Meriaduc and the Lady of the Ebony Ship

Now, dearest friends, let us set upon the business of my fair lady's goodly tales; I bid you make yourselves at ease around the gentle warmth of the fire and hearken to mine voice and lyre. I shall now disclose to you the woeful tale of Meriaduc and his unhappy encounter with that sometimes foul trickster which is Love; therefore ready your hearts for the sadness of a good man and his love lost.

Now our Meriaduc was a noble lord in the land of Brittany, who, despite his heart's longing for the sweetness of a lady with whom to share his castle, lived with only his dearest sister and some servants, whom he cared for deeply as he did all his subjects. You may well query after the reason for his celibacy. It was, indeed, the love he held for his subjects which had so long kept him unmarried: the neighboring ruler was an unjust lord, who oft laid siege to Meriaduc's lands. And so, as you have surely concluded, our good Meriaduc was devoted wholly to the protection of his beloved people, and had neither time nor opportunity to seek for himself a wife.

At long last, however, a solution seemed to appear, in the form of an exquisite ebony ship with black silken sails, unmanned save for a maiden so lovely that Meriaduc could scarcely behold her. The fair lady gladly accepted his aid, telling of how this ship had magically borne her from some mysterious disaster in a distant kingdom and delivered her here, to his very doorstep. Meriaduc perceived that she had the air of a great lady, and his heart became set on her the moment his eyes met her sweet visage. Happily he delivered her into the care of his sister, and the maiden did stay with him for a time, enjoying his food and wearing elegant dresses sewn by his own modiste, and each day it seemed to Meriaduc that he fell ever deeper and more helplessly into love. Still, the lady maintained her secrets, and did not once reveal to him any part of her history.

Many months went on in this way, and at last brave Meriaduc gathered the courage to confess his love to his lady, whereupon her countenance became quite guarded, and she bade him forget this love. Assuring her of the impossibility, Meriaduc pleaded with the lady to tell him what lay in her heart.

In answer, the lady revealed a belt fastened against her waist, explaining that it had been clasped there by a man whom she had loved, and that she might safely love only the man who could unclasp it using neither force nor knife. Despite his great love for her, Meriaduc could not unclasp the belt, and went sadly away to beg the counsel of his gentle sister.

"There is a man," his sister spake, "a lord, who lives two kingdoms over. He goes by the name of Guigemar, and though he is handsome and greatly gifted in all the attributes which make for a popular knight, he is yet to take a wife. Some years ago it is said that he met a doe, white as milk, who spoke unto him in a human tongue, prophesying a love to come, and then he went missing for a time before returning to rule his kingdom. Like your dear lady, he carries with him a shirt whose tails are tied into a clever knot, and he has made it known that he may only wed with the woman who can untie it, but as yet none have succeeded, though many have tried. As he finds himself in a similar circumstance to your dear lady, my brother, perhaps you might ask his assistance in the matter. Surely he might offer some wisdom?"

I must warn you, sweet listeners, that this moment your hearts may well be burdened, for Meriaduc's own goodness did, in the end, cause his tragic loss.

Satisfied with this advice, Meriaduc invited the lord Guigemar to visit, whereupon a strange occurrence took place: this Guigemar matched eyes with the lady, and an odd light of recognition sprang up in both their gazes, coupled with disbelief. At once each produced their tokens - the lady her belt and the lord his shirt, and each did easily undo the other's. Meriaduc, of course, felt that his heart had shattered, as this must mean that Guigemar was the man whom his lady held dear. And yet he did not trust the lord Guigemar, who had disappeared so hastily from his own shores, leaving his kingdom to be harassed by foul neighbors. And so Meriaduc bade Guigemar leave, and let the lady be.

And leave he did, but only to return after the passage of three nights, followed by his army. Guigemar coupled with Meriaduc's warmongering neighbor, and together they threatened the safety of Meriaduc's people, and came near to starving them, all for the hand of the lady. Filled with compassion for his people, Meriaduc prepared to present himself for their sake, and for the protection of the lady, though she did not love him. (And here, my friends, is his second grave mistake: he believed her to be good, though her lover was full of evil.) Just before his departure, the lady tearfully admitted to him her story: she was the married wife of a king across the sea, and Guigemar was her lover. She had betrayed her wedded husband, leaving him for the younger and handsomer Guigemar. She then locked herself tearfully into her chambers, and Meriaduc bravely went to face the army, hoping to save his people. Before he had the chance to speak, Guigemar cut him down, and our brave Meriaduc fell, never to rise again. The adulterous couple, so distracted were they with their own self-absorbed lust, left Meriaduc's kingdom to be ravished by its neighbor, whilst they returned to Guigemar's without a care, where they lived frivolous and short lives.

*Author's Note: This is a retelling of the Lay of Guigemar by Marie de France, but told from quite a different perspective and with very different results, as per my note on the Introduction page of this website. In the original lay, Guigemar is the hero, and though he is a handsome and brave knight, he is incapable of love. One day while on a hunt, he mortally wounds a white doe, but the arrow rebounds from the doe and hits him in the thigh as well. The doe speaks to him, telling him that his wound will never be healed unless he can find a woman to love, who will suffer for him and for whom he will suffer. He discovers the ebony ship, which bears his injured body to the lady, who is indeed the married wife of a queen. In Marie's lay, the king is old and jealous, and keeps the lady locked away, so when Guigemar appears, they fall in love and she cheats on her husband with him for about a year and a half before they are discovered and the king drives Guigemar back onto the magical ship, which takes him home. Before they are parted, they do tie the belt and shirt, and not long after, the ship returns and takes the lady to Meriaduc's castle. Meriaduc falls in love with the lady but cannot untie her belt, and so she rejects him, then Guigemar finds her and, after they successfully untie each other's tokens, attempts to take her away. Meriaduc refuses, whereupon Guigemar summons his army and attacks Meriaduc's land, starves his people, and kills him.

I chose to tell the story from Meriaduc's perspective because, in the original, the adulterous couple is glorified, and though Meriaduc takes the woman in, cares for her, provides for her, and protects her, he and the woman's husband are the ones portrayed as evil. Though each of them is certainly somewhat at fault in the original story, the act of adultery is made out to be not only acceptable, but even commendable, while the king's and Meriaduc's jealousy is portrayed as wrong and worthy of death. I wanted to explore this story with the intent of examining the role of adultery, and to expose it to the moral code of today's society.

Source story: "The Lay of Guigemar" from Lays of Marie de France and Other French Legends, translated by Eugene Mason (1911). Web Source.