reports of the Couvade as existing in Biscay have been found only on the ancient assertion of Strabo, it is still remarkable that it is in this part of Europe alone that the custom has ever been found.
If the compose of Aucassin derived his story from such a source, it is easy to see also whence he got the idea of the special form he has given it; for a narrative in prose mingled with interludes of verse, though strange to European literature, is common in Arabian.
And yet, whatever his sources or his models, one feels that his debt to them is trifling compared to the worth of his own work. All that he describes he has seen with his own eyes; and all that he tells, be it borrowed or invented, is quickened and heightened and made immortal by his own touch upon it.
All who can should read this story in its own language—the simple easy-flowing Old-French, with its infantile syntax, and naïve but effective
