In mediaeval days, "ladies, at all events, as represented by the
poets, were not, on the whole, very prudish. Meleranz surprised a
lady who was taking a bath under a lime tree; the bath was
covered with samite, and by it was a magnificent ivory bed,
surrounded by tapestries representing the history of Paris and
Helen, the destruction of Troy, the adventures of AEneas, etc. As
Meleranz rides by, the lady's waiting-maids run away; she
herself, however, with quick decision, raises the samite which
covers the tub, and orders him to wait on her in place of the
maids. He brings her shift and mantle, and shoes, and then stands
aside till she is dressed; when she has placed herself on the
bed, she calls him back and commands him to drive away the flies
while she sleeps. Strange to say, the men are represented as more
modest than the women. When two maidens prepared a bath for
Parzival, and proposed to bathe him, according to custom, the
inexperienced young knight was shy, and would not enter the bath
until they had gone; on another occasion, he jumped quickly into
bed when the maidens entered the room. When Wolfdieterich was
about to undress, he had to ask the ladies who pressed around him
to leave him alone for a short time, as he was ashamed they
should see him naked. When Amphons of Spain, bewitched by his
step-mother into a were-wolf, was at last restored, and stood
suddenly naked before her, he was greatly ashamed.
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