it outside there; we can see more than half
of the saddle in here, but of him we see nothing, except the spurs which
fell down severed from his feet. Now let us cease this idle talk, and
search in all these comers, for he is surely in here still, or else we
are all enchanted, or the evil spirits have filched him away from us."
Thus they all, aflame with rage, sought him about the room, beating
upon the walls, and beds, and seats. But the couch upon which he lay was
spared and missed the blows, so that he was not struck or touched. But
all about they thrashed enough, and raised an uproar in the room with
their clubs, like a blind man who pounds as he goes about his search.
While they were poking about under the beds and the stools, there
entered one of the most beautiful ladies that any earthly creature ever
saw. Word or mention was never made of such a fair Christian dame, and
yet she was so crazed with grief that she was on the point of taking her
life. All at once she cried out at the top of her voice, and then fell
prostrate in a swoon. And when she had been picked up she began to claw
herself and tear her hair, like a woman who had lost her mind. She tears
her hair and rips her dress, and faints at every step she takes; nor can
anything comfort her when she sees her husband borne along lifeless
in the bier; for her happiness is at an end, and so she made her loud
lament. The holy water and the cross and the tapers were borne in
advance by the nuns from a convent; then came missals and censers
and the priests, who pronounce the final absolution required for the
wretched soul.

(Vv. 1173-1242.) My lord Yvain heard the cries and the grief that can
never be described, for no one could describe it, nor was such ever set
down in a book. The procession passed, but in the middle of the room a
great crowd gathered about the bier, for the fresh warm blood trickled
out again from the dead man's wound, and this betokened certainly that
the man was still surely present who had fought the battle and had
killed and defeated him. Then they sought and searched everywhere, and
turned and stirred up everything, until they were all in a sweat with
the trouble and the press which had been caused by the sight of the
trickling crimson blood. Then my lord Yvain was well struck and beaten
where he lay, but not for that did he stir at all. And the people became
more and more distraught because of the wounds which burst open, and
they marvel