I do not hold my daughter so cheap as to bestow her upon you
forcibly. Now go about your business. For it is quite the same
to me whether you go or whether you stay."
(Vv. 5771-5871.) Thereupon my lord Yvain turns away and delays
no longer in the castle. He escorted the poor and ill-clad
wretches, who were now released from captivity, and whom the lord
committed to his care. These maidens feel that now they are
rich, as they file out in pairs before him from the castle. I do
not believe that they would rejoice so much as they do now were
He who created the whole world to descend to earth from Heaven.
Now all those people who had insulted him in every possible way
come to beseech him for mercy and peace, and escort him on his
way. He replies that he knows nothing of what they mean. "I do
not understand what you mean," he says; "but I have nothing
against you. I do not remember that you ever said anything that
harmed me." They are very glad for what they hear, and loudly
praise his courtesy, and after escorting him a long distance,
they all commend him to God. Then the damsels, after asking his
permission, separated from him. When they left him, they all
bowed to him, and prayed and expressed the wish that God might
grant him joy and health, and the accomplishment of his desire,
wherever in the future he should go.
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