‘Have mercy, sire,’ said Fleur, ’on the maiden Blanchefleur and on me, for we love each other with a love more true and tender than has e’er been known before!’

Then came forward the chamberlain and prayed his Lord to spare the captives that they might have due trial for their offence.

To this respite the Admiral consented, but, fearing lest the prisoners might escape, he commanded that they were to be bound with ropes until by the lords of all the land sentence should be passed upon them.  Now as the Admiral’s yearly wedding festival was near at hand, the great lords of the realm, such as kings, dukes, counts and barons, were already assembled in Babylon; so they appeared without delay at the summons of their Lord in his glorious hall, which for splendour could not have been matched by Priam, King of Troy, for it was a full mile square, and crystal pillars supported its lofty dome.  When, therefore, the Admiral was enthroned in majesty with all his lords around him, silence was commanded, while he thus addressed the assembly: 

’My lords, hearken unto me, your King, and pass a sentence on these prisoners that will redound to my honour and your own.  Behold this Blanchefleur, whom for a great price of ten times her own weight in gold I bought, thinking to promote her to honour by taking her as my one and only wedded wife on the day appointed for my marriage festival, and until that day came, that my eyes might be gladdened by her beauty, I brought her into my Maidens’ Tower and ordained that she and Clarissa, her companion, should wait morning and evening upon me with a fair linen towel and water in a golden bowl; yet scarce had this Blanchefleur been for four months within my Tower than she betrayed me for another, whom with herself I had in righteous indignation well-nigh slain.  So now, my lords, it is for you to pass judgment just and unbending upon these offenders.’

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Responding to the call of their King and Admiral, these lords with one consent passed sentence of death upon the prisoners, though differing among themselves as to the execution of the same.  Some were for hanging, others for the bow-string, while others again proposed that the culprits should be torn asunder by wild horses; most, however, were in favour of burning, or perhaps drowning with a heavy stone round the neck:  on one point, however, all agreed—­viz. that the guilty pair must die.

Then arose a certain king, Aliers by name, and thus spoke.  ’It is a shame and disgrace,’ said he, ’to hear in a royal court such babel of voices, each crying for a different opinion.  Be so good, my lords, as to depute one among you to speak for all.  Moreover, having now heard the accusation of His Highness, it is but just to listen to the prisoners’ defence.’

‘Not so,’ cried Basier, King of Arabia, ’not so, my lords.  If these prisoners have betrayed our Lord the Admiral, let them die unheard, like thieves caught in the act and punished red-handed without form of trial.’