Just as the
lark cannot withstand or protect itself against the hawk which
outflies it and attacks it from above, so he in his helplessness
and shame, must invoke him and sue for mercy. And when he hears
him beg for mercy, he ceases his attack and says: "Dost thou wish
for mercy?" He replies: "You have asked a very clever question;
any fool could ask that. I never wished for anything so much as
I now wish for mercy." Then he says to him: "Thou must mount,
then, upon a cart. Nothing thou couldst say would have any
influence with me, unless thou mountest the cart, to atone for
the vile reproaches thou didst address to me with thy silly
mouth." And the knight thus answers him: "May it never please
God that I mount a cart!" "No?" he asks; "then you shall die."
"Sire, you can easily put me to death; but I beg and beseech you
for God's sake to show me mercy and not compel me to mount a
cart. I will agree to anything, however grievous, excepting
that. I would rather die a hundred times than undergo such a
disgrace. In your goodness and mercy you can tell me nothing so
distasteful that I will not do it."
(Vv. 2793-2978.) While he is thus beseeching him, behold across
the field a maiden riding on a tawny mule, her head uncovered and
her dress disarranged.
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