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When the world was young and Adam and Eve yet lived in land of plenty and birds and beasts were numerous and covered the whole world and God gave all things beautiful voices to sing his praises, the nymph Melusina, daughter of Scotland's Majesty and the nymph Pressina, lived in the district of Poitiers in the realm of Francia. How she came to be there is forgotten to the children of Eve, but there in the forest of Coulomb, she courted the sire of the land, RAYMOND, of LUSIGNAN.

Raymond pursued her from her stream through the forest of Coulomb and sang to her sweet verses of his own composition and she let him give chase, but his words did not sway her, and thrice she vanished until he rent his clothes and tore his hair from the roots and ground his teeth to shattering for frustration. Then the Virgin, who hates to see love unrequited, sent to Raymond the seven muses: music, poetry, tragedy, dance, erotica, prayer, and comedy. They wove for him a song so potent the birds in aer swooned and the beasts of the earth capered about gaily and the trees and ferns sighed and shuddered.

It captured the heart of Melusina and on that spot they were married, and she raised for him the castle Lusignan and bore him HUGUES, Lord of Lusignan. From Hugues was begat HUGHES, Lord of Lusignan, Second of his name. From Hugues was begat HUGHES, Lord of Lusignan, Third of his name. From Hugues was begat HUGHES, Lord of Lusignan, Fourth of his name. From Hugues was begat HUGHES, Lord of Lusignan, Fifth of his name. From Hugues was begat HUGHES, Lord of Lusignan, Sixth of his name. From Hugues was begat HUGHES, Lord of Lusignan, Seventh of his name. From Hugues was begat HUGHES, Lord of Lusignan, Eighth of his name. From Hugues was begat AYMERY, Lord of Jerusalem.

Aymery's wise counsel and martial prowess swayed Guy of Jerusalem who named him Lord and set him over the fleet of Cyprus and put him to use against the fell powers of Mahomet who dominated those lands. Therefore, at the famed Battle of Tangier he won renown for his King and his God and smote down the fleet of Seljuq the Great. Aymery was proclaimed Lord of Cyprus by the impressed citizenry, so the Bishop CONRAD anointed him King thereof and through judicious marriage he ruled Jerusalem besides and was King of the Orient.

May be some semblance of the wisdom of his grandsire Raymond remained in him for he cunningly ensnared the Mamlukes of Egypt who had thrown down the foxy Saladin and divided the realm between themselves in a treaty to guarantee the salvation of the Orient from Mahometans, and then Aymery lived in peace and plenty to the end of his days. From Aymery was begat HUGHES, King of the Orient. From Hugues was begat HENRY, King of the Orient. From Henry was begat HUGHES, King of the Orient, Second of his name.

Then the Raymonides might have ended for Hughes was only succeeded by ISABELLA, a quine, but God would not have it so and gave her son HUGHES dominion of the Orient. Hughes brought the Principality of Antioch into the Crown of the Orient through his sire. He took up the family name of his grandsire and ruled justly and left behind GUY, King of the Orient. From Guy was begat HUGHES, King of the Orient, Fourth of his name. From Hugues was begat JACQUES, King of the Orient. From Jacques was begat JANUS, King of the Orient, so-called the Great, for he threw back the Saracen hordes many times and won dominion over the selfsame Principality of Cilicia that had been lost by his relation, LEON, and appended it to the Crown of the Orient.

Janus left a son, JEAN. Jaques bore a daughter, CHARLOTTE, Queen of the Orient, who was deposed by her brother, JACQUES, with the help of Godless Saracens. Jacques had one surviving son, JACQUES, King of the Orient, the Third of his name, a babe in arms who was foully disposed of by parties unknown, an innocent victim of the consequences to his father's treachery.

CHARLOTTE, landless, could not survive on the meagre salary of her lord husband LOUIS, so the King of Castille took pity upon her and invested her Lord of Madrid with the arms of the Kingdom of the Orient and a pledge of support. Her marriage was not fruitful, but she raised ALONSO D'ARAGONA as her own son and married him to her cursed brother's daughter CARLA to solidify the connection. Upon her death, Alonso became Lord of Madrid and the Raymonide kings lived no more but by bards' tales.