their warden to receive such
punishment as they deserved_.

At the haven of Coulon,(1) near Nyort, there lived a boatwoman who, day
or night, did nothing but convey passengers across the ferry.

1 The village of Coulon, in Poitou (department of the Deux-
Sevres), lies within seven miles of Niort, on the Niortaise
Sevre, which at this point is extremely wide.--L.

Now it chanced that two Grey Friars from Nyort were crossing the river
alone with her, and as the passage is one of the longest in France, they
began to make love to her, that she might not feel dull by the way. She
returned them the answer that was due; but they, being neither fatigued
by their journeying, nor cooled by the water, nor put to shame by her
refusal, determined to take her by force, and, if she clamoured, to
throw her into the river. She, however, was as virtuous and clever as
they were gross and wicked, and said to them--

"I am not so ill-disposed as I seem to be, but I pray you grant me two
requests. You shall then see that I am more ready to give than you are
to ask."

The friars swore to her by their good St. Francis that she could ask
nothing that they would not grant in order to have what they desired of
her.

"First of all," she said, "I require you both to promise on oath that
you will inform no man living of this matter." This they promised right
willingly.

"Then," she continued, "I would have you take your pleasure with me one
after the other, for it would be too great a shame for me to have to do
with one in presence of the other. Consider which of you will have me
first."

They deemed her request a very reasonable one, and the younger friar
yielded the first place to the elder. Then, as they were drawing near a
little island, she said to the younger one--

"Good father, say your prayers here until I have taken your companion to
another island. Then, if he praises me when he comes back, we will leave
him here, and go away in turn together."

The younger friar leapt out on to the island to await the return of his
comrade, whom the boat-woman took away with her to another island.
When they had reached the bank she said to him, pretending the while to
fasten her boat to a tree--

"Look, my friend, and see where we can place ourselves."

The good father stepped on to the island to seek for a convenient spot,
but no sooner did she see him on land than she struck her foot against
the tree and went off w