You come, I am sure, to seek the Queen."
"Sire," he replies, "your surmise is correct; no other cause
brings me here." "Friend, you must suffer hardship to obtain
her," he replies; "and you are sorely wounded, as I see by the
wounds and the flowing blood. You will not find him who brought
her hither so generous as to give her up without a struggle; but
you must tarry, and have your wounds cared for until they are
completely healed. I will give you some of `the three Marys'
ointment, (18) and something still better, if it can be found,
for I am very solicitous about your comfort and your recovery.
And the Queen is so confined that no mortal man has access to her
-- not even my son, who brought her here with him and who resents
such treatment, for never was a man so beside himself and so
desperate as he. But I am well disposed toward you, and will
gladly give you, so help me God, all of which you stand in need.
My son himself will not have such good arms but that I will give
you some that are just as good, and a horse, too, such as you
will need, though my son will be angry with me. Despite the
feelings of any one, I will protect you against all men. You
will have no cause to fear any one excepting him who brought the
Queen here. No man ever menaced another as I have menaced him,
and I came near driving him from my land, in my displeasure
because he will not surrender her to you.
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