THE LADY of SOLACE
by Unknown · from The Red Romance Book
Adapted Version
Once, a King loved his daughter very much. He loved her very, very much. She was his only child. He had a big, beautiful garden. In this garden, there was a special tree. It had golden fruit. The King wanted to keep his daughter near. He made a rule. The King said, "Bring a branch from this tree." Then you can marry my Princess.
Many men came. They were brave. They wanted to marry the Princess. They went into the garden. But they did not come back. The garden was dangerous. The King was happy. His daughter stayed with him. He liked her company.
One day, a brave knight came. He was strong. He was kind. His name was Sir Tirius. He wanted to try the task. He was not afraid. He asked to see the Princess first. He wanted to speak with her.
The Princess was very kind. She had a gentle heart. She told Sir Tirius a secret. "Find the Kind Lady," she said. "She lives in the forest. She is very wise. She can help you. Listen to her words."
Sir Tirius went to the forest. He walked a long way. He found the Kind Lady. She was old and wise. She gave him a magic string. It was thin and strong. "Hold this string," she said. "It will show you the way." She also gave him special cream. It smelled sweet. "Put this cream on your armor," she said. "It will stop the Big Lion. It will keep you safe."
Sir Tirius went into the garden. The garden was dark. He tied the string to a post. He held the string in his hand. He felt ready. A Big Lion came. It was huge. It roared very loud. Sir Tirius had cream on his armor. The lion bit his arm. Its teeth got stuck in the cream. The lion could not bite him. It tried again. The Big Lion ran away. It was scared.
Sir Tirius felt very clever. He felt very strong. He thought, "I do not need the string." He put the magic string down. He left it there. He walked away from it. He felt very proud of himself. He did not think of the Kind Lady. He forgot her good advice.
Sir Tirius saw some yummy fruit. It looked very good. He ate the fruit. He ate too much. Some men walked by. Sir Tirius was not kind to them. He spoke rude words. The men pushed him. He fell into a deep hole. The hole was dark.
Sir Tirius was stuck. He could not get out. He felt very sad. He felt very alone. He remembered the magic string. He wished he had it. He called for the Kind Lady. "Kind Lady, help me!" he cried. His voice was small.
The Kind Lady came. She appeared quickly. She helped him out of the hole. She pulled him up. "You forgot my help," she said. "You must find the string yourself." She looked at him sadly. Her eyes were soft. Then she went away. She disappeared into the trees.
Sir Tirius looked for many days. He walked and walked. He was tired. He was hungry. He felt very lost. He felt very foolish. At last, he found the dirty string. It was covered in leaves. It was near where the lion was. He picked it up.
The magic string showed him the way. It pulled him gently. It led him through the garden. The path was clear. Sir Tirius found the golden fruit tree. Its fruit shone bright. He took a branch. He held it carefully. He was very happy. He went back to the King. He walked quickly.
The King had to say yes. He smiled a little. Sir Tirius had completed the task. He was a brave knight. He was also wise now. Sir Tirius married the Princess. They had a big wedding. They lived happily ever after in his land. They were very happy. They had many good days.
It is good to listen to kind friends. They give good advice. It is not good to be too proud. Pride can make you fall.
Original Story
THE LADY OF SOLACE
There was once an emperor who had two things that he loved more than all the world—his daughter and his garden. The finest linen and the richest silks of India or China decked the princess from the moment she was old enough to run alone, and the ships that brought them brought also the fairest flowers and sweetest fruits that grew in distant lands. All the time that he was not presiding over his council, or hearing the petitions of his people, the emperor passed in his garden, watching the flowers open and the fruits ripen, and by-and-by he planted trees and shrubs and made walks and alleys, till altogether the garden was the most beautiful as well as the largest that had ever been seen.
The years passed, and the princess reached the age of fourteen; quite old enough to be married, thought the kings and princes who were looking out for a bride for their sons. The emperor’s heart sank when he heard rumours of embassies that were coming to rob him of his daughter, and he shut himself up in his room to try to invent a plan by which he might keep the princess, without giving offence to the powerful monarchs who had asked for her hand.
For a long while he sat with his head on his hands, thinking steadily, but every scheme had some drawback. At length his face brightened and he sprang up from his seat.
‘Yes! that will do,’ he cried, and went down to attend his council, looking quite a different man from what he had been a few hours before.
The embassies and the princes continued to arrive, and they all got the same answer. ‘The emperor was proud of the honour done to himself and his daughter, and would give her in marriage to any man who would pass through the garden and bring him a branch of the tree which stood at the further end.’ Nothing could surely be more easy, and every prince in turn as he heard the conditions felt that the fairest damsel on the whole earth was already his wife.
But though each man went gaily in, none ever came out, nor was it ever known what had befallen them. At last so many had entered that fatal gate that it seemed as if there could be no more princes or nobles left, and the emperor began to breathe again at the thought that he would be able after all to keep his daughter.
But one day a knight of great renown, named Tirius, arrived from beyond the seas and knocked at the gate of the castle. Like the others, he was welcomed and feasted, and when the feast was ended he craved that the emperor would grant him the hand of the princess on whatever condition he might choose.
‘Right willingly,’ answered the emperor; ‘there is only one condition I have laid down, and that is an easy one, though for some strange reason no one as yet has been able to fulfil it. You have merely to walk through the garden that you see below, and bring me back a branch from a tree bearing golden fruit, which stands on the opposite side. If fame speaks true, this is child’s play to the adventures in which you have borne so noble a part.’
‘In good sooth,’ said the knight, who saw clearly that there was more in the matter than appeared—‘in good sooth your condition likes me well. Still, as fortune is ever inconstant, and may be tired of dealing me favours, I would first ask as a boon a sight of your fair daughter and leave to hearken to her voice. After that I will delay no longer, but proceed on my quest.’
‘I will take you to her myself,’ answered the emperor, who thought that he might show this small mercy to a man who was going to his death, and he led his guest down long passages and through lofty halls, till they reached the princess’s apartments.
‘In five minutes my chamberlain shall come for you, and he shall show you the way to the garden,’ said the emperor, ‘and meanwhile I bid you farewell;’ and, leaving Tirius to enter alone, he went to seek his ministers.
It would be hard to say whether the knight or the princess was most amazed as they stood gazing at each other—he at her beauty and she at his boldness, for never before had any man crossed her threshold. For a moment both were silent; then the knight, remembering how short a time was allowed him, aroused himself from his dream and spoke:
‘Gentle damsel, help me now in my need, for I have been drawn hither by love. Full well I know that many have had this adventure before me, and have entered that garden and never returned from it. Without your aid my fate will be such as theirs, and therefore, I pray you, tell me what I should do so that I may win through without harm.’
Now the knight was a goodly man and tall, and perhaps the princess may have bewailed in secret the noble youths who had fallen victims to her father’s pleasure. But, however that might be, she smiled and made reply:
‘I am ready to marry any man on whom my father wishes to bestow me, and you say you have come hither for love of me. Still, you have asked of me a hard thing, for it beseems not a daughter to betray her father’s confidence. Yet, as I am loth that any more fair youths should lose their lives for my sake, I will give you this counsel. You must first pass through a forest, which is the home of a lady who is known to all as the “Lady of Solace.” Go to her, and she will give you the help you need to journey safely through the garden.’
The Lady of Solace
The princess had scarcely finished these words when the voice of the chamberlain was heard without, bidding him withdraw, and, glancing gratefully at her, the knight bowed low and took his leave.
In the great hall the chamberlain quitted him, telling him to take his ease and rest till the emperor should return, but instead the knight waited till he was alone and then plunged straight into the forest.
He walked on for a little way till he reached a green space, and there he stopped and cried, ‘Where is the Lady of Solace?’ Then he sat down on a stone and waited. In a short time he saw coming towards him two ladies, one bearing a basin and the other a cloth.
‘We give you greeting, sir,’ they said; ‘the Lady of Solace has sent us to you, and she bids you first wash your feet in this basin, and then go with us to her palace.’ So the knight washed his feet, and dried them in the white cloth, and rose up and went with the ladies to the palace, which was built of blue marble, and the fairest that ever he saw. The Lady of Solace was fair likewise and of a marvellous sweet countenance, and her voice was soft like the voice of a thrush as she asked him what he wanted with her. At that the knight told his errand, and how the princess had bade him come to her, for she alone could help him to win through the enchanted garden.
‘I am called the Lady of Solace,’ said she, with a smile which seemed made up of all the beautiful things in the world, ‘and I give succour to all those who need it. Here is a ball of thread; take it and bind it round the post of the gate of the garden, and hold fast the thread in your hand, unwinding it as you go. For if you lose the clue, you will perish like those before you. And more. A lion dwells in the garden, who will spring out and devour you, as he has devoured the rest. Therefore, arm yourself with armour, and see that the armour be anointed thickly with ointment. When the lion sees you, he will take your arm or your leg into his mouth, and his teeth shall stick fast in the ointment, and when you sunder yourself from him his teeth shall be drawn out, and you shall kill him easily. But during the fight beware lest you let go the clue.
‘And after the lion shall come four men, who will set on you and seek to turn you from their path; but beware of them also, and if you are in peril call to me, and I will succour you. And now return to the palace and put on your armour, and so, farewell.’
When the knight heard this he was right glad, and stole back to the palace, where he found that the emperor was still sitting at his council. He sat down in the great hall to await him, but the time seemed very long before his host entered.
‘How have you sped?’ asked he.
‘My lord, now that through your goodness I have seen the princess,’ said the knight, ‘there can be but one ending to my journey. I go at once in quest of the tree, and I am content whatever fate may befall me.’
‘May fortune be with you!’ answered the emperor, who never failed to give good wishes to his daughter’s suitors, as he felt quite sure that they would be of no use.
So the knight bowed low and left the hall, going straight to the gatekeeper’s house, where he had put off his armour on arriving. On pretence of sharpening his sword, he borrowed a pot of ointment from the man, and, unseen by him, rubbed the paste thickly over his armour. After this he looked about to see that no one was watching him, and took the path that led to the garden.
THE LADY OF SOLACE HELPS THE FALLEN KNIGHT
A large iron gate supported by two posts stood at the entrance, and round one of these he firmly bound one end of the thread which the Lady of Solace had given him. Holding the other end in his hand, he advanced for a long while without seeing or hearing any strange thing, till a roar close to him caused him to start. The knight had just time to draw his sword and hold up his shield before the lion was upon him; but, as he had been forewarned, the great beast dashed aside the shield, and fastened his teeth in the arm that held it. The pain was such that the knight leaped backwards, but the lion’s teeth were fixed fast in the ointment, and they all came out of his mouth, so that he could bite no more. And when he rushed at his enemy with his claws they stuck also, so that the knight with a blow of his sword was able to kill him with ease.
Mightily he rejoiced at seeing his foe dead before him, and by ill fortune he forgot that, had it not been for the counsel of the Lady of Solace, it was he who would have been slain, and not the lion. He swelled with pride and conceit at the ease with which he had won the victory, and never noted that the clue of thread was no longer in his hands.
‘Ah, lovely princess, I come to seek my reward,’ cried he to himself, and turned his face towards the palace. But a little way on he spied seven trees, very fair to view, all covered with fruit that shone temptingly in the sun. He gathered a cluster that hung just above his head, and when he had eaten that, he thought that it tasted so delicious he really must have another, and another also.
He was still eating when three men passed by, and asked him what he was doing there. The knight was so puffed up that he did not answer them civilly after his manner, but gave them rude words, for which in return he received buffets. In the end, the men dragged him away from the tree and flung him into a ditch that was full of water, and his armour weighed him down, so that he could not get out. Then at last he remembered his clue, and felt for it, but it was not there, and his pride broke down, and he saw that he had brought his ruin on himself. And in despair he lifted up his voice and cried, ‘O Lady of Solace, help me, I beseech you, in my great need, for I am nigh dead.’ He shut his eyes for very misery, but opened them again in a moment, for a lady stood by him, and she said:
‘Did not I tell you that if you lost the clue you could never more find your way out of the garden? I will lift you out of the ditch, but, for the clue, you must seek for it yourself till you find it.’ And with that she vanished.
Not that day did the knight find the clue, nor the next, nor the next. Faint and weary was he, but he dared not eat of the fruit that was around him, some hanging from the boughs of trees and some growing on the ground. At length he wandered back to the spot where he had fought with the lion, and there, covered with blood, lay the clue he had so long sought. By its help he was led to the tree with the golden fruit, which stood at the far end of the garden, and plucking one of the boughs he turned to retrace his steps, wondering, now that he held the thread, at the shortness of the way.
‘Here is the branch, O Emperor! and now give me the princess,’ he said, kneeling and laying the bough down on the steps of the throne. And the emperor could not gainsay him, but bade his officers fetch his daughter, and after they had been married she went with her husband into his own country, where they lived happily till they died.
[From the Gesta Romanorum.]
Story DNA
Moral
Pride goes before a fall, and true success comes from humility and heeding wise counsel.
Plot Summary
An emperor devises a deadly garden challenge to prevent his daughter's marriage. Knight Tirius accepts, and with secret advice from the princess, seeks the magical Lady of Solace. The Lady provides a guiding thread and instructions to defeat a lion, which Tirius successfully does. However, his ensuing pride causes him to lose the thread, fall into temptation, and be humbled. After a desperate plea, the Lady of Solace helps him out of a ditch but makes him find the thread himself, leading to his ultimate success in retrieving the golden branch and marrying the princess.
Themes
Emotional Arc
arrogance to despair to triumph
Writing Style
Narrative Elements
Cultural Context
The 'Gesta Romanorum' is a collection of Latin tales compiled in the late 13th or early 14th century, often used for moral instruction, reflecting medieval European values and storytelling traditions.
Plot Beats (13)
- An emperor, wishing to keep his daughter, sets a condition for her hand: retrieve a branch from a golden-fruited tree in his dangerous garden.
- Many princes attempt the task but never return, leading the emperor to believe his plan is working.
- Knight Tirius arrives, accepts the challenge, but first requests to see the princess.
- The princess, secretly wishing to save him, advises Tirius to seek the 'Lady of Solace' in the forest.
- Tirius finds the Lady of Solace, who provides him with a magical thread to guide him and instructions to defeat a lion (anointed armor).
- Tirius enters the garden, binds the thread, and successfully defeats the lion by using the anointed armor to dislodge its teeth.
- Overcome with pride, Tirius forgets the thread, believing he no longer needs it, and turns towards the palace.
- Tirius sees tempting fruit, eats it, and becomes rude to three passing men, who then attack him and throw him into a ditch.
- Trapped and humbled, Tirius remembers the lost thread and cries out to the Lady of Solace for help.
- The Lady of Solace appears, lifts him from the ditch, but tells him he must find the thread himself as punishment for his pride.
- Tirius searches for days, weary and hungry, until he finds the blood-covered thread near where he fought the lion.
- Guided by the thread, Tirius easily finds the golden-fruited tree, plucks a branch, and returns to the emperor.
- The emperor, unable to refuse, grants Tirius his daughter's hand, and they marry and live happily ever after in Tirius's country.
Characters
The Emperor
A man of regal bearing, likely of average height and build, with a presence that commands respect. His features are probably refined, showing the signs of age and responsibility, but not necessarily frail.
Attire: Rich, flowing robes of the finest silks from India or China, likely in deep, regal colors like imperial yellow, crimson, or deep blue, possibly embroidered with traditional motifs. He would wear a jeweled crown or an elaborate headpiece befitting an emperor, and perhaps ornate slippers.
Wants: To keep his beloved daughter by his side and to protect her from leaving him, while also maintaining his imperial dignity and avoiding offense to other monarchs.
Flaw: His possessive love for his daughter, which leads him to put many lives at risk, and his overconfidence in his own cleverness.
He remains largely unchanged, his initial desire to keep his daughter being thwarted by the knight's success, forcing him to accept the inevitable.
Loving (towards his daughter and garden), cunning (in devising the garden challenge), somewhat selfish (in wanting to keep his daughter), and ultimately honorable (in upholding his word).
The Princess
A young woman of exceptional beauty, described as the 'fairest damsel on the whole earth.' She is likely of slender build, graceful, and carries herself with the elegance of royalty.
Attire: Dresses made of the finest linen and richest silks from India or China, suggesting vibrant colors and luxurious fabrics. Her attire would be elaborate, possibly featuring embroidery or delicate patterns, reflecting her imperial status.
Wants: To prevent further loss of life due to her father's challenge and to find a suitable husband, possibly one who is genuinely brave and kind.
Flaw: Her obedience to her father, which initially prevents her from directly defying him, and her limited agency within the imperial court.
She transitions from a passive object of her father's affection and a prize for suitors to an active participant in her own fate by offering crucial guidance to Tirius.
Compassionate (loth that more youths should die), intelligent (perceives the knight's need and offers a solution), obedient (to her father's wishes), and perhaps a little bold (in speaking to Tirius and offering counsel).
Tirius
A 'goodly man and tall,' implying a strong, heroic build, likely with broad shoulders and a commanding presence. He is a knight of great renown, suggesting a physique honed by combat and travel.
Attire: Initially, he would wear fine, but practical, traveling clothes. For the garden challenge, he dons full armor, which he anoints with ointment. This armor would be typical of a European knight, made of polished steel plates.
Wants: To win the hand of the beautiful princess, driven by love and the challenge of a renowned quest.
Flaw: His pride and conceit, which lead him to forget the Lady of Solace's counsel and lose the thread.
He begins as a brave but somewhat naive hero, falls due to pride, learns humility through suffering, and ultimately succeeds by remembering and applying the counsel he received.
Brave (willing to face the garden), perceptive (sees there's more to the challenge), initially humble (asks for help), but prone to pride and conceit (after defeating the lion), and ultimately repentant.
The Lady of Solace
Ethereal and beautiful, her appearance is described as being 'made up of all the beautiful things in the world.' She is likely slender and graceful, with an aura of serenity and wisdom.
Attire: Simple yet elegant, possibly flowing robes of a soft, natural fabric and color, like white, cream, or pale green, suggesting purity and connection to nature. No elaborate adornments, as her beauty is inherent.
Wants: To provide aid and guidance to those in need, particularly those facing impossible challenges, and to uphold a sense of justice or balance.
Flaw: None explicitly stated; she seems to be a force of pure good and wisdom.
She remains a consistent figure of wisdom and aid, her character unchanging as she fulfills her role.
Benevolent, wise, helpful (gives succour), patient (with Tirius's mistakes), and slightly stern (when reminding him of his error).
The Lion
A 'great beast' implying a large, powerful lion, likely with a formidable mane and sharp claws, typical of a mature male lion.
Attire: None, as it is an animal.
Wants: To defend its territory (the garden) and to hunt/devour intruders.
Flaw: Its teeth and claws become stuck in the ointment, rendering it vulnerable.
It is defeated and killed by Tirius, serving as a significant obstacle.
Aggressive, territorial, and instinct-driven.
Locations
Emperor's Palace Apartments
Long passages and lofty halls leading to the princess's private chambers. The princess's apartment is a threshold no man has crossed before, suggesting a secluded and perhaps opulent space.
Mood: Secluded, formal, slightly tense due to the knight's bold presence.
Tirius meets the princess for the first time and receives her crucial advice about the Lady of Solace.
The Forest of Solace
A green, open space within a forest, where the Lady of Solace resides. It is a place of quiet waiting and eventual succor.
Mood: Mysterious, serene, hopeful, a place of guidance.
Tirius seeks and finds the Lady of Solace, receiving the magical thread and advice for the enchanted garden.
The Enchanted Garden
A vast and beautiful garden, initially appearing easy to navigate, but filled with hidden dangers. It has a large iron gate at the entrance, a forest-like section, a ditch, and a tree bearing golden fruit at its furthest end.
Mood: Deceptively beautiful, perilous, magical, a test of character.
Tirius faces the trials of the garden: the lion, the tempting fruit, the attacking men, and ultimately finds the golden fruit branch.