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Blog Summary: Over my head his arm he flung
Against the world; and scarce I felt 110 His sword (that dripped by me and swung)
A little shifted in its belt:
For he began to say the while
How South our home lay many a mile.
XX
So 'mid the shouting multitude
We two walked forth to never more
Return. My cousins have pursued
Their life, untroubled as before
I vexed them. Gauthier's dwelling-place
God lighten! May his soul find grace! 120
XXI
Our elder boy has got the clear
Great brow; tho' when his brother's black Full eye shows scorn, it . . . Gismond here?
And have you brought my tercel back?
I just was telling Adela
How many birds it struck since May.
NOTES:
"Count Gismond: Aix in Provence" illustrates, in the person
of the woman who relates to a friend an episode of her
own life, the power of innate purity to raise up for
her a defender when caught in the toils woven by
the unsuspected envy and hypocrisy of her cousins
and Count Gauthier, who attempt to bring dishonor
upon her, on her birthday, with the seeming intention
of honoring her. Her faith that the trial by combat
between Gauthier and Gismond must end in Gismond's victory and her vindication reflects most truly, as Arthur Symons has pointed out, the medieval atmosphere of chivalrous France.
124. Tercel: a male falcon.
THE BOY AND THE ANGEL
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