The Heptameron by Marguerite de Navarre

Author:Marguerite de Navarre [Navarre, Marguerite de]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Classics, Short Stories (Single Author)
ISBN: 9780141911151
Publisher: Penguin UK
Published: 2004-07-01T04:00:00+00:00

STORY TWENTY-FOUR

At the [court] of Castile in the time of a king and queen whose names I shall not reveal there was a gentleman so perfect in appearance and character that there was not his like in the whole of Spain. Everyone marvelled at his fine qualities, but even more at the strangeness of his character, for to no one’s knowledge had he ever loved or served any lady. At that court there were many ladies who were fit to turn ice to fire, yet not one of them had had the power to capture the heart of Elisor, for such was the gentleman’s name.

The Queen, a lady of great virtue, but by no means exempt from that fire which burns the more the less it is made known, had observed that this gentleman had entered the service of none of her ladies, and she wondered at it. Then one day she asked him whether it could be possible that he really was as much without love as he pretended. He replied that if she could but see his heart as clearly as she could see his face, she would not have asked that question. Eager to know what he meant, she pressed him so closely that he confessed, saying that he was in love with a lady whom he esteemed the most virtuous lady in the whole of Christendom. Whereupon she did everything she possibly could to find out who the lady was, begging, beseeching, even commanding him to tell her. But to no avail. Then she pretended to be exceedingly angry with him, and swore that she would never speak to him again, unless he named the lady with whom he was so much in love. His distress was so great that he was forced to say that it would be as death to him to be obliged to confess to her. But seeing that he was in danger of being cast from her sight and from her favour simply for not revealing a truth in itself so honourable that no one could ever have taken it amiss, he said in fear and trembling:

‘Madame, I have neither the strength nor the courage to tell you. But the next time that you go out hunting, I shall show her to you, and I am sure that you will find her the most beautiful and the most perfect lady in all the world.’

This reply led the Queen to go hunting somewhat sooner than she would otherwise have done. When Elisor heard of this, he prepared to attend her majesty as usual. He had a huge steel mirror fashioned into a cuirass. This he strapped across his chest and concealed it beneath a voluminous cloak of heavy black cloth richly [embroidered] with thread of gold. He was mounted on a black horse, richly caparisoned, and decked with all the trappings a horse could require. The harness was gold, and enamelled in black in the Moorish style. On his head was a

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