Alright, I’ll admit that I can’t prove it was written this way in the original text by Marie de France, but here’s what the Norton’s translation looks like:
Their clothes were in expensive taste,
Close-fitting tunics, tightly laced,
Made of deep-dyed purple wool.
Their faces were most beautiful.
The elder bore a well-made pair
Of basins.
Seriously, is that the greatest line break ever, or what? For the briefest handful of seconds, your mind is instantly fooled into thinking that Marie is describing the handmaiden’s exceptionally well-formed breasts. And then, almost like a punchline, with perfect comedic timing, the poem adds “…of basins.” There’s really no way that isn’t intentional, given how sexy the previous lines already were.
Sure, maybe it was just the translator having a laugh. But Marie was clearly already a little hot on the collar herself, so I wouldn’t put it past her to slip that gag in. I’d try tracking down the original version, but if I can’t read old English, I sure as hell can’t read old French.
One Comment
53 la u il gist en teu maniere,
54 garda aval lez la riviere,
55 [si] vit venir deus dameiseles,
56 unc n’en ot veü[es] plus beles.
57 vestues ierent richement,
58 laciees mut estreitement
59 en deus blians de purpre bis;
60 mut par aveient bel le vis.
61 l’eisnee portout un[s] bacins,
62 doré furent, bien faiz e fins;
63 le veir vus en dirai sanz faile.
https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Lanval
It’s at the end of the line. The translations I’ve looked at render it singular. Old French number is more complicated than New, but it looks plural to me.