" "Keep silence, all." the Count
replies; "the dame is mine and I am hers, and I will do with her
as I please." At this she could not hold her peace, but swears
she will never be his. And the Count springs up and strikes her
again, and she cries out aloud. "Ha! wretch," she says, "I care
not what thou say to me, or what thou do! I fear not thy blows,
nor yet thy threats. Beat me and strike me, as thou wilt. I
shall never heed thy power so much as to do thy bidding more or
less, even were thou with thy hands fight now to snatch out my
eyes or flay me alive."
(Vv. 4853-4938.) In the midst of these words and disputes Erec
recovered from his swoon, like a man who awakes from sleep. No
wonder that he was amazed at the crowd of people he saw around.
But great was his grief and great his woe when he heard the voice
of his wife. He stepped to the floor from off the dais and
quickly drew his sword. Wrath and the love he bore his wife gave
him courage. He runs thither where he sees her, and strikes the
Count squarely upon the head, so that he beats out his brains
and, knocking in his forehead, leaves him senseless and
speechless; his blood and brains flow out. The knights spring
from the tables, persuaded that it is the devil who had made his
way among them there.
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