Erec and Enide is a Medieval French romance by a man named Chrétien de Troyes. In it, the handsome prince, Erec, wins his fair bride, Enide, and sets out to live happily ever after.Then what?
Years later, Enide wakes up and discovers that her handsome prince is no longer the courtly knight he once was. He has given up all his feats of valor to lay abed with her all day. "Your renown has declined," she says. "The very best of knights--the boldest and the bravest, the most loyal, the most courteous that was ever count or king--has completely abandoned chivalry because of me."
Erec and Enide set out on a grand quest to prove Erec's prowess. But on the way, things happen that they don't expect. Their journey becomes, among other things, a beautiful allegory for growth in married life. Together, they learn that happy endings only come to people who continue to work for them every day.
When my now-fiance and I got decided to get married last October, I started searching the Internet for people with stories to tell. So many wedding blogs tell the stories of botched cakes or how to buy perfect wedding dresses. But marriage isn't just for a day. Weddings aren't happily ever afters.
...and Enide is my chronicle, the story of my engagement and, hopefully marriage, to the man I love more than anything in the world--my own quest for a happily ever after. I look forward to sharing my story with you.
You can find out more about Erec and Enide in Arthurian Romances by Chrétien de Troyes, translated by Carleton W. Carroll.
So you are La Belle Dame Sans Merci?
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