Sarrasin can't hold it back: he has to speak of the flower of chivalry who used to rove through France. Hearing this romance will surely bring to mind the king of Sicily, Charles, who is held in awe and dread but is also humble and courteous: meek as a lamb towards God but fierce as a lion towards those who provoke and wrong him. All who ever cross his path admire him for his loyalty and fear him for his awesome might: he can exact fearsome retribution, and also knows how to bide his time till he sees the perfect moment.

The men of his day were fine beyond words – I saw them. Fauvel de Suzanne, lord of Provence, was alive then: he ever strove against Indolence; it had beset him since his youth but he resisted it so manfully that Prowess came to dwell in him and he crushed all wicked vices till none in him remained. I saw Sir Robert de Ronssoy in Paris in his day: a brave, upstanding, cultured man, courtly and endowed with many virtues, entirely committed to good deeds. He was admired for his looks as well as for his goodness (even in places he’d never been – just as sometimes we’ve no idea that a maid's in love with us!). That's why all men should strive to do good and to order their lives in such a way that they’re held in true esteem.

King Charles, at that time a count, sought honour at all points, and pursued a career that has made him the worthiest man known today – I’m sure no thinking man will disagree. Outstandingly brave he was, and generous and most loyal: his house was always filled with minstrels and with heralds, and he was ever open-handed towards good and valiant knights. He was the constant upholder of Prowess, Largesse and Valour, which now are left impoverished, naked, and avert their gaze from worthy men. We should scorn indeed all those whose counsel to the king is such that his realm is now left desolate, with Prowess banished. All through France Sir Ease is having a high old time, indulging his every whim – off with his hounds and his hawks and then drinking, eating, sleeping.