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4. Honeysuckle

(Chevrefoil)

Marie de France


This lai, a favorite of mine,
Was named for the honeysuckle vine
And written to commemorate
4The incident which I’ll relate.
Many times I’ve had the chance
To hear or read the old romance
Of Tristan and the queen, who were
8So true to love and to each other
And who, for their love, were sorely tried
Until, on a single day, they died.

Tristan, by King Mark’s command,
12Was exiled back to his own land
When, furious, the king had seen
The love he bore Iseut, the queen.
He stayed in South Wales for a year
16And all that time did not appear
At court. But then, in his despair,
He couldn’t bring himself to care
What might happen if he went back;
20It was better to risk death than lack
The one thing that counted in his eyes.
This shouldn’t cause anyone surprise—
A lover grieves and broods that way
24If he is true and far away
From the lady who has won his heart,
And that’s why Tristan had to start
For Cornwall. Whatever that could mean,
28At least he was sure to see the queen.
He went through the forest, all alone,
So that his presence would not be known.
When evening came, it seemed all right
32To seek some shelter for the night.
From poor peasants whom he met
He took what lodging he could get,
And asked if they knew anything
36About the intentions of the king.
They told him that by King Mark’s decree
The barons who owed him fealty
Had all been summoned forth to ride
40To Tintagel, where at Whitsuntide[1]
The king intended to hold his court.
There would be feasting and good sport;
The queen was going to be there too.

44Tristan was overjoyed. He knew
That for the journey she would make
There was just one road the queen could take.
As soon as the king was on his way,
48Tristan went into the woods to stay
Close to the road where he could meet
The queen as she passed by with her suite.
Meanwhile, he cut down and squared
52A hazel branch. When it was pared,
He signed it, using his knife to write,[2]
And placed the signal well in sight.
The queen would never fail to notice,
56Alert for such a sign as this—
They had used it in another case
To indicate a meeting place—
And so the message would be clear;
60She’d know her friend was somewhere near.
Earlier, he had sent a letter.
This is what he wrote to her:[3]
In the forest, where he had to hide,
64He’d waited a long time to decide
How best to find her, where and when
They might see each other once again.
He could no longer live that way,
68Cut off from the one he loved, for they
Were like the honeysuckle vine,
Which around a hazel tree will twine,
Holding the trunk as in a fist
72And climbing until its tendrils twist
Around the top and hold it fast.
Together tree and vine will last.
But then, if anyone should pry
76The vine away, they both will die.
“My love, we’re like that vine and tree;
I’ll die without you, you without me.”

The queen, as she rode along the way,
80Was waiting for something to betray
The presence of her friend, and spied
The hazel stick on a slope beside
The road. Understanding what it meant,
84She called to those knights present
To be her escort, and expressed
A wish to stop a while and rest;
The traveling had made her tired.
88The knights did as she desired,
And waited there while she withdrew
Alone, except for one she knew
Would keep her secret, the faithful maid
92Brangene. After a while they strayed
Off the road and into the forest.
There was the one the queen loved best
In all the world, waiting for her.
96Great was their joy at being together,
With time to talk again at leisure.
She told him that King Mark’s displeasure
Had changed to grief at having exiled
100Tristan; they’d soon be reconciled.
The king was sure he’d been deceived
By slander he should not have believed.
But when it was time for her to go,
104Both of them wept in bitter sorrow.
Tristan went back to Wales and waited
Until he had been reinstated.

Because he wanted to express
108The overwhelming happiness
Of being with his love once more,
What he had written to her before
And her words to him, not to forget,[4]
112Tristan, a skilled harpist, set
To music. I will quickly say[5]
How people referred to this new lai:
Gotelef in English (which became
116“Honeysuckle”) translates the name
Chevrefoil. Here I’ve related
Just what the lai commemorated.

Notes

1. Line 40 Whitsuntide is Pentecost, the traditional time for King Arthur to hold his court and for chivalric adventures to begin. [BACK]

2. Line 53 See the Introduction, 16, on the ambiguity of Tristan’s inscription. [BACK]

3. Lines 61-62 I take these lines (“Ceo fu la somme de l’escrit / Qu’il li aveit mandé e dit”) to refer to an earlier message. Others believe they refer to the message on the bastun, or stick, which she would understand either from the name alone or in code. [BACK]

4. Lines 107-11 These lines have been accurately translated if they suggest the determined ambiguity of the original. [BACK]

5. Line 113 In the Tristan episode of a thirteenth-century continuation of Chrétien’s Perceval, Tristan, in disguise, identifies himself to Iseut by playing the Lai du Chievrefueil on a small flute. She is at first angry, thinking that Tristan had taught someone else “the lai that he and I composed.” Then she realizes that the musician is Tristan himself. Gerbert de Montreuil, La Continuation de “Perceval,” ed. Mary Williams, vol. 1 (Paris: Champion, 1922), lines 4066–4088 [BACK]


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