Perils of Faerie

[wolfinthewood]

Guingamor, nephew of the King of Brittany, hunts a mysterious white boar. He meets a beautiful maiden bathing in a spring and falls in love with her. She takes him to a palace:

A fair lodging was his that night, great plenty of rich meats, with much rejoicing, and great state; there was the sound of harps and viols, the song of youths and maidens. Much did he marvel at the noble fare, the beauty and the richness of all around. He bethought him that he would abide there two days, and on the third would take his way homeward ... and make known to his uncle the adventure which had befallen him, then would he return again to his lady.

Yet otherwise than he deemed had it chanced to him; not three days but three hundred years had he been in that palace; dead was the king, and dead his household and the men of his lineage, and the cities he had known had fallen into destruction and ruin.

from The Lay of Guingamor (late 12th century)

trans Jessie L. Weston (1850–1928)


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