Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/409

Rh are the merits of martyrs and saints; Astensis is the city in the Apocalypse. France signifies heaven.

king had a lion, a lioness, and a leopard, whom he much delighted in. During the absence of the lion, the lioness was unfaithful, and colleagued with the leopard. And that she might prevent her mate's discovery of the crime, she used to wash herself in a fountain adjoining the king's castle. Now the king having often perceived what was going forward, commanded the fountain to be closed. This done, the lioness was unable to cleanse herself; and the lion returning, and