V: Of the Death of Audrey, Mother to Birdalone. She Is Warned in a Dream to Seek the Black Squire, and Is Minded to Depart the City of the Five Crafts, and Seek Again the Castle of the Quest explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Female Agency and Autonomy

  Birdalone independently decides to leave her settled life, manage her property, and embark on a quest disguised as a man, asserting her own will.

• Love and Desire

  Her dream and awakening desire for the Black Squire drive her to seek him, blending grief with longing.

• Journey and Quest

  Birdalone resolves to depart the Five Crafts and seek the Castle of the Quest, beginning a new phase of her journey.

Characters to notice

• Birdalone

  Grieves her mother's death and Jacobus's, then decides to leave the Five Crafts to seek the Black Squire.

• Audrey

  Birdalone's mother, dies of the pestilence in the Five Crafts.

• Master Jacobus

  Dies of the same pestilence; Birdalone sorrows for him though she did not love him as a lover.

• Gerard of the Clee

  Remains faithful to Birdalone; helps her arrange the departure and plans to return to Utterhay.

• The Gerardsons

  Gerard's sons, loyal to Birdalone; assist in her preparations and plan to go to Utterhay.

• The Witch Wife

  Appears in Birdalone's dream, speaking in friendly fashion and taunting her about the Black Squire.

Key passages

• “Thus dwelt Birdalone in the Five Crafts in such rest and peace as her heart would let her; and dear and good friends she had about her; her mother first, whose love and desire for love of her made all things soft and dear unto her.”

  Birdalone lived in the Five Crafts with as much peace as her heart allowed, surrounded by loving friends, especially her mother Audrey, whose affection made everything gentle and precious.

  Describes Birdalone's settled life before the losses that prompt her departure.

• “On a night, as she slept, came to her dreams of her days in the House under the Wood (as very seldom betid), and the witch-wife was speaking to her in friendly fashion (as for her) and blaming her for fleeing away, and was taunting her with the failure of her love, and therewith telling her how fair a man and lovesome was the Black Squire, and what a loss she had of him;”

  One night Birdalone dreamed of the witch-wife, who spoke kindly yet reproached her for fleeing and taunted her about losing the handsome Black Squire.

  The dream rekindles Birdalone's desire to seek the Black Squire.

• “She arose all darling naked as she was, and went to the window and looked out on the beauty of the spring, while the sound of the market-wains brought to her mind the thought of the meads, and the streams of the river, and the woodsides beyond the city; and she fell a-longing for them, as a while she knelt on the window-seat, half dreaming and asleep again, till the sun came round that way, and its beams fell upon her bosom and her arms; and she stood up and looked on the fairness of her body, and a great desire took hold of her heart that it might be loved as it deserved by him whom she desired.”

  She rose naked, went to the window, and felt a deep longing for the natural world beyond the city; as sunlight touched her body, she yearned to be loved by the man she desired.

  Birdalone's sensual awakening and longing for the Black Squire crystallize her decision to leave.

• “And such a flood of joy possessed her when she thought this, and so eager to begone she was, that she deemed every minute wasted till she were on the road.”

  The thought of seeking her love filled her with such joy that she felt every moment spent waiting was wasted.

  Birdalone's resolve to depart is immediate and joyful.