478 MEDIAEVAL LITERATURE. 



meets with loud applause, and the biagging is started. The king 

 takes the lead and states that he will undertake to cleave from 

 head to foot King Hugo's most gallant knight, mounted in full 

 and shining armour on his steel-caparisoned charger. He will not 

 only cut in two the rider but the horse as well; and give such 

 momentum to his sword that after the blow has been struck it will 

 still sink three feet into the ground below. Roland, the hero of 

 the "Chanson de Roland," now takes the floor and says that he 

 will take his stand at three miles from the city and wind his 

 oliphant, his ivory horn, with such an irresistible blast that the 

 gates of the town will be blown open and King Hugo set spinning 

 with such velocity that the friction of the air will set his moustache 

 on fire. Olivier, Roland's bosom friend, who while at dinner had 

 got over head and ears under the spell of the beauty of King Hugo's 

 charming daughter, now rises to his feet and tells them, right 

 wantonly, that with this Oriental belle he intends consummating 

 such incredible feats of love that even Hercules would have recoiled 

 at the mere thought and mention of them. Bishop Turpin now 

 speaks, and promises to undertake the bold equestrian feat of leap- 

 ing successively on the back of three racehorses while in full career; 

 in the meantime he will be juggling with four balls. William of 

 Orange is certainly not behindhand when now he says that he will 

 Taurl, single-handed, against the palace wall a stone ball too heavy 

 to be carried by thirty ordinary men. The impact will cause forty 

 fathoms of the wall to crumble into rubble. Then Berenger stands 

 up and says that he intends jumping down from the highest 

 minaret, on the point of a thousand swords: the swords will bend 

 like reeds and do him no harm. Aimer now follows and says that 

 he will don a hat that shall render him invisible (this reminds us 

 of the "Jarnkappe" which plays such a part in the German 

 mediaeval epic), and make it easy for him, when the Emperor 

 Hugo is sitting at table, to eat all the fish on his plate and drain 

 all the wine from his goblet. Bernard de Bresban will make the 

 river overflow its banks and flood the country, so that King Hugo 

 shall have to look for refuge on the top of the highest steeple in 

 the city. Genin will put two small coins on the top of a spire; 

 he will take up his stand one mile from its foot, and throw a knife 

 at the coins; the uppermost coin shall not budge, the other one 

 will fall down and he will run so fast that he catches it before it 

 strikes the earth ! 



And thus one "gab" follows the other till the braggarts get 

 tired and go to bed. The poor eavesdropper, who after the 

 king's "gab" at the beginning had already come to the conclusion: 

 "Que fols fist li reis Hugue, quant vos prestat ostel" was in an 

 agony of fear all the time he had been squatting in his hiding 

 place. When the frightful heroes are snoring he hurriedly sneaks 

 away to tell his master about the appalling crowd to whom he has 

 given hospitality. 



Hugo the Strong waxes wild with anger. He understands 

 that all this boasting is sheer contempt and impudent derision. 

 When the next morning the Emperor Charles leaves church Hugo 



