Chapter 9 Chapter Nine Boar Hunting

I would like to be with inattentive children Dumb fools chatting.I do not like Others peek into my heart with suspicious eyes. "King Richard" The cardinal's accumulated experience with his master's character did not save him this time from a major tactical error.Lured by his vanity he fancied himself far more successful in persuading Count Krevig to remain at Tours than any other mediator the King could find.He knew very well that King Louis attached great importance to delaying the war with the Duke of Burgundy, so he couldn't help pretending to be a hero, getting closer to the king than usual, and trying to talk to him about what happened this morning.

This practice is in many ways unwise, for princes do not like their subjects to approach them with an air of merit, as if to gain gratitude and reward for their merit.King Louis is the most suspicious monarch in the world, and naturally he is particularly disgusted with those who claim credit or try to pry into his inner secrets and refuse to pay attention. However, as the most prudent man can sometimes get carried away with complacency, the cardinal continued to ride on the king's right with the audacity to turn the conversation as much as possible to Krevig, and to talk about him and his mission, even if this It was reclaiming that was on the king's mind, but it was the last topic he wanted to talk about.Louie had been listening to him attentively, but hadn't given him enough encouragement to continue.Finally, he raised his hand and called Dunois who was following behind to come up, and rode on the other side of him.

We've come to hunt, he said, but the venerable priest insists on a council of state. Your Majesty, please forgive me for my incompetence, Du Nois said, I was born to fight for France, and I have enough spirit and strength to fight for her, but I don't have the brains to make suggestions for her. Dunois, my lord cardinal is preoccupied with this.Said Louis, he made Krevig confess his sins at the gate of the castle, and told me all his confessions, didn't you say all?He went on, emphasizing both words, while shooting the cardinal from between his long black lashes a stern glance, rather like the gleam of an unsheathed dagger.

The cardinal trembled.In response to the king's teasing of him, he reluctantly said: "Although the clergy must keep the confessor's secret, as long as His Majesty the king blows, and says a word, the wax that seals the confession is not melted." Since His Excellency is willing to tell me other people's secrets, said the king, he naturally expects us to keep secrets from him as well.In order to achieve this relationship of mutual equality, he has reason to wonder whether the two Croyet ladies are really in our country.I'm sorry for not satisfying his curiosity, because I don't know the wandering maiden myself.In which part of our land is the princess traveling in disguise and the frustrated countess hiding?Thank God and Our Lady of Embrun, our country is too vast for me to easily answer His Excellency's perfectly reasonable inquiry.But, Dunois, if they were with us, how would you answer my cousin's imperious demands?

My king, if you tell me sincerely whether you want war or peace, I will answer you.Dunois replied bluntly.Because of his natural frankness, he was often very attractive to Louis, because Louis, like all cunning people, likes to hide his thoughts on the one hand and explore the thoughts of others on the other. . In truth, Dunois, he preached, if I knew exactly what I want myself, I would be satisfied to tell you.You say, if this beautiful girl, rich and heired, is in my domain, what shall I do with her if I declare war on the duke? If one of your brave men has the heart to love her and the strength to protect her, marry her to him.Dunova said.

Haha, I will marry you!said the king, O God!Although you are a rough man, you are much wiser than I imagined Dunois. Not so, sire, said Dunois, I am not at all strategic.According to Our Lady of Orléans, I always cut to the chase.Your Majesty, you should at least arrange a happy marriage for the Orleans family! I will, count.God, I will!Don't you see that wonderful couple? The King pointed to the unfortunate Duke and Princess of Orleans.The two dared neither to go far nor to make the King feel that they were not together.They were now riding side by side, with a distance of two or three yards between them; the timidity of the one, and the disgust of the other, prevented them from reducing the distance, but neither dared to increase it.

Dunois looked in the direction of the king's finger.The situation of his unhappy relative and his fiancée reminded him of the situation of two dogs bound together by force.Although the two dogs were tied together, they were kept as far apart as the collars allowed.Seeing this scene, he couldn't help shaking his head, but he didn't dare to say any more words to this hypocritical tyrant.Louis seemed to have guessed his mind. They will form a harmonious and peaceful family, and I think they will not be burdened by children. (Original Note: Here King Louis touches upon the purpose of his domineering and harsh request for this marriage. Since the princess is lame, it is unlikely that they will have many children. Orleans, as the heir to the throne, The family may be weakened or even lost for want of children. Louis wrote to the earl of Damalton about his daughter's marriage: "It is presumed that they will not have trouble in having children because of marriage. However, No matter what people say, their marriage will become a fact. See the notes on page 143 of the History of France by Voraxard, Volume I.) Having more children is not always a blessing.

Perhaps it was his recollection of his infidelity to his father, and he paused as he made the remark, inadvertently turning the sneer on his lips into something resembling contrition.But he immediately changed his tone and continued. Frankly, my Dunois, though I respect the sanctity of marriage, (he made the sign of the cross now), I would rather have the family of Orléans bring up such royal French blood as you and your father, and Valiant warriors who do not claim the right of succession, rather than see France torn apart, as England has been, by wars between the rightful heirs to the throne.A lion can have at most one cub.

Dunois sighed and remained silent.He realized that trying to take issue with an overbearing monarch would harm his relatives, and there was nothing he could do about it.Still, he couldn't help but continued: Since Your Majesty mentions my father's birth, I must admit that, apart from the fact that his parents fell into love, he is happier as the illegitimate child of illegitimate love than as the child of hatred left by an unhappy marriage. . Dunois, you are guilty of slander when you speak of the sacred marriage as you do.To hell with the subject, Louie joked.The wild boar is out of the cage.For St. Hubert's sake let the dogs out!ha!ha!La la la la!The king's horn sounded merrily in the woods.He is including our friend Quentin.Two or three guards including Darwilt rushed towards the prey.It is worth noting here that, even though King Louis was vigorously playing his favorite sport, he still found time, in order to satisfy his mocking nature, to play tricks on Cardinal Ballou.

One of the weaknesses of this able statesman, as we have hinted before, was that, in spite of his humble station and limited education, he always thought he was entitled to the airs of a courtier and a man of life.Although he did not actually compete in jousting like Beckett, nor raise his men like Wolser, their sophisticated manners were an openly admitted object of study.Therefore, he also pretended to enjoy the martial arts entertainment of hunting.To some ladies, his money, influence, and influence as a politician more than made up for his lack of appearance and attitude.Yet, however much success he may have with the ladies, his gallant horse, which he has paid so much for, is indifferent to the glory of carrying the cardinal.

Just as it was possible to be rude to his lord, who had been a coachman, a miller, or a tailor, and could not ride as well as he, so the horse was rude to him.The king knows this.He alternately prodded and reined in his own horse, so that the cardinal's mount next to him would desperately rebel against its master.It seemed that they were in danger of breaking up immediately.But while the horse was going through its turns of startling, galloping, standing, and kicking, the king who teased him insisted on asking him many important questions, and hinted that he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to learn something that the cardinal was so eager to know not so long ago. Tell him state secrets. (Original Note: A friendly and unknown person wrote me to point out that I had mistakenly thought the Cardinal was a poor rider. If so, I should apologize for this recollection of him, for until In the rest of my life few men have enjoyed the sport of horseback riding as much as I have. It is probable, however, that the cardinal was not a very good rider, though he always wished to be thought of as capable of handling the dangers of hunting. As in 1465 As he did at the siege of Paris, he was a man of air and show. During the siege he violated the conventions and conventions of war by blowing horns and musical instruments to cheer his night watch. As for the red coat When the bishop was not very good at riding, I recalled an experience when he was assassinated in Paris. At that time, the mule he was riding led him away under the fright of the crowd, until he ran to a monastery, and the abbot of the monastery happened to be this horse. The horse was saved by its former owner (see Chronicle by Troy Jean.) It is difficult to conceive a world in which a privy councilor is compelled to listen and answer the sovereign's speech, while every frantic movement of the ungovernable steed exposes him to a greater danger of being thrown than before. There are worse and more embarrassing situations than this.I saw his purple robe fluttering around. If the saddle was not very deep, and the high pommel on the front and back blocked it, he would definitely fall off the horse immediately. Dunoy laughed out loud, while the king secretly admired the secret ways of his mischief.Instead of laughing aloud, he gently reproached his minister for being so obsessed with hunting that he could not spare a few minutes for state affairs.I don't want to get in your way any more.He continued to the terrified cardinal, letting go of the rein and letting the horse gallop away. Before Baloo could say a word as an answer or justification, his horse galloped away at an uncontrollable speed with the bridle in its mouth, and soon left the king and Dunois behind.The two of them followed at normal speed, admiring the statesman's agonizing predicament.Any reader who has had the misfortune of being led wildly by a runaway horse in his life (as we have in our own lives) will be fully aware of the pain, danger, and absurdity of the situation.Think about it, the four feet of the horse are neither controlled by the rider, nor sometimes by the horse itself. The two human legs on the grass now clamped tightly to the sides of the horse, which added to the pain of the rider. He lost the rein with both hands and grabbed the horse's mane, and his body could not maintain the center of gravity as Angelo suggested. Sitting up straight, or leaning forward like the jockeys at Newmark, but lying on the horse's back, like a sack of corn, is as difficult to rescue as it is. A very ridiculous picture.If you add some fancy dress and appearance to the unfortunate knight, a robe, or a fine livery, or some other fancy dress, and make the scene of the show a racetrack, or a parade square, or whatever public places of performances and gatherings, the only way for the poor man to avoid being the object of a protracted outcry is to try to break a leg or two or an arm, or, more effectively, to die on the spot. .Any lesser consequences would not be enough to elicit serious sympathy.The cardinal at this moment is wearing a purple tunic as a riding suit (he had changed his robe before leaving the castle), wearing red socks, a red hat with a long tassel on his head, and his That expression of utter hopelessness, all of which graced his rodeo. The runaway horse flew (not ran) up a long green avenue and overtook a pack of hounds that were hot on the heels of a wild boar.After overturning a hunter or two who hadn't expected to be attacked in the back, trampling down several hounds, and throwing the hunters into a frenzy, the horse, stimulated by the hunters' loud curses and threats, was terrified. The cardinal ran past the furious boar scurrying forward with foaming teeth.Seeing that he had bumped into the wild boar, Baloo cried out for help.This cry (or possibly the presence of the boar) had an unexpected effect on the horse.It suddenly jumped to one side, interrupting its reckless run.The cardinal, who remained in the saddle only because of the forward motion of the horse, was thrown heavily to the ground.The bishop ended his hunt so close to the boar; and the cardinal would surely have suffered as Favila, the Visigothic king of Spain, is said to have done, had it not been for the fact that the beast was not even occupied with his own affairs at the moment. suffered fatal danger.Because of the boar's own fear, the ecclesiastic escaped at last.He crawled as fast as he could out of the reach of hunters and dogs, and saw the whole hunting party run past him without doing him any favors, for hunters then, as now, were often indifferent to such misfortunes.The king, passing him, said to Dunois: His Excellency hides there very pitifully. It seems that he is not a good hunter.But as a fisherman (in seeing that secrets can be caught as fish) he was no less than St. Peter.I think he was meeting his opponent for the first time in his life. The cardinal did not hear what he said, but the contemptuous expression of the king's speech enabled him to guess the general meaning of these words.It is said that the devil is good at seducing people by using such violent emotions as the Bishop of Ballou, who was enraged by the king's contempt.Once he was sure that the fall had done no harm, the momentary fear disappeared quickly.But wounded pride and anger at the king left an indelible emotional mark on him. After the whole hunt had passed him, a lone knight rode up with a retinue or two, as if he were a spectator of the hunt rather than a direct participant.Naturally he expressed great amazement at seeing the cardinal without mount or retinue, and at a glance the accident which had brought him into his present predicament.He hurriedly dismounted to help him out of trouble.He asked one of his entourage to yield a docile colt to the cardinal, and expressed his amazement at the French court's abandonment of the great dangers which the shrewdest statesman might be exposed to while hunting.Naturally, this was the best help and consolation Krevig could offer the bishop in this adventure.It turned out that it was the envoy of Burgundy who came to help the fallen cardinal. He found that now was an opportune time to try to provoke the displeased minister and shake his loyalty to King Louis.Bishop Ballou, too, is known to have a certain sinful weakness for listening to such provocations.As Louis, who was accustomed to jealousy, guessed, some of the contacts that took place between them this morning have exceeded the scope that the cardinal dared to report to his master.He had, of course, listened with pleasure to Krevig's telling him how highly the Count of Burgundy valued himself and his talents, and when the Count alluded to the generosity of his master and the generous salary of Flanders, He was also tempted.Yet it was only after the event of which we have just been introduced that the bishop had so greatly irritated and wounded his pride that he resolved to show Louis XI at this critical moment that an offended friend and confidant could become a His most dangerous enemy. At this moment he hurriedly asked Krevig to go away so as not to attract attention, but to meet him at the Abbey of Saint-Martin in Tours tonight after vespers.The Burgundian was convinced, by the tone of his speech, that his master had gained an advantage which would have been hard to come by but for such exasperation. Though Louis was the most tactful prince of his time, on this occasion, as well as others, sentiment allowed his prudence to be overruled.At this moment the chase of the wild boar had reached a tense and interesting point, and he was following it triumphantly.It so happened that a Sandor (meaning, in the language of the day, a wild boar only two years old) passed by the fleeing boar which was being pursued, and thus drove all the hounds (only two or three pairs of staunch old hounds) exception) and most hunters are attracted to the past.When the king saw Dunois and the others chasing the misunderstood boar, he was delighted in his heart, and secretly rejoiced that he would surpass this accomplished knight, and the art of hunting pigs was almost regarded as To be as honorable as war.Louis rode a fine horse.He followed the hounds so closely that when the big wild boar he was supposed to fight turned around in a swamp, he was alone. Louie showed all the bravery and skill of an experienced hunter.Regardless of the danger, he rode up to the huge beast, which was fighting desperately with the hounds in self-defense, and stabbed it with the boar spear.However, the horse was frightened by the wild boar and jumped aside. The stab not only failed to kill it, but also failed to disable it.No matter how hard the king tried, he could not drive his horse to charge at the wild boar again, so he jumped off his horse, and holding a short, straight and sharp knife that hunters usually use on such occasions, he approached the furious beast on foot.The wild boar immediately let go of the hound and rushed towards the enemy.The king took up his position, stood on his feet, and held the short knife at the throat of the wild boar, or the ribcage between the collarbones.It stands to reason that the weight of the wild boar and its violent momentum would have hastened its demise.But as the ground was wet, just when the clever and deadly move should have worked, the king's foot slipped, and the point of the knife only brushed the armor-like mane on the outside of the boar's shoulder blade without hurting it a bit.Louie himself fell violently to the ground.The king was lucky; for his fall also caught the boar in the air, but his tusks tore his hunting cloak as he charged, and spared his thigh.The wild boar rushed a few steps forward because of its excessive pounce.Louie's life was at stake when it turned and tried to jump at him while he was getting up.At this critical moment, Quentin, who fell behind because the horse was slow when chasing, fell behind.Luckily Darwilt heard the sound of the king's horn, followed the sound, and overturned the wild boar with a spear. The king immediately stood up and turned around to help Darwilt.He stabbed the boar's throat with a knife.He didn't say a word to Quentin, but measured the huge body of the animal first with his feet and then with his feet.Then he wiped the sweat from his brow and the blood from his hands, took off his hunting hat, hung it on a branch of a tree, and began to say devout prayers to the little lead Madonna on it.At last he looked at Darwilt and said to him: Is that you?My young Scot.The first time you hunt, you'll be successful.Monsieur Pierre must treat you as well as he treated you at the Lily Hotel.why don't you talkI think you lost your drive and anger at court.Others are the opposite of you. Quentin was the shrewst young man whom the cool wind of Scotland ever warned to be sober.He feared his dangerous master more than he trusted him, and he wisely refused to accept the promise of equal treatment which the king seemed to tempt him to take advantage of.He replied, in a few carefully chosen words, that if he dared to ask the king for anything, it was only to beg him to forgive him for his rash countryman's ignorance of his greatness. Don't say that!Young man, preached the King, I forgive your recklessness and mischief for your bravery and prudence.I really admire you for guessing my old buddy Triston's occupation so well.As far as I know, you almost got a taste of what he was good at.I have to tell you to be careful with him.He was a businessman in thick bracelets and tight necklaces.Help me to my horse.I like you very much and will do you good.You must trust only in the favors I give you, and not in the favors of others, including your uncle's and Crawford's.Don't tell people that you gave me timely assistance in killing wild boars.If a man boasted that he had saved the king in such an emergency, the only reward he had was the pleasure of bragging. Then the king blew his horn, and summoned Dunois and some of his attendants.He gladly accepted the words of praise that were addressed to him for killing this precious animal, and without compunction he took much of the credit that did not actually belong to him.He mentioned Darwilt's aid only lightly, as a respectable hunter, boasting of the number of birds he had caught, would not bother to mention the presence and assistance of the gamekeeper.He asked Dunoy to send the killed wild boar to the monks of Saint-Martin in Tours, so that they could improve their food during the festival, so that they could also say a few words for the king during their prayers. Hey, said Louis, has any of you seen my lord cardinal?It would be a sign of impolite indifference to the Holy Church if we left him in the forest without a horse to ride. Your Majesty, if you don't mind, Quentin said when everyone was silent, I saw someone give the cardinal a horse.He had ridden it out of the forest. God takes care of his own people.Then said the king, My ministers, go back to the castle.We stopped hunting this morning.Please, Mr. Squire, he said to Quentin, hand me my hunting knife which fell beside the boar.Dunova, ride away, I'll follow right away. Louie's most insignificant actions often show great strategy.In this way, he obtained an opportunity to ask Quentin privately: My fit Scot, I see you have a keen eye.Can you tell me who helped the cardinal find the horse to ride?Some stranger, I presume, for my courtiers would not have been hasten to give him this timely favor had I not stopped to address him as I passed. Sire, I only had a quick glance, and saw someone helping the Cardinal, said Quentin, but it was only a fleeting glance, for I was unluckily out of line, and was riding swiftly back to my place.However, it is the envoy of Burgundy and his retinue that I would like to help the bishop. ha!Louis said, well, that's it, France will deal with them one day. Nothing else of importance happened; the king and his retinue returned to the castle.