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Chapter XXV
Front-de-Boeuf, De Bois-Guilbert and De Bracy meet. They have
received a written demand from, of all people, Wamba and Gurth.
The demand is that the knights surrender their prisoners within
one hour or face the consequences. The document is also signed
by the Black Knight. Locksley has placed his mark on it too.
The knights do not know how to react. De Bracy laughs, but Front-de-Boeuf
realizes how serious the ultimatum is. He knows there must be
a strong force arrayed against them, and a squire confirms that
at least two hundred men oppose them. But the knights are confident
they have the means to hold the castle against the attackers.
De Bois-Guilbert composes a reply to the challenge, which says
that they will execute their prisoners before noon. The knights
also request that a priest be sent to hear the last confessions
of the prisoners. When the men in the forest get this message,
they have to decide who to send as a priest. The Black Knight
proposes Friar Tuck, but he refuses. Wamba then volunteers for
the job.
Chapter XXVI
Wamba arrives at the castle. De Bois-Guilbert decides that he
should be given a written order asking De Bracy’s men
in York to come to their aid. In the meantime, Wamba is shown
into the hall where Cedric and Athelstane are held. Wamba tells
them to prepare for their deaths. They receive this news with
disbelief, but then face up to it with courage. Wamba then reveals
his identity, and offers to swap his monk’s gown for Cedric’s
clothing, so Cedric can escape. Cedric wants Athelstane to be
the one who escapes, but he refuses. Wamba says that he will
only swap clothes with Cedric, and Cedric is moved by Wamba’s
sacrifice. On his way out, disguised as a priest, he is accosted
by Rebecca, who has been temporarily let out of her cell by
Urfried. She asks him to come to the aid of a wounded prisoner.
She means Ivanhoe, whom she has been allowed to attend, although
Cedric does not know this. But Cedric does not want to be delayed,
and then Urfried shoos Rebecca away.
Chapter XXVII
Urfried ushers the reluctant Cedric into a small apartment.
She begins to tell him her story. Cedric is amazed to discover
that she is the daughter of Torquil Wolfganger, his father’s
friend. Urfried then guesses that she is talking to Cedric,
and she continues her story. Her real name is Ulrica. She was
forced to live as the paramour of her father’s killer,
but she did everything she could to ensure that the family she
was compelled to live with met misfortune. She fomented hatred
between the elder Front-de-Boeuf and his son, and the son (who
now holds Cedric captive) killed his father. Cedric despises
Ulrica because she did not kill herself to escape such a tormented
existence. But she says she still has the power of revenge.
She tells him that when the besiegers see a red flag flying
from the turret, they are to press their assault, for the Normans
will have enough to deal with within the castle. She then leaves
and Front-de-Boeuf enters. He gives Cedric (whom he thinks is
a priest) a scroll to take to the castle of Philip de Malvoisin.
Malvoisin is then to send it to York. After the phony monk has
left, Front-de-Boeuf calls for Cedric to be brought to him.
When he discovers that the man purporting to be Cedric is in
fact Wamba, and that Cedric has escaped, he is furious. He threatens
to throw Wamba from the battlements, but De Bracy persuades
him to allow the jester to join his, De Bracy’s, service.
Athelstane then offers to pay a thousand marks as a ransom for
the freedom of all the prisoners. Front-de-Boeuf agrees, but
he will not release Isaac, Rebecca, Rowena and Wamba. Athelstane
says the deal is off, because Rowena is his bride-to-be and
Wamba has just saved the life of Cedric his master, so he cannot
allow them to remain as captives. Then Ambrose, an old monk
in attendance on the Prior of Jorvaulx, arrives. He says that
the Prior has been captured by outlaws in the woods, who are
demanding ransom. He asks for the knights’ assistance,
but they refuse. The knights prepare the castle for the expected
assault.
Chapter XXVIII
The narrative returns to the story of how Ivanhoe came to be
in the litter transported by Isaac and Rebecca. After Ivanhoe
is injured in the tournament, Rebecca persuades her father to
allow Ivanhoe to be taken to the house in Ashby where they are
staying. There she cares for his wounds, using her knowledge
of medicine she learned from an old Jewess. She then persuades
Isaac to let Ivanhoe travel with them to York. She tells him
that Ivanhoe is in the favor of Richard the Lion-Hearted, and
if Richard should return, Isaac will need a powerful advocate.
This is because Isaac supplied Richard’s brother Prince
John with much of the money he needed for his rebellious plans.
Analysis
For
the most part in these chapters, Scott is busy creating tension
and suspense, setting up the situation for the climax of part
two. But he also inserts touches of humor, notably in the challenge
to the Normans issued by Wamba and Gurth. This also has a symbolic
significance, since it shows that the ordinary Saxon people
are capable of challenging the arrogant Normans. Chapter XXVII
also reveals a courage and heroism in Athelstane’s character
that might previously have been unsuspected.
The motif
of disguise returns again, first through Wamba and then through
Cedric. Scott makes sure that the reader gets a lot of pleasure
at the expense of the twice-outwitted Front-de-Boeuf and his
resultant fury. Like Athelstane, Wamba too emerges from his
humble role as jester to become a heroic figure, prepared to
sacrifice himself for his master. The Saxons show considerable
courage and resourcefulness during their imprisonment.
In Chapter
XXVIII, Scott makes use of a common motif in medieval romance,
that of the wounded knight nursed back to health by a woman
skilled in the healing arts. This motif lies at the heart of
the story of Tristan and Iseult, for example. To this familiar
theme, Rebecca’s unrequited love for Ivanhoe forms a touching
sub-plot. |
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