Laustic - Marie de France

This piece seemed to be quite different than the other pieces we have read by Marie de France. In all of the other lais, the woman has had an affair with her lover. In this lai, there is not a real physical relationship. They never have an affair like the others. It is love from a distance as they watch each other from their bedroom windows. This is the only way these two lovers can see each other.

The knight, the woman's husband, does not seem to trust his wife. "For her man used to guard and resrict her when he rode out in the district." Because of this, the two lovers were forced to watch each other from a distance, sending "love-gifts flying through the air" to one another. This did not stop their love, "Still, day or night, if either lover longed to set eyes upon the other, they had their hope and their refuge: no-one detected their subterfuge, no-one could tell her not to stare out her own window -- and he'd be there."

The knight realized that she would get up and night and questioned her, wanting to know why she gets up. She responded by saying, "'Lord, that girl or boy has never known this good world's joy who never heard the laustic's song. That's why I stand here all night long. I hear him sing so sweet at night, it seems to me just pure delight; I feel pleasure, such longing -- I need to listen -- I can't shut my eye." She tells her husband the truth basically, using the laustic as a symbol for the other knight, her lover. She enjoyed watching this nightingale, but her husband laughed and planned on capturing it, killing her happiness and joy. If she enjoyed it and it was pleasing to her, why capture it and then kill it right in front of her, let alone throw it at her? Now, she will not be able to see her lover again - she lost that freedom that the bird might have symbolized.

Since they could no longer see each other, she packaged up the bird and sent it to him with a message about what had happened via her servant. The knight, her true lover, created a container and a tight-fitting lid. "Inside, the laustic he hid. Then he sealed up this reliquary to ever after with him carry." He saved and preserved the laustic, keeping their love locked up forever, never forgetting what they had. The bird is a symbol of their love. This is the only thing that he had left of her and her love. This is different than other Marie de France lais which end with the lovers being together and the woman avoiding the platonic realtionship. In this lai, the woman is still in her platonic relationship, she does not end up in her lover, losing him.