Sir Yvain
In
Arthurian legend, Sir
Yvain is the central character of
Chretien de Troyes'
The Knight with the Lion. He rescues a lion from a serpent and earns its comradeship. In the course of that story, Yvain marries a woman who he made a widow, loses her love, and spends most of the rest of the tale trying to rewin it.