s, became buried in a vast
cycle of astonishing fables and disappeared in a forest of heroic
stories.[1554]

[Footnote 1554: Morosini, vol. iii, pp. 60, 61.]

Contrite souls there were in those days, who, ascribing all the woes
of the kingdom to the sins of the people, looked for salvation to
humility, repentance, and penance.[1555] They expected the end of
iniquity and the kingdom of God on earth. Jeanne, at least in the
beginning, was one of those pious folk. Sometimes, speaking as a
mystic reformer, she would say that Jesus is King of the holy realm of
France, that King Charles is his lieutenant, and does but hold the
kingdom "in fief."[1556] She uttered words which would create the
impression that her mission was all charity, peace, and love,--these,
for example, "I am sent to comfort the poor and needy."[1557] Such
gentle penitents as dreamed of a world pure, faithful, and good, made
of Jeanne their saint and their prophetess. They ascribed to her
edifying words she had never uttered.

[Footnote 1555: Saint Vincent Ferrier; and Saint Bernardino of Siena.]

[Footnote 1556: See _ante_, p. 64.]

[Footnote 1557: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 88.]

"When the Maid came to the King," they said, "she caused him to make
three promises: the first was to resign his kingdom, to renounce it
and give it back to God, from whom he held it; the second, to pardon
all such as had turned against him and afflicted him; the third, to
humiliate himself so far as to receive into favour all such as should
come to him, poor and rich, friend and foe."[1558]

[Footnote 1558: Eberhard Windecke, pp. 52-53. See _ante_, p. 184.]

Or again, in apologues, simple and charming, like the following, they
represented her accomplishing her mission:

"One day, the Maid asked the King to bestow a present upon her; and
when he consented, she claimed as a gift the realm of France. Though
astonished, the King did not withdraw his promise. Having received
her present, the Maid required a deed of gift to be solemnly drawn up
by four of the King's notaries and read aloud. While the King listened
to the reading, she pointed him out to those that stood by, saying:
'Behold the poorest knight in the kingdom.' Then, after a short time,
disposing of the realm of France, she gave it back to God. Thereafter,
acting in God's name, she invested King Charles with it and commanded
that this solemn act of transmission should be recorded in
writing."[1559]

[Footnote 155