BY WAY OF DEDICATION
Those to whom God has given the gift of comely speech, should not
hide their light beneath a bushel, but should willingly show it abroad.
If a great truth is proclaimed in the ears of men, it brings forth
fruit a hundred-fold; but when the sweetness of the telling is praised
of many, flowers mingle with the fruit upon the branch.
According to the witness of Priscian, it was the custom of ancient
writers to express obscurely some portions of their books, so that
those who came after might study with greater diligence to find the
thought within their words. The philosophers knew this well, and were
the more unwearied in labour, the more subtle in distinctions, so that
the truth might make them free. They were persuaded that he who would
keep himself unspotted from the world should search for knowledge, that
he might understand. To set evil from me, and to put away my grief, I
purposed to commence a book. I considered within myself what fair story
in the Latin or Romance I could turn into the common tongue. But I
found that all the stories had been written, and scarcely it seemed the
worth my doing, what so many had already done. Then I called to mind
those Lays I had so often heard. I doubted nothing—for well I
know—that our fathers fashioned them, that men should bear in
remembrance the deeds of those who have gone before. Many a one, on
many a day, the minstrel has chanted to my ear. I would not that they
should perish, forgotten, by the roadside. In my turn, therefore, I
have made of them a song, rhymed as well as I am able, and often has
their shaping kept me sleepless in my bed.
In your honour, most noble and courteous King, to whom joy is a
handmaid, and in whose heart all gracious things are rooted, I have
brought together these Lays, and told my tales in seemly rhyme. Ere
they speak for me, let me speak with my own mouth, and say, “Sire, I
offer you these verses. If you are pleased to receive them, the fairer
happiness will be mine, and the more lightly I shall go all the days of
my life. Do not deem that I think more highly of myself than I ought to
think, since I presume to proffer this, my gift.” Hearken now to the
commencement of the matter.