eath! art
thou beside thyself or drunk, who hast killed my lady without me? This
is a marvellous thing I see: my lady is dead, and I still live on! Ah,
precious one, why does your lover live to see you dead? One now could
rightly say that you have died in my service, and that it is I who
have killed and murdered you. Sweetheart, then I am the death that has
smitten you. Is not that wrong? For it is my own life I have lost in
you, and have preserved your life in me. For did not your health and
life belong to me, sweet one? And did not mine belong to you? For I
loved nothing excepting you, and our double existence was as one. So now
I have done what was right in keeping your soul in my body while mine
has escaped from your body, and one ought to go to seek the company of
the other, wherever it may be, and nothing ought to separate them." At
this she heaves a gentle sigh and whispers faintly: "Lover mine, I am
not altogether dead, but very near it. I value my life but little now. I
thought it a jest and a mere pretence; but now I am indeed to be pitied,
for death has not treated this as a jest. It will be a marvel if I
escape alive. For the doctors have seriously wounded me, and broken my
flesh and disfigured me. And yet, if it was possible for my nurse to
come here, and if efforts were of any avail, she would restore me to
health again." "Do not worry, dear, about that," says Cliges, "for this
very night I will bring her here." "Dear, let John go for her now." So
John departed and looked for her until he found her, and told her how
he wished her to come along and to let no other cause detain her; for
Fenice and Cliges have sent for her to come to a tower where they are
awaiting her; and that Fenice is in a grievous state, so that she must
come provided with ointments and remedies, and to bear in mind that
she will not live long, if she does not quickly come to bear her aid.
Thessala runs at once and, taking ointments, plaster, and remedies which
she has prepared, she meets John again. Secretly they go out from the
city, until they come straight to the tower. When Fenice sees her nurse,
she feels already cured, because of the loving faith and trust she
places in her. And Cliges greets her affectionately, and says: "Welcome,
nurse, whom I love and prize. Nurse, for God's sake, what do you think
of this young lady's malady? What is your opinion? Will she recover?"
"Yes, my lord, have no fear but that I shall restore her comple