The Lais of Marie de France

The narrator begins by informing the reader that although the lay was originally named Eliduc after the male protagonist, “the name has been changed, because the adventure upon which the lay is based concerns the ladies” in his life, Guildelüec and Guilliadun (111).

The knight Eliduc is happy in his marriage to Guildelüec and his service to the king of Brittany. However, Eliduc’s prowess causes his rivals to slander him before the king, meaning that knight must go abroad to seek his fortune elsewhere. Before leaving, he promises his wife that he will remain faithful to her.

Arriving in a place called Totnes, Eliduc serves an old and powerful king who has no sons but a nubile daughter. Having helped the king fight his enemies, Eliduc gains his trust. Guilliadun, the king’s daughter, summons Eliduc to come and meet her and instantly falls in love with him. Remembering his wife, Eliduc is slow to return her affections, even though the girl’s beauty and love for him makes an impression. Eventually, he finds that “his heart was firmly trapped, for he wanted to remain faithful, but could not refrain from loving the maiden Guilliadun, who was so beautiful, from looking at her and talking to her, kissing and embracing her” (117). They pledge their love to one another, and when Eliduc takes leave of the king and returns to his native land, he promises Guilliadun that he will return for her.

When he returns home to Guildelüec, she notices that he is distressed and wonders whether he received some slanderous report of her conduct while he was away. Eliduc replies that he has no accusations to make against her but that he must return to the king he served abroad.

Landing once more on Guilliadun’s land, Eliduc sends for her and the lovers are joyfully reunited. He puts her on a ship with his men, and they sail to Brittany. When they encounter a storm, one of the sailors complains that they will never reach land because of Eliduc’s sin of adultery. Eliduc lashes out against the sailor, but as he is doing so, Guilliadun falls into a death-like swoon. Eliduc, who takes her for dead, lays her in a hermit’s chapel.

Seeing that her husband is distracted and mournful, Guildelüec spies on his journeys to the chapel, first via a servant and then on her own. When she comes across the beautiful dead girl’s body, she instantly knows that Guilliadun is her husband’s beloved and that he grieves for her. A weasel crosses over Guilliadun’s body, and Guildelüec orders her servant to kill it. The weasel’s partner sees that its beloved is dead and rushes over to revive it with a red flower. The servant throws a stick at the weasel so it will drop the red flower from its mouth. Guildelüec places the red flower in Guilliadun’s mouth, and she revives, thinking that she has merely woken from a long sleep. She tells Guildelüec her story of being beguiled by a man who hid the fact of his marriage from him. Guildelüec confesses her identity and affirms that Eliduc and Guilliadun should be together. She announces that she will become a nun, an act that will dissolve her marriage and leave Eliduc free to marry again.

Eliduc gives Guildelüec enough land to found an abbey and marries Guilliadun. All three pledge their love to God, and eventually, Guilliadun joins Guildelüec as a sister in the abbey.