Cliges

AVOWAL AND PLANS

CLICKS Cliges did not want silver or gold, with thoughts that he dared not disclose 5090 to her who cost him his repose. He could have spoken undiscerned had he not feared he would be spurned, for no one wanted to intrude, and at her side in solitude he could watch her all day and sit; no one thought anyharm of it. AVOWAL AND PLANS II ONG afterward, all on his own, 11^ Cliges came to the room alone of one who was no enemy, 5100 that you may know with certainty. The door wasnot shut in his face. He sat, half leaning, by her place, and to the sides the rest withdrew, so no one sat next to those two to overhear as they conversed. Fenice began with Britain first, because she wished to ascertain the character of Sir Gawain, if he were polished and refined. 5110 She raised what preyed upon her mind, a subject that she feared to cover. She asked him if he had a lover, a maid or lady of that land. Cliges gave her to understand at once, not being reticent about disclosing what he meant: "My lady, there I was love-smitten, but I loved nobody from Britain. [^50] AVOWAL AND PLANS When I wason the British shore, like bark without a wooden core, 5120 my body was without a heart. Where it s been since I went apart from Germany, I have no clue, except my heart has followed you. My heart was here, my body there. I never really wentelsewhere; to Greece returned the heart I lack, which is the reason I came back. Yet it will not return to me. I cant restore it personally; 5130 it would be more than I could stand. Since your arrival in this land, will you not tell how you have been? Have you enjoyed yourself since then? How pleasing are the land and folk? In answer, all I should evoke is whether you are pleased with Greece/' "Greece has not pleased me/' said Fenice, "but I begin to feel some measure of joy and pleasure. Prayer or pleasure 5140 could not make me forego one bit. o I cant detach my heart from it and will not use force, brute and stark. There s nothing left of me but bark. I live and breathe without a heart. From Britain I have kept apart, but my heart made a lengthy stay, for good or ill I cannot say/' "But when your heart stayed there a while, tell me when it went to that isle, 5150 and at what time and in what season, provided that, with every reason, to me or others you could tell. ['5i] CLIGES Was it when I was there as well?" "Yes, but you were quite unaware, My heart was there when you were there, and afterward it left with you/' "Good Lord, I never saw or knew. Good Lord, whynot? If I had known, 5160 your heart would not have been alone; I would have kept it company." "And have been comforting to me. Friend, you should not have kept apart. I'd have been gracious toward your heart, if it had pleased to come around to where it knew I would be found." "It found you, lady, without guile." "It found me?It wasno exile, for my heart also went to you." 5170 "My lady, if your words are true, here with us are both hearts we own, for mine is totally your own." "And my own heart in you is set, my friend, and so we are well met. God save me, know with certainty your uncle had no part of me. He's never known me in his life the waythat Adam knew his wife. He had no chance, which I forestalled, 5180 so lady' I am wrongly called. But those by whom I'm so portrayed are unaware I am a maid. Your uncle, even, has no notion, for he has drunk some sleeping potion and thinks he's wakeful when he dreams and sports with me, or so it seems, as if within my arms he lay, but I have kept him well away. [15*] AVOWAL AND PLANS Yours is my heart, yours is my body, and at no time will anybody, 5190 with my behavior as a sample, learn villainy from my example. For when my heart went in your frame...