justice among themselves. Can there be fear of my presence in those

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who have faith behind their shields? Don't be afraid on aax>unt of my arrival here. Your fury has turned to calm; my appearance and voice remain the same. The penance I must do for my sins requires this. I am a wolf in looks, but my spirit is gentler than a lamb's. In voice I bear testimony to my wolfhood; but by virtue of my honesty, I deny it. Therefore it is pointless to give credit to my voice and pointless to give credit to my appearance. Trust must be summoned up in response to one's behavior and actions. I used to be regarded by the blameless as depraved and savage. But now I'm living as good a life as I lived a bad one before. There isn't anybody I would be more delighted to keep company with than you! The more I've given offence to someone, the more loyally I behave. The same faith that inspired your pledge of devotion led me here too. I pray all the time that I might be your companion on the way to Rome. I want to seek out the patriarch of the Palestinian temple. Godfather goat, give me your votive cross!" This was because the goat had aimed his distinctive forehead at the speaker, for he did not remember any good coming from similar conduct on the wolf's part. Old sins give rise to fresh blushes. The goat first of all condemned the wolf's vows. "Let the morrow's gallows," he said, "raise up whoever was glad that the door was not kept watch over here. The goose alone-we don't know everyone's mind -is excepted. The others didn't want the door to be left untended; but maybe he did. Someone who wears out his youth in vice grows grey in it too. And in the same fashion that he grows grey, most appropriately, he dies. If I believed that a wolf that's capable ofdrawing breath had turned tame, whether he's an abbot or a hermit, he should devour me right here. Now whether the wolf is an anchorite or a bishop or an abbot, let him be toothless, or else go back where he came from. Where the fugitive ran away from he can go back again-to his cloister -and let him ask for his cross there, since that flock is in want of a bishop. We close our church to a toothed hermit. I'm not

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pleased to have teeth of a fox or an ass inside; nobody with teeth has·ever before been harmless. Indeed, rd rather have such a creature under ground, and be above ground myself. There's nothing for a toothed hermit to do in this house. Say, us, why aren't you closing the doors yet? Are you still trying to bring in more hermits for us? This one here knows the duties of his position well enough without anyone else to help him." The goose thought that this was well-spoken. He demanded that he not be excluded from those who wanted the doors to be closed. Y scngrim gathered from what these two said that his appearance had been welcome to few. And now, suspecting that the others were getting ready to say the same, or worse, he anticipated them with a scheme ofpretended departure: "Ysengrim is leaving, brothers; remain in peace with one another! We are not," he said, "what we seem to be. I pray that no one is angry that the friar came inside. If you tell me to, I'll stay. If that's not your inclination, rm willing to go. And finally, if anything you said caused me offense, I pardon it, and I assure you that the pardon is granted by us in due and proper form. I'm going away. Good-bye, Reynard, and all of you other travellers-I'm amazed at you because I'm being more agree able to you than to myself." Reynard realized that he wanted to be told not to leave, and to be prt>ssed to stay the night, so that by daylight he would ht• able to go ba(·k where he came from without banning a hair. .. l'ndt•," he said, .. where do you have to go otfto on this dark night? The road is dangerous. No door is open. -i'be goat is embarrasst~l that he spoke inadvisedly. Let yourself be persuadt~l to stay. Don't think that anything bad was said about )'\\U, If Wt' th,,uiht that anyone but you had barged into our h,lt1St\ it wt:~uld be better for him to be any·where but \\ith ~Rut this in.\\1p is at )"\"\\lr servke with devoted good\\ill, and all of \ltll' bt·st pnwisions are availabl~ for you to help yoursdf th.,m ...

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Y sengrim was delighted. He sat down and gave them thanks in return. Bertiliana ordered a meal to be served at once, and said: "O Joseph, we don't know whether this brother has eaten yet today. Make the cooks hurry up!" "I'm afraid, my lady," he answered, "that we have no fish or sauce. And no one can find two eggs in these woods. Ask the hermit if it is permissible to order meat for him." "Oh, how I wish," he thought, "you would serve meat!" The roe, as if she were afraid to inquire directly of the wolf, asked Reynard what sort of food was allowed to such as he. A robber is less afraid of the noose than the bishop was afraid that the fox would say that meat was prohibited to such as he. The leader, with an understanding that came from long acquaintance with his uncle's character-and concealing his own intentions-addressed the lady of the house as follows: "My lady, nothing is denied them, with the sole exception of hunger. The Book tells us that unto the pure all things are

pure." "Tell us, father," said the lady, "is it true what the fox says? Do they eat meat in this order? He says so himself." The hermit liked what she was asking, and, not doubting that he would be believed, spoke in mild terms: 'We eat what's placed before us. I ask for nothing and I refuse nothing. Gifts are given by God, thanks are given to you by me. The blessed Lord makes all things blessed for his blessed creatures. Satan eats nothing and stays wicked forever. It is an excellent rule to shut one's heart to sin. Sinners are often made to go without food. But nothing is forbidden to the righteous except sin. God's service is perfect freedom." Then the lady was glad and said: "Joseph, our guest can eat meat. Now I desire you to place before him whatever you can of the very best!" With a little grumbling at first, the way a willful servant might respond to an order, he answered: "There is certainly nothing here, my lady, except grey heads of wolves. They are

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plain fare, and have an widistinguished flavor. Don't order too much! I'll gladly serve up what we have. If better ones were accessible I would serve them too. Reynard knows that better ones than these are not available to me for the taking. I think all this is well-understood by Reynard and the others." Reynard added: "Our mistress has gone out of her mind in her ordering. She doesn't know what she wants; she's giving away what she doesn't have herself. She can give orders as much as she likes. We're sitting on top of a mowitain. Spread out a salmon from the Rhine or the Maas! Look, you tell us that you've got wolves' heads and that you have them here. Put them on the table right away. Lay them out. Aren't they any good? They taste-the way they taste. And we're going to eat the same ones ourselves. This food is characteristic of the region we're in. A forest has wolves, the sea has fish. Therefore a wolf's head can be eaten here just as well as a fish can there. Serve what you've got, good brother. This is a humble hermit here. In God's sight, faith alone is enough for paupers." Joseph went off and brought in the head that he had at hand, and bowiding forward, held it up in front of his guest's face. At sight of the head, the wolf began to put his tail between his legs and to wish that he were somewhere else. Amid his springing steps, the waiter called out: "Whoever gives joyfully has a lordly reputation! I picked up this head first-look Reynard -whether or not it is pleasant to the taste, it smells as it should. Ifit tastes the way it smells, it will be asuccessl You're wondering where it comes from? I believe this head came from an old Angevin wolf. This side of Rome, there is none that can compare with it." With this the impatient leader said, as if he were annoyed: "You fool! What sort of head is this? Bring in one of the bigger ones!" He briskly went out and brought the same one back again. He had, however, deprived it of its familiar appearance since

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he had first given it a tonsure by pulling out its hair. "This," he said, "we recently took from an English abbot. I would not have placed this in front of my own brother! The expense of this is of no importance because we value our guest still more. The master of the house has straw and the guest has down. What a head this is! Look, Reynard! See how fat and round it is-how everything about it is in conformity with its character. The fatheads at Sithiu stagger along with ones like this. The saint of Arras raises heads like this in his cloister. The hermit ought to accept this one more readily than any others; he was a member of a not dissimilar order." The sharp-witted commander replied: "A meager table, served by a pilfering waiter, is pleasing to few; and the dinner hour is being wasted. I don't approve of this head either. There are better ones in another comer. You didn't go far enough over to the left. I had a big head over there-its mouth is held open with a stick ofhazel wood. That one makes the best eating. Go get it!" "Who," he answered, "can find one particular head among a thousand of them? I don't know which one to choose to begin with and which one to choose later on. Do you want the one that Gerard the goose had a taste of yesterday-four of us saw him do it-when he thought he was picking grass? A Danish bishop was resting in the thick grass. It wasn't easy to see any part of him as he lay there. As he was picking the grass in that spot, the unsuspecting goose stumbled upon him and snatched away the head of the Danish priest. He was so excited by his discovery, and wasn't afraid of anything, that he blew off the hair and the ears too, and with the force of his breath the head was rolled all the way here. The stag saw it, the goat saw it, the ass saw it, I saw it." He said: "That is indeed the one-a stick of hazel wood is between its lips. That one will be just right for us. Bring it in at once!" He went out, and plucked off all the hair, and the ears, so

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that no hint of their trick would be apparent. He spread the mouth wide open and stuck a stick in it. The open lips were stretched into a horrible grin. The old wolf shuddered when he saw it, and turned away from the sight. The hunger was shaken out of him-