THE SCENE: A medieval lady presses her noble husband for details about his secret life. When he finally reveals the truth, its fair to say that the answer was probably the last thing she was expecting.
THE TEXT: I would gladly ask you something, if only I dared; but there is nothing I fear more than your anger.” When he heard this, he embraced her, drew her towards him and kissed her. “Lady,” he said, “come, ask your question! There is nothing you can ask which I shall not tell you, if I know the answer.” “In faith,” she said, “I am relieved to hear this. Lord, I am so fraught with anxiety the days you are apart from me, my heart is so heavy and I have such a fear of losing you that I shall surely die shortly from this unless I soon get help. Please tell me where you go, what becomes of you and where you stay. I think you must have a lover and, if this is so, you are doing wrong.” “Lady,” he said, “in God’s name, have mercy on me! If I tell you this, great harm will come to me. For as a result I shall lose your love and destroy myself.”
When the lady heard what he said, she thought it was no laughing matter. She questioned him repeatedly and coaxed him so persuasively that he told her his story, keeping nothing secret. “Lady, I become a werewolf: I entered the vast forest and live in the deepest part of the wood where I feed off the prey I can capture.” When he had related everything to her, she asked him whether he undressed or remained clothed. “Lady,” he said, “I go about completely naked.” “Tell me, in the name of God, where do you leave your clothes?” “That I will not tell you, for if I lost them and were discovered in that state, I should remain a werewolf forever. No one would be able to help me until they were returned to me.”
– Bisclavret, Marie de France, 12th Century AD
