Guigemar live react, continued
...The reblogs of the original react got too long so here we go, fresh post. Keeping the rest of the live react into one post. Will stick to a single post per lai for the rest of them, sorry about the flood of posts.
So Guigemar is off in another land and Very Sad about it while all the ladies keep trying to undo the knot in his shirt. Which the lady tied and I guess she's magic somehow, because the knot can only be opened by her? or at least she says that he should only marry or lay with the woman who can undo the knot without tearing or cutting it? and he does the same with her belt.
Meanwhile, the lady's imprisoned by her elderly jealous husband in a tower for two years, depressed and eventually downright suicidal. So she tries the door and it turns out to be unlocked. Maybe the husband died? Anyway, she finds the magic self-sailing ship that Guigemar first arrived on at the dock and gets in, and it takes her to the castle of a lord named Meriaduc.
Wait, what happened to the damsel from earlier? She was the best part. I'm gonna say she's off on different, better adventures.
Meriaduc finds the lady in the ship, "a lady who is like a fairy in her beauty", falls in love lust with her, sticks her in a tower. Again.
"He had a young sister
in his room, who was very beautiful"
Like a nun? Or his sibling? But by the phrasing I think she's "a sister", not "his sister". Why was she in his room? What is happening here?
Oh hey, Meriaduc has heard of Guigemar. He can't undo the lady's belt without breaking it, so he cuts her tunic open but can't remove her belt. (Is it like a chastity belt? She says "no man will ever be her lover / but the one who will open it / without breaking it".)
Meriaduc gives up and entices Guigemar to come to his tower. Because he's pretty sure the lady tied the knot in Guigemar's shirt. (Has Guigemar been wearing the same shirt this whole time? How is he washing it? Is he just. Bathing in it and hoping for the best?)
"He sends his sister to meet him" oh, okay, she was his sister all along, not a nun. That wasn't confusing at all. (Why was she in his room? Just... hanging out, visiting? Drawing room? I don't know how medieval bedrooms work.)
The lady almost faints when she hears Guigemar's name. They're very stunned and happy to see one another. She unknots Guigemar's shirt. He looks at her belt but doesn't unbuckle it, which is a good thing, because
"Meriaduc regarded him;
he did not at all like the way things were looking."
Sheesh, what is with men in this poem and getting all possessive over the still-unnamed lady?
Guigemar offers to be Meriaduc's liege man and serve him for two to three years with a hundred knights or more, if he'll restore the lady to Guigemar. I'm guessing two to three years of service is a big deal?
Meriaduc turns him down, says "I found her, I will keep her, and I will defend her against you" because he's an asshole who sees women as possessions.
So Guigemar goes to join the army of Meriaduc's enemy (because Meriaduc's been at war for a while, possibly so he'll have an excuse to get Guigemar to come to his place and unbuckle the lady's belt so Meriaduc can have her, I guess). And Guigemar gets to destroy and capture Meriaduc's castle, kill Meriaduc, and then lead out his lady, happily ever after, etc.
I still want to know what happened to the lady's servant girl.
