Yeres and dayes fleet this creature
Thurghout the See of Grece unto the Strayte
Of Marrok, as it was hire aventure.
On many a sory meel now may she bayte;
After hir deeth ful often may she wayte,
Er that the wilde wawes wol hire dryve
Unto the place ther she shal arryve.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Man of Law’s Tale. For years Constance’s ship drifts through the seas of Greece and to the strait of Gibraltar. Her situation is dire and she has to survive on many a poor meal and often expects that she will die, before the wild waves will drive her ship to the place she finally lands. She will survive her ordeal, eventually being shipwrecked on the shores of the pagan land of Northumberland.