#leslais

The Plot:

Set of lais with individual plots: 

~ Guigemar: a knight who is unable to feel love hunts a white stag, injures himself in the thigh from a reflected arrow, comes to the magical kingdom by boat, falls in love with a woman (married to the lord of the kingdom).  They tie knots to maintain chastity when they are discovered and Guigemar goes back to his own kingdom where he is hailed as a hero.  The lady eventually follows and is captured by another lord who wishes to marry her (and rape her) but is unable to do so by the knot.  Guigemar comes to the castle for a tournament, finds the lady, asks to have her, the lord refuses, war breaks out, lots of people die, Guigemar gets the girl. 

~ Equitain: the one with the king whose wife is having an affiar, they try to kill him in the bathtub, but they slip and fall and kill themselves instead. 

~ le frene: princess left in an ash tree

~ Bisclavret: werewolf 

~ Les Deux Amants: the lovers who want to marry but can only do so if he carries her to the top of a mountain.  She has a magic potion to give him strength, he refuses, gets her to the top and dies.  She flings the potion, flowers grow, and she dies too. 

~ Yonec: Another woman in a tower, falls in love with a bird knight, husband finds out and kills him.  She follow the bird knight to a silver city (he’s a fee) and gets a magic ring to make sure no one remembers the knight.  She’s pregnant with Yonec, when he grows up they all go to the grave, she tells the story, and dies. Yonec kills his stepfather, the end. 

~ le Rossingnol: woman married to a bad husband, finds a lover across the balcony, talks to him at night.  Husband finds out, asks her what she’s doing, she tells him she’s listening to the nightengales.  Husband kills a nightengale, she gives the body to her lover, he carries it around in a box.  creepy. 

~Milon: Milun, a knight without equal who lives in southern Wales, falls in love with a beautiful noblewoman (a baron's daughter). They begin a secret affair and soon conceive a child. The noblewoman fears for her reputation because they are not married. She is able to hide the pregnancy. Once the child is born, she has him sent away to her sister in Northumbria along with precious silk, a ring, and a letter.Not knowing her love for Milun, the woman's father marries her off to another man. Unwilling to break contact, however, Milun sends messages to his lover by sending a swan with letters hidden in its feathers. This continues for many years, while their son grows up in the home of his aunt.The young man grows into a powerful knight, whose renown spreads throughout the kingdom, and one day he decides to attend a tournament at the Mont Saint-Michel. Hearing tales of this valiant knight, Milun also decides to attend the tournament, completely unaware that it is his son. Eventually, the father and son meet in battle, where the son is victorious. He knocks off Milun's helmet, and realizing that he is fighting an older gentleman, he approaches him to pay his respects. However, as he gets closer, Milun recognizes the ring on the young man's finger and realizes that this is his long-lost son.The two share a tearful reunion, and Milun tells his son the entire story of his conception. The young man determines that his only course of action is to return to his mother and kill her husband so that his parents can be reunited. They return to Wales, and when they arrive, they are greeted by a messenger who tells them that the lady's husband has died. Thanks to this coincidence, Milun marries his lady

~le Malheureux: lady is in love with 4 knights, they all duel in tournament, all but one dies and he is made impotent.  everyone is sad. 

~ Chevrefeuille: the Tristan and Isolde one

~Lanval: the Amie is a boss

~ Eliduc: valiant knight has 2 wives in 2 different kingdoms.  One finds out and “dies,” the other comes to her grave, sees 2 weasels doing their weasel thing and bring back the dead, does the same to the younger wife, (yay).  The older wife goes to a convent, the younger couple marry, then go to the convent too to be with God. 

Important Points:

- anglo-norman

-female author

- fee presence/fairy tales

- confusing/confused binaries (animal/man, man/woman, secular/religious, love/sex)

- issue of “courtly love” and what is good, true love

How I’ve Used it Before/How I Could Use it Again:

-femininity vs. masculinity 

- animal vs. human