d puts plenty of fresh sweet hay and oats before him. Then she
went back to her father, who said to her: "Fair daughter dear, take now
this gentleman by the hand and show him all honour. Take him by the hand
upstairs." The maiden did not delay (for in her there was no lack of
courtesy) and led him by the hand upstairs. The lady had gone before and
prepared the house. She had laid embroidered cushions and spreads upon
the couches, where they all three sat down Erec with his host beside
him, and the maiden opposite. Before them, the fire burns brightly. The
vavasor had only one man-servant, and no maid for chamber or kitchen
work. This one man was busy in the kitchen preparing meat and birds for
supper. A skilful cook was he, who knew how to prepare meal in boiling
water and birds on the spit. When he had the meal prepared in accordance
with the orders which had been given him, he brought them water for
washing in two basins. The table was soon set, cloths, bread, and wine
set out, and they sat down to supper. They had their fill of all they
needed. When they had finished and when the table was cleared, Erec thus
addressed his host, the master of the house: "Tell me, fair host." he
asked, "why your daughter, who is so passing fair and clever, is so
poorly and unsuitably attired." "Fair friend," the vavasor replies,
"many a man is harmed by poverty, and even so am I. I grieve to see
her so poorly clad, and yet I cannot help it, for I have been so long
involved in war that I have lost or mortgaged or sold all my land. [19]
And yet she would be well enough dressed if I allowed her to accept
everything that people wish to give her. The lord of this castle himself
would have dressed her in becoming fashion and would have done her every
manner of favour, for she is his niece and he is a count. And there is
no nobleman in this region, however rich and powerful, who would not
willingly have taken her to wife had I given my consent. But I am
waiting yet for some better occasion, when God shall bestow still
greater honour upon her, when fortune shall bring hither some king or
count who shall lead her away, for there is under Heaven no king or
count who would be ashamed of my daughter, who is so wondrous fair that
her match cannot be found. Fair, indeed, she is; but yet greater far
than her beauty, is her intelligence. God never created any one so
discreet and of such open heart. When I have my daughter beside me, I
don't care a marbl