The Iron Pincers; or, Mylio and Karvel: A Tale of the Albigensian Crusades

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Эжен Сю. The Iron Pincers; or, Mylio and Karvel: A Tale of the Albigensian Crusades

INTRODUCTION

PART I. THE COURT OF LOVE

CHAPTER I. THE ORCHARD OF MARPHISE

CHAPTER II. GOOSE-SKIN THE JUGGLER

CHAPTER III. FLORETTE

CHAPTER IV. THE GARDEN OF EGLANTINE

CHAPTER V. THE CRUSADERS!

CHAPTER VI. ON TO LANGUEDOC!

PART II. THE ALBIGENSIAN HERETICS

CHAPTER I. THE PERFECT'S HOME

CHAPTER II. GIRAUDE OF LAVAUR

CHAPTER III. THE SHADOW OF WAR

CHAPTER IV. ROBIN LOVES ME, ROBIN HAS ME!

CHAPTER V. SONG ON THE CRUSADE AGAINST THE ALBIGENSIANS

CHAPTER VI. SONG ON THE BUTCHERY OF CHASSENEUIL

CHAPTER VII. SONG ON THE BUTCHERY OF BEZIERS

CHAPTER VIII. SONG ON THE BURNING OF CARCASSONNE

CHAPTER IX. THE HERETICS' WAR SONG

CHAPTER X. BEFORE THE CASTLE OF LAVAUR

CHAPTER XI. MONTFORT AND THE PERFECT

CHAPTER XII. GOOSE-SKIN'S CONVERSION

CHAPTER XIII. THE ESPLANADE AT LAVAUR

EPILOGUE

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What I here have to narrate occurs towards evening on a beautiful autumn day, in the orchard of Marphise, the noble Lady of Ariol. The orchard, which lies in the close vicinity of the ramparts of the city of Blois, is surrounded by a high wall, crowned by a hedge of yoke-elm. A handsome summer-pavilion rises in the middle of the garden. The trees are numerous, and their fruit-laden branches are ingeniously intertwined with vines that bear clusters of purple grapes. Not far from the pavilion, a stately pine-tree casts its shadow across a white marble basin filled with limpid water and encircled by a broad band of lawn, on which roses, anemones and gladiolas blend their lively colors. A bench of verdure is contrived around the foot of the gigantic pine, whose dense foliage allows the setting rays of the sun to penetrate it here and there, and to empurple the crystal face of the water in the basin.

Twelve women, the eldest of whom, Marphise, the Lady of Ariol, has hardly reached her thirtieth year, and the youngest, Eglantine, Viscountess of Seligny, is not yet seventeen; – twelve women, the least handsome of whom would everywhere, except here, have been considered a star of beauty; – twelve women are assembled in this orchard. After a collation in which the wines of Blois, of Saumur and of Beaugency have moistened the delicate venison pasties, the eels preserved in mustard, the cold partridges seasoned in verjuice – a dainty repast that is rounded with toothsome confectionery and sweets, moistened, in their turn, with no less copious libations of hippocrass or other spiced wines – the eyes of the noble ladies begin to dance and their cheeks are inflamed.

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Mylio – "Very well! But now listen to me – "

Goose-skin (with solemnity) – "When God created the world he put in it three kinds of men: the nobles, the priests and the serfs. To the nobles he gave the land, to the priests the goods of the simpletons, and to the serfs robust arms to work without let for the benefit of the priests."

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