Breton lay

Breton lay, poetic form so called because Breton professional storytellers supposedly recited similar poems, though none are extant. A short, rhymed romance recounting a love story, it includes supernatural elements, mythology transformed by medieval chivalry, and the Celtic idea of faerie, the land of enchantment. Derived from the late 12th-century French lais of Marie de France, it was adapted into English in the late 13th century and became very popular. The few extant English Breton...