Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/170

158 said, "My dear, what is the reason that you get up every night with so much regularity?" "A nightingale," answered she, "sings upon the fig-tree, opposite my window; and her song is so delightful that I cannot resist the pleasure of listening to it." The old knight hearing this, arose early in the morning; and, armed with bow and arrow, hastened to the fig-tree. He shot the nightingale, and taking out the heart, presented it to his wife. The lady wept exceedingly, and said, "Sweet bird, thou didst but what became thee. I alone am the occasion of thy death." Immediately she despatched a messenger to the youthful knight, to inform him of her husband's cruelty. The intelligence grieved him, and he exclaimed internally, "Although it is evident to this cruel old wretch how much his wife and I are attached to each other, yet he would treat me even still more vilely!" This reflection determined him; he cased himself in a double coat of mail, and entering the castle, retaliated upon his rival the death of the bird.