thrusting her head into an aperture in the wall, tells him that she is
about to escape and that as soon as she is gone they will set him
free. To convince her lover that it is she who is talking, Nicolette
cuts off a golden curl, which she drops down into his dungeon,
repeating that she must flee. But Aucassin beseeches her not to go,
knowing a young maid is exposed to countless dangers out in the world,
and vehemently declares he would die were any one to lay a finger upon
her. He adds that she alone shall be his wife, and that the mere
thought of her belonging to any one else is unendurable. This
declaration of love cheers poor Nicolette, who is so entranced by her
lover's words that she fails to notice the approach of a patrol. A
young sentinel, however, peering down from the walls, touched by
Nicolette's beauty and by the plight of these young lovers, warns them
of their danger. But not daring to speak openly to Nicolette, he
chants a musical warning, which comes just in time to enable her to
hide behind a pillar. There she cowers until the guards pass by, then,
slipping down into dry moat,--although it is a perilous
undertaking,--she painfully climbs up its other side and seeks refuge
in a neighboring forest, where, although the poem informs us there are
"beasts serpentine," she feels safer than in town.

It is while wandering in this wilderness that Nicolette runs across
some shepherds, whom she bribes to go and tell Aucassin a wild beast
is ranging through the forest, and that he should come and slay it as
soon as possible. Having thus devised means to entice her lover out of
Biaucaire, Nicolette wanders on until she reaches a lovely spot, where
she erects a rustic lodge, decking it with the brightest flowers she
can find, in hopes that her lover, when weary of hunting, will rest
beneath its flowery roof, and guess that it was erected by her fair
hands.