lled at the request, and
asked her playfully for what reason she desired such a keepsake as a
linen shift.

"Friend," she replied, "if it chance that you leave me or that we are
separated I shall fear that some other damsel may win your love. In
this shift which you give me I shall make a knot, and shall ask you to
vow that never will you give your love to dame or damsel who cannot
untie this knot."

The knight complied with her request, and she made such a cunning knot
in the garment as only she could unravel. For his part Gugemar gave
the Queen a wonderfully fashioned girdle which only he could unclasp,
and he begged her that she would never grant her love to any man who
could not free her from it. Each promised the other solemnly to
respect the vows they had made.

That same day their hidden love was discovered. A chamberlain of the
King's observed them through a window of the Queen's bower, and,
hastening to his master, told him what he had seen. In terrible wrath
the King called for his guards, and, coming upon the lovers unaware,
commanded them to slay Gugemar at once. But the knight seized upon a
stout rod of fir-wood on which linen was wont to be dried, and faced
those who would slay him so boldly that they fell back in dismay.

The King questioned him as to his name and lineage, and Gugemar
fearlessly related his story. The King was incredulous at first, but
said that could the ship be found in which Gugemar had arrived he
would place him upon it and send him once more out to sea. After
search had been made the vessel was found, and Gugemar was placed on
it, the ship began to move, and soon the knight was well at sea.

Ere long the ship came to that harbour whence she had first sailed,
and as Gugemar landed he saw to his surprise one of his own vassals
holding a charger and accompanied by a knight. Mounting the steed,
Gugemar swiftly rode home, where he was received with every
demonstration of joy. But though his parents and friends did
everything possible to make him happy, the memory of the fair Queen
who had loved him was ever with him night and day, so that he might
not be solaced by game or tilting, the chase or the dance. In vain
those who wished him well urged him to take a wife. At first he
roundly refused to consider such a step, but when eagerly pressed by
his friends he announced that no wife should he wed who could not
first unloose the knot within his shift. So sought after was Gugemar
that