Laustic is a tale about a love triangle involving two knights, one married and one a bachelor, living in neighboring castles. The bachelor knight, who was known for his partying ways, shared a secret affair with the wife of the married knight. Due to the danger associated with the affair, the bachelor knight and the wife were never physically intimate, but spoke to each other frequently from their castle windows. The married knight was very protective of his wife and their marriage, so when he left town, he ensured that his wife was guarded. A critical component of the affair between the bachelor knight and the wife was their nightly summertime ritual of watching each other from their castles and taking in the song of the nightingale as the married night slumbered.
The married knight asked his wife why she did not sleep at night and his wife tells the knight she stays awake to listen to the song of the laustic (nightingale). The married knight is angered that the laustic does not allow his wife to sleep at night, so he decides to trap the laustic out of bitterness and jealousy. The married knight has his castle booby trapped and eventually captures the laustic. The married knight kills the laustic despite his wife's cries for the bird's freedom.
The married knight throw's the laustic's body at his wife and gets blood on her chemise. With the wife's scapegoat for staying awake late at night, dead, the wife knows she cannot lie awake at night and secretly stare at her lover. The wife worries her lover will doubt her faith, so she has her servant send the laustic's body to the bachelor knight. The bachelor knight has a smith craft a vessel (reliquary) to hold the body of the laustic, which he carries with him at all times to commemorate his love for the wife.
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