The Tale of King Florus and the Fair Jehane by William Morris

HERE telleth the tale of a king who had to name King Florus of Ausay. A / full good knight was he and a gentleman of high lineage. The said King / Florus of Ausay took to wife the daughter of the Prince of Brabant, who / was a woman very gentle, and of great line: and a right fair maid was she / when he wedded her and dainty of body and fashion; and saith the tale / that she was but of fifteen years when the King Florus took her, and he / but of seventeen. A full good life they lived, as for young folk who / loved together dearly: but King Florus might have no child of her, / whereof he was sore grieving, and she also was exceeding heavy-hearted / thereat. Much fair was this lady, and much she loved God and Holy / Church, and therewith was so good almsgiver and so charitable that she / fed and clad poor people and kissed their feet. And to mesel folk both / carles and queans was she so kind and careful, that the Holy Ghost dwelt / in her. Her Lord King Florus went often to tournays in Alemain and / France, and in many other lands whereas he wotted of them, when he was / without war: much good he expended thereon and much honour he gained / thereby.

But now leaveth the tale to tell of him and taketh up the word of a / knight who dwelt in the marches of Flanders and Hainault. This said / knight was full valiant and hardy, and right trusty, and had to wife a / full fair dame of whom he had a much fair daughter, who had to name / Jehane and was then of the age of twelve years. Much word there was of / this fair maiden; for in all the land was none so fair. Her mother spake / often to her lord that he should give her in marriage; but he was so / given up to the following of tournays, that he was nowise hot on the / wedding of his daughter, and his wife ever admonished him thereof when he / came home from his tournays.

Now this knight had a squire who had to name Robin, and was the / valiantest squire to be found in any land, and by his prowess and his / good fame oft he bore away the prize for his lord from the tournay / whereas he wended. Whereon it befel that his lady thus bespake him: / "Robin, my lord is so given up to these tournays that I know not how to / speak with him, whereof I am sore at heart, for I would well that he / should lay pain and care to the wedding of my daughter; wherefore I pray / thee, for the love of me, that whenas thou seest the point thou say to / him that he doth very ill and is sore blamed that he weddeth not his fair / daughter, for there is no knight in the land how rich soever he be who / would not take her with a good will. " "Lady," said Robin, "ye have said / well; I will say it right well; since forsooth he troweth me of many / things, and so will he hereof meseemeth. " "Robin," said the lady, "I / pray thee of this business for all guerdon. " "Dame," said Robin, "I am / well prayed hereof; and wot ye that I will do to my power herein. " "It / is enough," said the lady.

No long while after the knight betook him to wending to a tournay afar / from his land, and when he came there he was retained straightway of the / fellowship, he and the knight of whose mesney he was, and his banner was / borne into the hostel of his lord. The tournay began, and the knight did / so well by means of the good deeds of Robin, his squire, that he bore off / the praise and prize of the tournay from one party and the other. On the / second day the knight betook him to wending to his own land, and Robin / put him to reason many times and blamed him much in that he gave not his / fair daughter in marriage, and many times he said it to him, till at the / last his lord said to him: "Robin, thou and thy lady give me no peace / about the marrying of my daughter; but as yet I know and see no man in my / land unto whom I would give her. " "Ah, sir," said Robin, "there is not a / knight in thy land who would not take her with a good will. " "Fair / friend Robin, they are of no avail, all of them; and to none of them / shall I give her; and forsooth to no one would I give her as now, save to / one man only, and he forsooth is no knight. " "Sir, tell me of him," said / Robin, "and I shall speak or let speak to him so subtilly that the / marriage shall be made. " "Certes, Robin," said the knight, "from the / semblance that I see of thee thou willest well that my daughter should be / wedded. " "Sir," said Robin, "thou sayest sooth, for it is well time. " / "Robin," said the knight, "whereas thou art so eager that my daughter / should be wedded, she shall be wedded right soon if thou accord to the / said wedding. " "Certes, sir," said Robin, "of a good will shall I accord / thereto."