"Good enough," said the
lord of Coarraze. "Now leave me for today, you are excused. I wish to sleep."
So
Orton left. When it came to the hour of Terce the next day, the
lord of Coarraze was up and dressed as usual. He left his chamber and walked along a gallery which gave onto the castle courtyard. He looked down there and the first thing he noticed in his courtyard was the biggest sow he had ever seen, but it was so thin that it seemed to be just skin and bone. It had huge, drooping ears that were all ragged and its snout was long, gaunt and hungry-looking. The
lord of Coarraze was surprised to see the sow there and most displeased. He gave orders to his men,
"Quickly, let the dogs out. I want that sow torn apart and devoured."
Varlets came forward, went to where the dogs were kept and set them on the sow. The sow let out a loud squeal and looked straight up at the
lord of Coarraze as he leaned out of the gallery in front of his chamber. Then it was not seen again. It disappeared, and nobody knew where it had gone. The
lord of Coarraze returned to his room deep in thought, remembered
Orton and said to himself,
"I believe I have seen my messenger today. I very much regret having had my dogs set on him. Perhaps I shall never see him again, for he said many times that as soon as I offended him, I would lose him and he would never return."
And he was right. He never returned to the
castle of Coarraze and the
knight died the following year. So now I have told you
Orton's story and how he willingly brought news to the
lord of Coarraze for a time.
'You have indeed,' I said to the squire who had been recounting the tale to me, 'but why did you begin it in the first place? Is the
count of Foix served by such a messenger?'
'To tell you the truth,' the squire replied, 'many men in
Béarn imagine that he is. Nothing happens in this country, or anywhere else, that - when he is so inclined and sets his mind to it - he does not know all about it immediately. And the time that we were made most aware of this was when he gave us the news of those knights and squires from this land who had lost their lives in
Portugal. Anyway, his reputation for knowing things is a great benefit to him. It is impossible to lose a gold or silver spoon here, or anything like that, without him knowing about it straight away.'
At this point I took my leave of the squire and found other company with whom to relax and enjoy myself, but I committed the tale he had told me to memory, just as it appears here.
SHF 3-48 syncNow I shall permit myself to tell you a little about the campaigns in
Portugal and
Spain and shall tell you also of affairs concerning the more northerly regions and of the kingdom of
France itself.
Third Book, Chapter 23 [1388-(1384-85)]
How siege was laid to Brest in Brittany, and how several English fortresses in the region of Toulouse were recovered by the French.
While these events were taking place in
Castile and in distant regions, orders were given by
Sir Olivier de Clisson, the constable of France, to erect a fortification in front of the fortress and garrison of the
castle of Brest in
Brittany which the
English held and had done so for a long time, and which they had no desire to leave, neither for the
king of France nor the
duke of Brittany who had the most immediate interest in the business.
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