This book has two aims: to introduce new readers to the riches of Old French storytelling and the culture from which it arose and, secondly, to suggest a way out of the impasse apparent in current criticism of Aucassin et Nicolete. Each chapter of the book begins with an English version of a section of the Old French text. This is followed by an analysis of the corresponding passage of the original text using the English version as a point of reference. Many of the text’s poetic structures survive translation and it is in these that the discussion finds its point of departure.