wild beasts, and beasts serpentine, and
she feared that if she entered there they would slay her. But anon she
deemed that if men found her there they would hale her back into the town
to burn her.

_Here one singeth_:

Nicolete, the fair of face,
Climbed upon the coping stone,
There made she lament and moan
Calling on our Lord alone
For his mercy and his grace.

"Father, king of Majesty,
Listen, for I nothing know
Where to flee or whither go.
If within the wood I fare,
Lo, the wolves will slay me there,
Boars and lions terrible,
Many in the wild wood dwell,
But if I abide the day,
Surely worse will come of it,
Surely will the fire be lit
That shall burn my body away,
Jesus, lord of Majesty,
Better seemeth it to me,
That within the wood I fare,
Though the wolves devour me there
Than within the town to go,
Ne'er be it so!"

Then speak they, say they, tell they the Tale:

Nicolete made great moan, as ye have heard; then commended she herself to
God, and anon fared till she came unto the forest. But to go deep in it
she dared not, by reason of the wild beasts, and beasts serpentine. Anon
crept she into a little thicket, where sleep came upon her, and she slept
till prime next day, when the shepherds issued forth from the town and
drove their bestial between wood and water. Anon came they all into one
place by a fair fountain which was on the fringe of the forest, thereby
spread they a mantle, and thereon set bread. So while they were eating,
Nicolete wakened, with the sound of the singing birds, and the shepherds,
and she went unto them, saying, "Fair boys, our Lord keep you!"

"God bless thee," quoth he that had more words to his tongue than the
rest.

"Fair boys," quoth she, "know ye Aucassin, the son of Count Garin de
Biaucaire?"

"Yea, well we know him."

"So may God help you, fair boys," quoth she, "tell him there is a beast
in this forest, and bid him come chase it, and if he can take it, he
would not give one limb thereof for a hundred marks of gold, nay, nor for
five hundred, nor for any ransom."

Then looked they on her, and saw her so fair that they were all astonied.

"Will I tell him thereof?" quoth he that had more words to his tongue
than the rest; "foul fall him who speaks of the thing or tells him the
tidings. These are but visions ye tell of, for there is no beast so
great in this forest, stag, nor lion, no