Nothing but your command could thwart my
power to come to you. If you will but grant me your permission,
the way will open before me. But if it is not your pleasure,
then the way is so obstructed that I could not possibly pass
through." "Certainly," she says, "I consent. My will need not
stand in your way; but you must wait until I retire to my bed
again, so that no harm may come to you, for it would be no joke
or jest if the seneschal, who is sleeping here, should wake up on
hearing you. So it is best for me to withdraw, for no good could
come of it, if he should see me standing here." "Go then, lady,"
he replies; "but have no fear that I shall make any noise. I
think I can draw out the bars so softly and with so little effort
that no one shall be aroused."
(Vv. 4651-4754.) Then the Queen retires, and he prepares to
loosen the window. Seizing the bars, he pulls and wrenches them
until he makes them bend and drags them from their places. But
the iron was so sharp that the end of his little finger was cut
to the nerve, and the first joint of the next finger was torn;
but he who is intent upon something else paid no heed to any of
his wounds or to the blood which trickled down. Though the
window is not low, Lancelot gets through it quickly and easily.
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