Enchantress Mine by Bertrice Small Page A

as any man in battle for doing it.”
    “Did she really ride naked?” demanded Mairin with all the indelicate curiosity of a twelve-year-old.
    “Yes,” said Eada, taking up the story, “she did. I was no older than you at the time. She was a beautiful woman, but it was not just beauty she possessed. She had beauty of soul, and a good heart. Remember that, my daughter. A fair face will benefit you little in the end if your soul is black, and your heart hard.”
    “Like the lady Blanche,” said Mairin softly.
    “Yes,” agreed Eada. “Like the lady Blanche. Oh, dearest child, I had hoped those memories would have faded by this time.”
    “I will never forget Blanche de St. Brieuc,” said Mairin coldly, but then her eyes lightened, and she smiled at her foster mother sweetly. “Pray, lady, continue with your story of the gracious Godiva.”
    Eada sighed, and took up her tale. “Earl Leofric had imposed a tax upon Coventry that the lady Godiva considered unjust. When she complained to her husband demanding he rescind the tax, he refused. The lady Godiva was not a woman to be denied so she continued to badger her lord on the matter. Finally in a burst of temper the earl said carelessly that he would indeed remove the tax from the citizens of Coventry on the day that his wife rode naked through the streets of that town!
    “He did not, of course, expect her to do such a thing, and considered the matter closed. I am told that the lady Godiva smiled most sweetly at her husband, and then to Earl Leofric’s horror she took up his challenge. Having said it, he could not then take back his words, and naturally was most chagrined.”
    “Why could he not take back his words?” demanded Mairin.
    “Do you not have your pride, my daughter?” Eada asked gently.
    “Aye!”
    “Well so do men, perhaps even more than women,” replied Eada, “for a woman like a young willow sapling knows how to bend with the breeze, and retreat before a stronger force. A man rarely does.”
    Aldwine smiled in amusement at his wife’s statement. His eyes twinkled, but he wisely held his tongue as Eada continued on with her story.
    Learning of the sacrifice the lady Godiva intended to make for the people of Coventry, the women of her family living nearby came to aid their kinswoman. The good people of Coventry, hearing of what their lady intended to do in their behalf, retreated to their houses, closing their shutters out of respect to her upon that fateful day.
    “The earl, now shamed by his own actions, placed her himself upon a snow-white palfrey. She was as naked as the day God had brought her into this world with only her dark red hair—the same color as mine, and how proud I have always been of that fact—to shield her nudity. I remember my child’s heart swelling with pride that I could be related by blood to such a beautiful, brave, and noble woman as the lady Godiva.
    “The gates of Earl Leofric’s stronghold were opened by the earl. He would allow none of his own men in the courtyard that day. Three nuns, all cousins of ours, escorted the lady Godiva; one on either side of her horse to lead it, and the third who went before to ring a bell warning of their lady’s approach.
    “And the people of Coventry remained behind their shutters saying their beads for the lady Godiva until they could no longer hear the sound of the bells that were rung not only by the nun who led the procession, but by every church within the town’s walls. One rogue dared to violate the lady Godiva’s goodness. He was a blacksmith’s apprentice named Tom. The wretch paid dearly for his transgression, however, for the smith took hot coals from his forge and put out both the wicked creature’s eyes. From that day forth the blinded beast was known as Peeping Tom.”
    “And Earl Godwin made mock of Earl Leofric’s wife, mother?”
    “Aye, Mairin, he did. Peeping Tom was driven from Coventry by the citizens of the town. Earl Godwin’s men found him