Next, Marie tells the story of Equitan, a Breton king who falls in love with his seneschal’s beautiful wife. In order to claim the lady for himself, Guigemar lays siege to Meriaduc’s castle, and at last, the couple is joyfully reunited. She and Guigemar eventually cross paths in the lord Meriaduc’s castle and confirm their respective identities. After two years, the lady escapes to Brittany aboard the enchanted ship. Guigemar and the lady fall passionately in love and live together for the next year and a half, but the old lord discovers their affair and expels Guigemar from his city. When the lady and her maiden companion discover Guigemar aboard the ship, they promise to shelter him until he’s healed. In the city, a beautiful young lady, married to a jealous elderly lord, lives in a guarded enclosure. He gets aboard, falls asleep, and is quickly whisked off to an ancient city. Guigemar then wanders through the woods and finds a luxurious, empty ship sitting in a harbor. The dying hind curses Guigemar, telling him that he’ll only be cured if he and a woman fall in love and suffer greatly for that love. When Guigemar fatally shoots a hind on a hunting trip, the arrow ricochets and wounds him. Marie begins with “Guigemar,” a story in which the knight Guigemar isn’t interested in romance. For this reason, and in order to resist vice, she has put lays she’s collected into verse form. In her Prologue, the author, Marie de France, argues that a person who’s gifted with eloquence shouldn’t hide their talent but is obligated to share it.
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