“Most noble god Mahomet,” he pleaded, “give me guidance:
I have no wife beside me, and greatly I desire one!”
THE NEWS OF SUCH a lady made Ganor very happy:
From top to toe he quivered, his heartbeat was so rapid!
Without delay he mounted, with thirty of his barons,
On ambling palfrey-horses or mules of Aquilante,
1450 And rode down to the harbour with no desire to dally.
They saw the sails descending upon the splendid galley
And then the Frankish barons, together, on the gangway.
Then Ganor saw, at one end, the quarters that they’d fashioned
For Aye – the shelter covered with fine Otrenta hangings.
Upon a bed inside it the lovely lady languished,
Face down upon the covers, where swooning in her anguish
She wept away, bemoaning her sorrow and her sadness.
King Ganor stared in wonder, at her and what had happened,
Then, speaking French adroitly, addressed her roving captors:
1460 “Please tell me, on your honour, the reason for your travel.”
Duke Bérenger responded: “Most truly, we are vassals
Of France and Charlemagne – though both we have abandoned!
In Charlemagne’s circle we have incurred such malice
That he and we can never be friends again or allies.
But all of us were told of a noble king called Ganor –
A peerless man, they told us, with spear and shield in battle.
If Ganor will receive us, then for a year we’ll gladly
Defend him and his kingdom from any who’d attack him,
Or help him conquer others, if that is what he’s planning.”
1470 At once the king responded: “Your luck has altered, vassals!
You made a wise decision to turn your back on anger,
For you will never need to return to Charles’s palace!
But tell me now, I bid you, who is your fair companion.
Though she may be your cousin, your kinsman or a clansman,
If you agree, I’ll pay you a wealth of gold to have her
To be my wife forever, in rich and royal marriage.”
But Bérenger responded: “I’ll never let that happen!
In land of France, our country, it’s never been the practice,
Nor would the laws we live by in our religion sanction
1480 A good, God-fearing Christian to sell the wife he’d married.”
“BY GOOD MAHOM my god,” the Pagan Ganor said,
“It’s always been the law, where I was born and bred,
That should a woman come, or should a horse be sent
It pleased the king to have, his will was freely met!
But I will pay, in gold, I tell you nonetheless.”
But Bérenger replied: “I’ll die ere I’ll consent!”
The Pagan king replied: “ So you would wrong me, friend,
Or play me for a fool? By Mahom, you’ll accept
Ten Bezants worth of gold, for nothing will prevent
1490 Me claiming every right belonging to my geste!”
The Frenchman raised his sword of golden hilt and went
To drive the answer home upon his royal head –
But as it chanced he struck a bodyguard instead
And drew his blade of steel right through the wretch’s neck.
Then swarthy Aumagon struck Maudrot with his strength
And two of Ganor’s best were flung before him dead.
King Ganor fled the pier in fear that he was next,
But all the Frenchmen rushed to sail away again,
As Baligots and Turks ran forward with the rest
1500 The city-guard contained to reach the water’s edge!
As Ganor led the way, a hundred galleys left
And raced across the sea to chase the fleeing French,
As greyhounds chase the boar already worn to death.
With grappling irons they hauled the sailing ship to rest,
Then trailed it back to port, whoever wailed or wept!
MY LORDS, if you had seen the way those Pagans got them!
With grappling irons they hooked the galley till they stopped it
And hauled it back to port, whoever joyed or sorrowed.
If you had heard the way that Duchess Aye responded!
1510 With ringing voice she cried: “Dear God, have mercy on me,
And curse you, Bérenger, for your pernicious folly!
From company most sweet you’ve parted me most wrongly,
And lovely France as well, where I was cherished fondly.
Now you will meet your death, and I shall be dishonoured!”
But Ganor spoke her tongue and straightaway he promised:
“Sweet sister, never fear! My fair, forget your sorrow!
Believe me, when I swear upon my god Mahomet:
I’ve never had a wife – but I’d wed you tomorrow!”
KING GANOR summoned forth one Maligon of Syria:
1520 “Secure the ship and crew and everything within it!
Protect the Frenchmen too from criminals and killers.”
Upon a Syrian mule the Lady Aye was lifted
And swiftly led away inside the royal city
Towards Mahomet’s mosque, the church of their religion,
Where every text in full of Tervagant was written.
The mosque began to fill with Pagan Peers and princes,
Who, dropping chin to chest, bent forward in submission.
Within an eyelid’s blink the mosque was full to brimming.
“Dear God above,” said Aye, “what kind of cursed kindred
1530 Are such a throng as these to whom I’ve fallen victim?”
At this Alfāmeon, a Pagan of distinction
Whom Ganor had employed on many foreign missions –
He’d often gone to Rome, Apulia and Sicily,
And even up to France on much official business,
And therefore knew by sight the lords of Charles’s kingdom –
Could not control a laugh of instant recognition.
King Ganor said: “My lord, don’t keep your humour hidden!
If these are men you know, then tell me so this instant!”
“BY GOOD MAHOM I swear,” the Eastern envoy said,
1540 “The barons you have there are some of France’s best,
And with them’s Lady Aye, fair Avignon’s duchess,
A niece of France’s King, the Emperor himself!
I saw Sir Garnier and Aye the day they wed!
And those two are the sons of Ganelon who bred
The deadly treason done at Roncevaux, that led
The Peers Twelve of Charles and many other French
Of Charlemagne’s host to their untimely end!
Their names are Bérenger and Sanson – worthy men:
We Pagans owe a lot to them and all their geste!
1550 Release them, lord, and pay the pair their fair respect!”
So Ganor had them brought before him on the steps,
And when he met them there, addressed the pair and said:
“GOOD BARONS, are you brothers –for this is what I hear?
Don’t lie to me, I bid you, for truly there’s no need
If you are both the sons of Count Ganelon indeed!
And why does Charles forbid you to stay in France the sweet?
Where does this woman come from, and what’s she doing here?
What incident has parted this lady from her liege?
Were you the ones to take her or make her wish to leave?”
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1560 The noble Aye responded. Although she was in tears,
You’ll never hear a woman who spoke as well as she:
“Your Highness, noble monarch,” said Aye, the wise of speech:
“You do not know the evil this pair has done to me!
The duke Antoine, my father, held Avignon in fief
To mighty Charlemagne, of whom I am a niece.
Not long ago he wed me to Garnier, a Peer
Of loyalty unrivalled and peerless bravery.
He bore the royal standard when Charles was asked to lead
His men to war that ended with Tarragone’s defeat.
1570 My husband bade me journey to Avignon, where these
Two brothers took my city and I myself was seized.
They held me for a long time in Graillemont their keep,
And this is where the King came to fight and set me free.
Within a day his army had laid a mighty siege.
When Bérenger saw clearly he wouldn’t last a week,
He forced me to his galley and fled across the sea
When night was at its darkest, like any common thief.
He’s held me thus, well hidden, until we landed here.
I urge you now to hold me with better grace than he,
1580 For when the French discover where fate has taken me,
They’ll sue you very fiercely to barter my release:
The ransom they will pay you in Frankish gold will be
Some fourteen times as heavy as my own weight, at least!
And if you wished, Lord Ganor, to raise a gallows-tree
Upon the rocky platform that rims that hill of green
And hang this pair of villains, you also would receive
My own undying friendship, fine monarch, for the deed!”
SAID GANOR: “Aye, my lady, you will what I will not!
To slaughter these two barons would certainly be wrong,
1590 For Ganelon, their father, was he who hatched the plot
At Roncevaux that slaughtered the Peers Twelve and robbed
The cream of France’s knighthood from Charlemagne’s crop!
Instead, I’ll bid them follow the path their father trod
To Spain, with my own guardsmen Maingot and Baratron.
How warmly they’ll be welcomed by King Marsilion!
He’ll offer them fine cities with treasuries well stocked!
And I shan’t want a penny of anything they’ve got
Except for you, fair lady and niece of Charles the strong!
A year’s delay shall part us – that starts today and stops
1600 When I return from Mecca and worshipping Mahom –
And then, my dear, I’ll wed you, if every Pagan god
We Saracens believe in will sanctify the bond.”
Beneath her breath the Duchess returned a swift response:
“May God above deny you the smallest joy thereof!”
And so the rogues departed. They cast their anchors off,
With every mast erected and every sail aloft.
With rowers in addition they sailed without a stop
Until they reached the port of a city called Moronde
And saw the harbour markers where anchors could be dropped.
1610 The city loomed above them, between four mountaintops,
Surrounded by two rivers that carried to and from
The whole of Spain, on barges, their surplus and their wants.
The city walls were granite and made of massive blocks
That buttressed many towers defending all beyond.
Marsilion, between them, had built a fort as long
From one end to the other as any bowman’s shot.
Before it was a courtyard with levels leading off.
Four lovely trees of laurel were planted in the spot
Where Ganelon had plotted the treason that had cost
1620 The slaughter of Count Roland and his companions.
But God had wrought a wonder, to lessen Charles’s loss,
Upon the laurels planted around that evil grot:
Although their trunks were living and green from base to top,
Their limbs had never budded from that occasion on.
And it was here the brothers, Bérenger and Sanson,
Conducted by those others, Maingot and Baratron,
Gave greeting to the sons of the king Marsilion,
Surrounded by four thousand of false Mahomet’s mob.
Both parties, in their fashion, gave greetings fair and fond,
1630 And then the king demanded: “What men are these, Maingot?”
Count Bérenger responded, in fluent Saracen!
COUNT BERENGER responded, who knew the Pagan tongue:
“Your Highness, we are Frenchmen and born of noblest blood
To Ganelon our father, who earned your father’s love.
The mighty Charlemagne has done me wrong, and thus
The other day I left him to serve King Ganor – but
He flung me in his prison until I fled his clutch!
I’ve come here now, desiring to offer you my glove
And fight beneath your banner all manner of affronts.
1640 If any Christian leader should land here in Moronde
And I should fail to slay him and lay him in the dust,
Then I won’t claim a ring of the gold your hand has won!”
On hearing this, the Pagan embraced his neck at once:
“By good Mahom,” he thundered, “you’re surely one of us!”
“YOU’VE DONE a noble deed, Sir Bérenger, in coming
Across the sea to me from France in such a hurry!
For this, if you agree, I’ll give you so much money
And land of mine to rule as regent of my country,
That when it’s known in France among the high and humble,
1650 King Charlemagne’s eyes will goggle wide with wonder!
I’ll give to you the heights of Monsecret to govern,
With all the land and rights belonging to my uncle,
Together with the hand of my fair sister Plumba.”
Count Bérenger, at this, fell at his feet abruptly,
And swore away his soul, agreeing like a mongrel
To take a bride whose pride denied Lord God above us.
“Since now I am your man, most noble king and brother,
Avenge the pain you can that Ganor made me suffer!
You do not know the gain he made from me unjustly:
1660 I speak of one so fair she dazzles every other:
Ask Ganor for her hand – for it was I who won her!
If you two bred an heir, I swear by your Mahomet,
This child would rightly be your claim to France the lovely,
For Charlemagne bears no heir of any courage:
His only son’s a youth whose character is nothing.”
THE KING WAS very happy to hear of Lady Aye.
As fast as he could do so, he left his hall of state
And summoned forth two envoys, Josor of Valternez
And Blancandrin’s own brother, called Brunamor the sage:
1670 “My lords,” he said, “I want you to leave Moronde today
And sail to the Majorcas as swiftly as you may.
Beseech the monarch Ganor to send me straightaway
The niece of Charlemagne he took from Bérenger.
Make clear that, should he not do, I swear upon my faith,
That I shall leave him nowhere, to rule or to escape,
Where he can live in safety or lie in when he’s slain!
Since ancient Menelaus lost Helen’s lo
vely face,
And Troy was razed to rubble in answer to his rage,
There’ll not have been such trouble for any woman’s sake!”
1680 “This message,” said his envoys, “ is very fiercely phrased –
But since it is your bidding, no word of it we’ll change!”
On saying this, they left him and took a ship in haste
Whose sails were white as lilies; when all of them were raised,
Their voyage took not thirty, nor half of thirty days.
At Aigremore they landed and in an orchard’s shade
They found the monarch Ganor among his baronage.
Both he and Aye were seated upon a silken drape
Observing those two captives disporting with their blades:
Duke Aymeri’s son Hernaut was one on whom they gazed,
1690 The other was his brother, Garin of rich Ansayn.
Both Frenchmen had been captured by Ganor in a fray
That sent their brother Aymer ‘The Captive’ to his grave.
As soon as Aye beheld them the blood froze in her veins,
And, so that none could hear her, she very softly prayed:
“God bless you, gallant heroes, and keep you sound and safe!
May Jesus Christ our Saviour preserve me with His grace
Until I find the moment and means for our escape,
Which, if I’m spared, I will do, with God Almighty’s aid!”
At this, the envoys entered, Josor of Valternez
1700 And Blancandrin’s own brother, called Brunamor the sage.
Fair Aye was there to hear it when their demand was made.
THE ENVOYS SAW the king among his fierce assembly
Of Pagans by the score and heathen Turks a-plenty,
With wicked Canaleans and Moors from Morienna.
On seeing him, they reached where he and Aye were resting
And neither was afraid to state their master’s message:
“Lord Ganor, noble king, your welfare is in peril!
The sons of King Marsile, enraged at your pretension,
Demand that you return the niece of Charles the Frenchman!
1710 If you refuse, they’ll bring a greater force against you
Than Menelaus led to rescue lovely Helen.
They’ll sail across the sea, departing from Albenna,
And Bérenger the duke will bear their battle ensign.”
The king replied: “I fear your lords less than a chestnut!
Heroines of the French Epic Page 25
