I finished my last story at the part, where’s beautiful French maiden thought she couldn’t be bothered with by the mad changes of the European political map, when she suddenly was greatly bothered by the appearance of impressive looking former-Viking-nowadays-French-nobility Norseman and Duke named Robert.   The maiden was in the middle of doing her laundry in the nearby river and I can only imagine the multitude of thoughts that went through her head.  On the other hand, the Duke’s were fairly simple; “oh!!! Maiden! Pretty! Bushes?”  The maiden was definitely flattered, that the Duke decided to get started with the local nature discovery with her as a private guide... well, what are you going to say to a Duke?  Big guy.  With a sword.  And the guards.  So the girl said... easy to guess... No.  NO?!  No!!!  I guess she wasn’t that much into nature.   She calmly explained to the Duke, that if she were to have a reward for her private mentorship as a little noisy infant, nobody would believe that his father was a Duke and her future would be a lot less bright then her face was on this wonderful day.  She refused.  She refused to accompany Duke through the bushes, or through the back door into his bed chamber, as it was customary at the time.  Believe it or not, she further explained, that she would accompany him through the main gate, if he officially sent for her and paraded her on a white horse, in a pretty dress, in front of the whole city.  And, while the Duke will be waiting for her, he could take his time to get rid off all the bushy hairy growth on his face.  And his current wife too, by the way.

Well, none of this was customary at that time.  So the Duke, being a Duke, a Norseman, a former Viking, and an ex-pirate descendant, of course, said...yes.  Yess!!!!  Sure, honey!!!

The funniest thing is,  while the actual first encounter is part of the mystery and has some variations, both Duke’s intentions and the maiden’s demands are documented in historical documents!!  White horse, pretty dress and even the facial bushery!  While it is less clear about the wife, the girl did get her horse, dress and the main gate parade.  

And soon afterwards, she had her reward in an the infant-currency: she had a sweet little boy, named William.  Billy-boy.  Whom Duke loved dearly and named his heir.  

And they lived happily ever after.

Wait, not everyone was so happy about this.  They were so unhappy about this.  Some of those weird blokes called him bad names and even plotted some really nasty games for little Willie, very much like the charming looking lion Scar does in Lion King (as I explained it to my children, who were so fascinated by the whole tale, that even stopped impersonating little vikings for a moment and stopped to listen about some relatives of the big ones; moreover, some other people were swooped up by the breezes from our distant past and brought their own little ones into our train compartment to hear more about these fascinating medieval encounters... and boy, did they become even more fascinating!!! My own kids weren't fighting for the entire 45 minute of a train ride to hear more about what was about to happen!!!)

But that’s a subject of another story :))