The Dedalus Book of Medieval Literature

by Brian Murdoch

  tend to his grave and let him rest in peace,

  I’m sure for him that you would do all this!

  I said: ‘My noble sister, later on

  would one day even keep your skeleton.

  And if by chance the verdict’s milder, and

  you only lose your eyes, then by the hand

  she’ll lead you over meadows, paths and stiles,

  and help you cover all the weary miles.

  And if you have one foot cut off instead

  she’ll bring your crutches to you in your bed

  on each and every morning of the year,

  oh yes, she’ll do that for you, never fear;

  and if it isn’t just a foot you lose,

  but they should hack the hand off that you use,

  she’ll cut your meat up and she’ll slice your bread

  until the day that both of you are dead.’

  When I said this, old Filch-a-lamb told me:

  ‘If Gotelind, your sister, is happy

  to take me, what a dowry I shall give,

  so she in greatest luxury shall live.

  I’ve got three sacks of plunder by me still,

  and all so heavy that you’d think them filled

  with lead. The first of these three sacks has got

  the finest uncut linen – and a lot!

  If you sold it, it wouldn’t be too hard

  to get at least a guinea for a yard –

  I’m sure she’d relish such as gift as that.

  I’ll tell you what is in the second sack –

  it’s crammed with blouses, skirts and lingerie;

  she’d never feel the bite of poverty

  if I became her husband, she my wife,

  I’d settle all my goods on her for life

  the day after the wedding, that I’d do,

  and let her have my other plunder, too.

  My third sack’s crammed full to the very brim

  (so much so that I can get no more in)

  with shawls and furs and other cloth as well,

  and two of them – now this I’m proud to tell –

  are lined with scarlet, deep and red and rich,

  and all around the edges has been stitched

  a trim of sable fur along the seam.

  I hid the lot in a nearby ravine,

  so I can very quickly get it back

  and give her it tomorrow, every sack!’

  That’s what he said – but father’s scotched it all

  with his harsh words, so Gotelind, farewell;

  I greatly fear you’ll have a bitter life

  if you should end up as the lawful wife

  of some old farmer – he’ll be quite a boor,

  and it’s the wife that suffers, that’s for sure.

  You’ll have to work for him right from the dawn

  till dusk, hump sacks and help him thresh his corn,

  and dig the turnip-fields laboriously!

  My Filch-a-lamb would have spared you drudgery,

  my noble and my very worthy friend.

  Alas, my lovely sister Gotelind,

  the idea causes me a lot of pain

  that I should see you when we meet again

  wed to some ugly oafish farmer, who

  will press unwelcome affections on you,

  then fall asleep and snore the night away.

  Alas, my sister, how I rue the day

  when that father of yours was so unkind –

  and by the way, he’s no father of mine!

  I’ll tell you this quite confidentially,

  that in her fifteenth week of pregnancy

  when my mother was having me, she lay

  secretly with a nobleman one day,

  who came along and slipped into her bed,

  and so I now take after him instead,

  and also from my godfather – fine man –

  whom God preserve for just as long He can,

  it’s all through these two men, I feel,

  that my behaviour’s noble and genteel.’

  When she heard this, his sister Gotelind

  said: ‘There’s one thing I’ve always had in mind,

  that really I am not his daughter either,

  because a noble knight seduced my mother

  when I was in her womb. The knight was very bold

  and took my mother outside in the cold

  when she was looking for a cow that strayed.

  So this explains why I’m so nobly made.

  Dear brother Gobble-goods, I ask of you,

  (and may the good Lord see that it comes true)’

  thus spoke the sister Gotelind,

  ‘That in view of all this, you’ll be so kind

  and give me Filch-a-lamb to be my man.

  That way I’ll always have food in my pan,

  I’ll have the pick of fine wines everywhere,

  and my store-cupboard never will be bare,

  and I’ll have all the beer I need around,

  and fine white flour, wonderfully ground.

  And if I get those sacks of his, all three,

  then I’ll be free of any poverty –

  I shall have things to eat and things to wear,

  of everything I’ll have my proper share,

  and I’ll have everything that a wife should

  get from her husband in the way of goods.

  And what’s more, I know I can offer him

  just what he needs – yes, I know I can bring

  my body, I’ve got everything he’ll need!

  If only our wretched father agreed!

  Besides, I’m quite three times as tough, you know

  as my sister, who married long ago,

  and on the morning after, no-one said:

  ‘Let’s help the poor thing get out of her bed.’

  The bedding didn’t kill her, we could see,

  and I’m quite sure that no more will it me,

  unless I really have misheard the facts

  and it involves some rather different acts.

  Dear brother Helmbrecht, please do hear me out

  (and what I say you must not spread about);

  let me come with you on the narrow track

  out through the pine-forest, when you go back,

  you see, I really, truly want to wed

  your friend and lie beside him in the bed.

  For that I’m quite prepared to risk the lot,

  father and mother and the home I’ve got.’

  Of this new plan the father got no wind,

  nor did the mother guess what was in mind,

  but the brother and sister soon agreed

  on their next moves, and settled with all speed

  that she should run away like him some day.

  ‘And then I’ll see you’re married straightaway

  to my friend Filch-a-lamb – he’ll lie with you

  no matter what your father tries to do.

  To have a man like that’s what you deserve,

  and you’ll be rich if such a man you serve.

  So if, sister, your resolve is true

  I’ll send a messenger who’ll come to you

  for you to follow him – he’ll lead you on,

  so you and Filch-a-lamb can become one.

  I’m sure that this plan of mine will succeed

  for both of you, and you’ll have all you need.

  I shall arrange a wedding feast with guests

  who will bring finery, the very best

  of clothes and ornaments, all for your use –

  yes, I shall do that for you in all truth.

  Now sister, make sure you are all prepared,

  and I’ll make sure that Filch-a-lamb is squared

  as well. God bless you now! I must away.

  Or else my welcome (so-called) I’ll outstay

  from father. Mother, blessings on your head.’

  And so off on his old path he then sped,

  an
d brought the news to Filch-a-lamb with pride

  that Gotelind agreed to be his bride.

  His friend, delighted, kissed young Helmbrecht’s hand

  a thousand times, embraced him fondly, and

  said that he blessed the air, the blessed wind

  that had been breathed by lovely Gotelind.

  But now the story takes a sorry turn.

  Many widows and orphans had to learn

  to live without things that were stolen now,

  and cope with this new tragedy somehow,

  when Filch-a-lamb, young Helmbrecht’s mighty friend,

  got married to the lovely Gotelind,

  and they sat in the seat of honour there.

  The food they ate was brought from everywhere

  around, they fetched it all from far and wide;

  for days on end the men would ride and ride

  to bring the things they wanted. Day and night

  they worked to make the wedding feast quite right.

  Food came in cartloads, and on horses too,

  at every hour of the day. And soon

  The bridegroom’s father’s house was full of food.

  I’m sure the wedding-spread was not as good

  when Arthur (mighty Albion’s mighty king)

  and Guenevere his wife had their wedding,

  compared to that prepared for Gotelind.

  What food! They really didn’t live on wind!

  And when all was prepared, young Helmbrecht sent

  his messenger, as had been the intent,

  who made all haste to go to Helmbrecht’s farm,

  and brought the sister with him on his arm.

  When Filch-a-lamb got word that she had come

  and Gotelind was now amongst the throng,

  he rushed towards her when he saw her there,

  and welcomed her in tones courtly and fair:

  ‘Greetings, good Gotelind, most noble maid.’

  ‘And to you, Filch-a-lamb,’ the girl replied.

  The couple gazed into each other’s eyes

  with looks of longing and with loving sighs,

  he looked at her, and then she looked at him,

  then they gazed at each other once again.

  Sir Filch-a-lamb, with gentle loving words

  very soon struck a sympathetic chord

  with Gotelind, who blushed and glanced away,

  and then replied in a most courtly way,

  then Gotelind gazed sweetly at her swain,

  while lovestruck Filch-a-lamb gazed back again.

  A grey-haired elder now came to the fore,

  who knew the proper form of service for

  the celebration of a marriage, and

  inside a circle made the couple stand.

  Then first he spoke to Filch-a-lamb, and said:

  ‘Do you take Gotelind, this lovely maid,

  to be your lawful wife? Then say I do.’

  ‘’course I will,’ said the lad. ‘Too bloody true!’

  He asked the young man to reply once more.

  He said: ‘Too right, I’ll have her, that’s for sure!’

  He tried a third time: ‘Will you say I do?’

  The young man said: ‘I keep on telling you

  that by my earthly and eternal life

  I’ll have this woman gladly for my wife.’

  The old man spoke to Gotelind instead:

  ‘Do you, child, take Sir Filch-a-lamb’ he said,

  ‘to be your lawful husband? Say I do.’

  ‘In God’s name yes, if I can have him too!’

  ‘Do you take Filch-a-lamb … ’ once more he tried.

  ‘Of course I do. Let’s have him,’ she replied.

  And then a third time: ‘Will you have this man?’

  ‘With pleasure and as often as I can!’

  And so he married Gotelind quickly

  to Filch-a-lamb before the company,

  and the young man, for the rest of his life,

  was joined with Gotelind as man and wife.

  The guests all sang together after this,

  he raised the veil and gave the bride a kiss,

  and then they sat down, every single guest

  so that they could enjoy the wedding-feast.

  The courtly offices were in the hands

  of other members of young Helmbrecht’s band.

  Helmbrecht (or Gobble-goods) looked after all

  the horses of the guests, as the marshal.

  Eat-a-ram served the drinks, all of the best,

  while Swag-bag ushered in and led the guests

  to their appropriate places at the board,

  both local friends, and from further abroad,

  acting as seneschal. The worst of them,

  Sir Rattle-safe, presided as the chamberlain,

  Cow-gobbler was the master of the food,

  and supervised the kitchens – all the good

  roast and stewed meat came from Cow-gobbler – and

  the bread was given out by Toss-Pot’s hand.

  This was a wedding-feast to beat the lot!

  Sir Wolf-throat and his good friend, Sir Wolfsgut,

  and Sir Wolf-snout as well – they came, all three,

  and they all ate and drank voraciously,

  downing a dozen cups of wine at least

  to celebrate this splendid wedding-feast.

  Before these men, food just melted away

  like snowflakes on a burning summer’s day,

  or if some mighty storm-wind had just roared

  and cleared the food right off the very board.

  I know they ate up every single thing

  that from the kitchens anyone could bring,

  and I don’t think a poor dog, passing by,

  would find meat on the bones they had sucked dry.

  It doesn’t matter anyway, because

  there is a proverb I’d remind you of:

  it runs, ‘eat, drink and be merry’ but still

  there is another sentence that I’ll tell:

  ‘eat, drink, enjoy yourself,’ and here is why:

  it goes on, ‘for tomorrow we shall die.’

  That’s why there was such guzzling of drink;

  ‘enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think,’

  and so it was with this whole would-be court.

  It was very much later than they thought.

  For suddenly fair Gotelind, the bride,

  shuddered, and to her brand-new husband cried:

  ‘Alas, a chill runs down my spine with fear,

  and I feel hostile strangers coming near,

  intent on doing us a deal of harm.

  Father, mother, why did I leave the farm?

  What prompted me this stupid thing to do,

  so now I am so far away from you!

  Now I’m afraid that those three sacks with all

  the plunder, might lead now to my downfall

  and cause me nothing but the greatest harm.

  I wish that I were back home on the farm,

  I wish I’d never come to be a bride,

  and now I wait here simply terrified.

  I didn’t feast so well at father’s table,

  but his food is far preferable

  to all the dangers I now have to face

  by staying with the others in this place.

  I’ve heard it said a thousand times or more

  that if you are too greedy, then you’re sure

  to lose it all! We’re led by greed

  into the very jaws of hell indeed,

  because it is a very sinful state.

  Alas, I now repent, but it’s too late.

  Alas, I listened to my brother’s words,

  I wish now that I never would have heard

  of Helmbrecht’s plans and what he had in store;

  all I can do is weep for evermore.’

  The bride, Gotelind, very quickly learned

  that farmer He
lmbrecht’s poor fare, that she’d spurned,

  would after all have been better by far

  than all the fine fish Filch-a-lamb gave her.

  For when they all had eaten of the best,

  and they had sat awhile to take their rest

  and listen to the cheerful minstrelsy

  (after the bride and bridegroom paid the fee)

  suddenly – what a shock it must have been –

  they saw the law-men come upon the scene,

  five officers who would enforce the law,

  the hanging judge and his assistants four.

  They quickly overcame the drunken ten,

  though some of them tried to run off again

  and hide behind the stove, or under chairs,

  and one ran here and the other ran there.

  But any that escaped the men of law

  was dragged out by the hair across the floor

  by the hangman’s assistant – this is true

  as the whole tale that I am telling you.

  A proper thief, however bold the man may be,

  and even if he has the strength of three

  still won’t escape the hangman in the end,

  and that indeed now happened to all ten.

  They were all rounded up and quickly tied

  up by the hangman and his men; they tried

  to break away, but for their pains

  the hangman’s men soon had them clapped in chains.

  Gotelind lost her lovely bridal gown,

  and by a hedgerow she herself was found

  in parlous state without her wedding-dress.

  She had to cover up her nakedness

  with hands across her breasts – the play

  was over, and she’d learned the hardest way.

  And what else happened to her after this?

  Well, many men were there to bear witness

  that God really claims vengeance when there’s need,

  and this tale proves that this is true indeed.

  A thief may trick a hundred men or more,

  but he is powerless before the law.

  If our thief only sees a hangman, then

  he’ll pale, his eyes will dim, and once again

  he’ll become weak, however great his might,

  defenceless when faced with the force of right,

  so even a lame hangman can, at will,

  take him; all his cunning, thieving skill

  is useless, whatever his bold intent,

  when faced with Justice and God’s Punishment.

  And now I’ll tell about the trial, and

  the condemnation of this robber band,

  when they were taken for their felony

  and ended up upon the gallows-tree.

  Gotelind had to watch as Filch-a-lamb

  had two cow-hides tied to his body, and