The fils à vilain theme examined in Chapter 2 is only one of a number of unifying threads that run through Partonopeus de Blois, helping to tie its various rewritings more closely together. Others include the frequent interventions of the ‘lyric’ narrator who constantly aligns the progress of his own extra-diegetic love-affair with the changing fortunes of the hero and heroine, and the regular appearance in the central section of the narrative of women characters who act as as adjuvants and obstruants for the hero (Urraque, Persewis, Armant's wife versus the hero's mother and the niece of the king of France). One thread that runs consistently through the whole poem is the presence of animals and birds, and the use of animal imagery. The first section of the prologue features a skylark, a nightingale and an oriole that represent three different approaches to literary creation. The lark re-appears at the end of the A version of the text, alongside a corn bunting, a quail and a raven, in a metaphorical prelude to the triple wedding of Melior, Urraque and Persewis. The great forest of the Ardennes is the scene for three important episodes, each of which stresses the variety of creatures to be found there: elephants, lions, snakes, dragons, boars, leopards, bears, tigers and wolves are all mentioned, in a careful mingling of the familiar and the unexpected. In Chapter 1 we saw how two wild boars in the Ardennes are used to add layers of meaning to the portrait of the hero and to position the narrative at the intersection of the Breton lai and the dynastic romance.