Romantic
stories were at the height of their popularity. A usual theme was
the lonely quest of a knight engaged in adventures which would
impress his lady.
Riddles include: 1. I will make you a cross, and a thing will not
touch you, and you will not be able to leave the house without
breaking that cross. Answer: Stand before a post in your house,
with your arms extended. 2. What you do not know, and I do not
know, and no one can know after I have told you. Answer: I will
take a straw from the floor of the room, measure its inches, tell
you the length, and break the straw. 3. A pear tree bears all the
fruit a pear tree can bear and did not bear pears. Answer: It bore
only one pear.
The dress of the higher classes was very changeable and subject to
fashion as well as function. Ladies no longer braided their hair
in long tails, but rolled it up in a net under a veil, often
topped with an elaborate and fanciful headdress. They wore non-
functional long trains on their tunics and dainty shoes. Men wore
a long gown, sometimes clasped around the waist. Overtunics were
often lined or trimmed with native fur such as squirrel. People
often wore solid red, blue, or green clothes. Only monks and
friars wore brown. The introduction of buttons and buttonholes to
replace pins and laces made clothing warmer, and it could be made
tighter. After Edward I established the standard inch as three
continuous dried barleycorns, shoes came in standard sizes and
with a right one different from a left one.
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