After an ornate brocade is tied to the baby's arm signifying its noble birth, the handmaiden leaves it under an ash tree outside of an abbey.
A porter finds the girl and names her Le Fresne (modern French frêne, "ash tree"), and gives her to a gentle abbess to raise.
Fearing the wrath of the abbess if Le Fresne became pregnant in her house, Gurun convinces her to run away with him, making her his concubine.
Gurun's knights become concerned that if he does not marry a noblewoman for the sake of a legitimate heir, his lands and lineage will be lost upon his death.
They find a noble and beautiful woman named La Coudre (modern French coudrier, "hazel tree").
Gurun's knights convince him that he should marry La Coudre instead of Le Fresne, arguing for the fertile hazel tree over the barren ash.
[3] Child abandonment is likewise shared with other medieval works, such as the fourteenth century Middle English romance Sir Degaré.
[7] This motif of a man encouraged to abandon a faithful partner for a new wife appears in popular ballads, both in English and Scandinavian form, such as Fair Annie.