V - Iwein's Madness and His Recovery

Summary

Then Lady Love asked me a question

which I, by my wits,

cannot answer.

She said: ‘Tell me, Hartmann,

are you saying that King Arthur

took Lord Iwein to his castle,

and let his wife go back home?’

Then I could not raise no objection to that,

for I had told it to her as the truth –

the same had, indeed, been told to me as true.

She said, looking at me askance:

‘You’re not telling the truth, Hartmann.’

‘Lady, I am!’ She said: ‘No!’

The dispute between us two lasted long,

until she brought me to the point

of agreeing with her –

King Arthur led off the wife and the husband,

and yet neither of them followed him away from there,

as I shall now impart to you –

they both exchanged

hearts between the two of them,

the lady and Sir Iwein –

her heart and his body followed him,

yet his heart and the lady remained there.

Then I said: ‘My Lady Love,

it seems to my mind

that my lord Iwein is lost,

since he has renounced his heart,

for it was that which gave him courage and strength.

What use will he be now for chivalry?

He must needs be as daunted as a woman,

since his body has a woman's heart,

and she has a man's heart –

now she will practise manly deeds

and ought, I suppose, to go tourneying,

and he must look after the household back home.

I am, in all truth, very sorry

that the habits of the two of them

have been so inverted by this exchange,

for now there is no help for either of them.’

Then Lady Love accused me

ich wære krancher sinne.

Sî sprach: ‘Tuo zuo den munt!

Dir ist diu beste fuore unchunt –

dichn geruorte nie mîn meisterschaft.

Ich bin ez, Minne, und gibe die kraft,

daz ofte man unde wîp

habent herzelôsen lîp,

und hânt ir kraft doch deste baz.’