OF SIX MEDIEVAL WOMEN 



precious to us." Yes, it is this all-pervading 

 mystery which, though so tantalising, is yet so 

 attractive. It is in vain that, in studying them, 

 we try to penetrate somewhat beyond our 

 normal atmosphere, for we only find ourselves 

 lost in vague possibilities and hazy distances. 

 Brittany has kept her secret concerning such of 

 these lays as were hers just as jealously as she 

 has kept her secret of the long avenues of great 

 lichened stones which make Carnac look like 

 the burial-place of some giant host. Marie's 

 lays are stories of deep meaning, which each 

 reader must interpret for himself. 



It is impossible to do more here than just 

 touch upon Marie's ideal conception of love, for 

 to realise it fully it is necessary to read the 

 stories themselves. 1 Allusion has been made to 

 the wounded knight in the " Lay of Guigemar," 

 who can only be healed through mutual love 

 sanctified by mutual suffering. In the lay of 

 "The Ash Tree" a maiden of noble birth, 

 abandoned in infancy and brought up in a 

 convent, is loved by a lord, and returns his love, 

 and goes with him to his castle. After a time 

 the knights who owe him fealty complain that 

 as through his love for his mistress he has 

 neither wife nor child, he does them wrong, and 

 protest that if he does not wed some noble lady, 

 they will no longer serve him or hold him for 



1 Marie de France, Seven of her Lays, trans. E. Rickert, 1901; 

 Warnke, Die lais der Marie de Franc e^ Halle, 1885 ; Hertz, Spiet- 

 mannsbuch^ 1905. 



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