d gold. I enjoy seeing the work they do, but I
am much distressed to see their bodies so thin, and their faces so pale
and sad. I imagine they would be fair and charming, if they had what
they desire." "I will tell you nothing," was the reply; "seek some one
else to tell you." "That will I do, since there is no better way." Then
he searches until he finds the entrance of the yard where the damsels
were at work: and coming before them, he greets them all, and sees tears
flowing from their eyes, as they weep. Then he says to them: "May it
please God to remove from your hearts, and turn to joy, this grief, the
cause of which I do not know." One of them answers: "May you be heard by
God, to whom you have addressed your prayer. It shall not be concealed
from you who we are, and from what land: I suppose that is what you wish
to know." "For no other purpose came I here," says he. [326] "Sire,
it happened a long while ago that the king of the Isle of Damsels went
seeking news through divers courts and countries, and he kept on his
travels like a dunce until he encountered this perilous place. It was an
unlucky hour when he first came here, for we wretched captives who are
here receive all the shame and misery which we have in no wise deserved.
And rest assured that you yourself may expect great shame, unless a
ransom for you be accepted. But, at any rate, so it came about that my
lord came to this town, where there are two sons of the devil (do not
take it as a jest) who were born of a woman and an imp. These two were
about to fight with the king, whose terror was great, for he was not yet
eighteen years old, and they would have been able to cleave him through
like a tender lamb. So the king, in his terror, escaped his fate as best
he could, by swearing that he would send hither each year, as required,
thirty of his damsels, and with this rent he freed himself. And when
he swore, it was agreed that this arrangement should remain in force
as long as the two devils lived. But upon the day when they should
be conquered and defeated in battle, he would be relieved from this
tribute, and we should be delivered who are now shamefully given over to
distress and misery. Never again shall we know what pleasure is. But I
spoke folly just now in referring to our deliverance, for we shall never
more leave this place. We shall spend our days weaving cloths of silk,
without ever being better clad. We shall always be poor and naked, and
shall