So
Sir Pierre de Béarn drew a
Bordeaux sword he was carrying and, enraged because of his hounds lying dead before him, he made to attack the bear. He fought it for a long time at huge risk to his life and only defeated it after a great struggle. Finally he killed it and returned to his castle at
Lekeitio in
Vizcaya, having the bear brought back with him. Everyone marvelled at the size of the beast, and at the
knight's bravery and daring in attacking and overcoming it.'
'When his wife, the
countess of Vizcaya, saw it, she showed signs of great distress and fainted. She was carried to her chamber by her attendants and remained there in severe anguish for the rest of that day and the whole of the next, refusing to say what the matter was. On the third day she said to her
husband,
"My lord, I will not regain my health until I have made a pilgrimage to
Santiago. Give me leave to go, and I ask you to allow me to take with me my son
Pierre and my daughter
Andrienne."
Sir Pierre readily agreed. The
lady left with a fine retinue, taking all her valuables with her - her gold, silver and jewels - and having them carried in front; for she knew that she would not return, but nobody took any notice of this. She made her journey and pilgrimage and took the opportunity to visit her cousin, the
king of Castile, and the
queen, who gave her a warm welcome. She is still there and refuses to return or to send her children back. I tell you that it was the very same night after
Sir Pierre had hunted and killed the bear that the delusion came upon him while he was asleep in his bed.
It is said that the
lady knew what would happen as soon as she saw the bear, for her
father had once hunted the beast, and whilst in pursuit of it a voice said to him, although he saw nothing,
"You hunt me although I mean you no harm. You will meet a grim end."
When she saw the bear the
lady remembered hearing her
father's account, and recalled that
king Pedro had indeed had him beheaded without cause. That is why she fainted, and that is the reason why she will never love her
husband again. She is adamant that some terrible injury will befall him before he dies, and that what has happened to him so far is nothing compared with what is yet to come.'
'Now I have told you about
Sir Pierre de Béarn as you asked of me,' said the squire, 'and it is all true, for that is just what happened. What do you think of it?'
The extraordinary tale had made me very thoughtful and I replied, 'I can quite believe it and it may well be so. We find it written down that long ago gods and goddesses would transform men into beasts and birds at will, and women too. It could be that this bear was once a knight hunting in the forests of
Vizcaya, who angered a god or goddess in his time and was transformed into the shape of a bear to live out his punishment, like
Actaeon who was transformed into a stag.'
'
Actaeon?' replied the squire. 'My dear fellow, pray tell me this tale now.'
'With pleasure,' I said. 'and according to the earliest written record.'
'We find it written that
Actaeon was an accomplished, lively and handsome knight who loved the pleasure of hunting with hounds above all else. It so happened one day that he was hunting in the woods of
Thessaly when he put up an extraordinarily large, fine stag and hunted it all day long, losing sight of both his men and his hounds.
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