ugh you were to rend my life out of my body, if I
knew it. And besides this, so may God be my guard, I cannot say
any more than you in what direction they have gone. But you are
jealous without a cause. Too little do I fear your wrath not to
tell you truly in the hearing of all how you are deceived, and
yet I shall never be believed in this matter. By a potion that
you drank, you were tricked and deceived the night that you
celebrated your wedding. Never at any time, save when you slept
and it happened to you in your dreams, did any joy come to you of
her; but the night made you dream, and the dream pleased you as
much as if it had happened in your waking hours that she held you
in her arms; and no other boon came to you from her. Her heart
clave so straitly to Cliges that for his sake she pretended to be
dead; and he trusted me so much that he told me and placed her in
my house, of which he is lord by right. You ought not to lay the
blame on me for it; I should have merited to be burnt or hanged,
if I had betrayed my lord and refused to do his will."

When the emperor heard tell of the potion which it delighted him
to drink, and by which Thessala deceived him, then first he
perceived that he had never had joy of his wife--well he knew
it--unless it had happened to him in a dream, and that such joy
was illusory. He says that, if he take not vengeance for the
shame and the disgrace brought on him by the traitor who has
carried off from him his wife, never again will he have joy in
his life. "Now, quick!" quoth he, "to Pavia, and from there to
Germany, let neither castle, town, nor city be left where he be
not sought. He who shall bring them both prisoners will be more
cherished by me than any other man. Now, set well to work and
search both up and down and near and far!" Then they start with
great zeal, and they have spent all the day in searching; but
Cliges had such friends among them that, if they found the
lovers, they rather would lead them to a place of refuge than
bring them back. Throughout a whole fortnight with no small pains
they have pursued them, but Thessala, who is guiding them, leads
them so safely by art and by enchantment that they have no fear
or alarm for all the forces of the emperor. In no town or city do
they lie, and yet they have whatsoever they wish and desire, as
good as or better than they are wont to have, for Thessala seeks
and procures and brings for them whatsoever they wish, and no one