To which I said, 'Take care then that my tale be follow'd out By all the lieges in my royal vein : But one that really suited time and place Were such a medley, we should have him back Who told the Winter's Tale to do it for us : A Gothic ruin, and a Grecian house, A talk of college and of ladies' rights, A feudal knight in silken masquerade, And there with shrieks and strange experiments, For which the good Sir Ralph had burnt them all, The nineteenth century gambols on the grass. No matter we will say whatever comes: Here are we seven if each man take his turn We make a sevenfold story: then began. I. A PRINCE I was, blue-eyed, and fair in face, To lash offence, and with long arms and hands Now it chanced that I had been, While life was yet in bud and blade, betroth'd To one, a neighbouring Princess: she to me Was proxy-wedded with a bootless calf At eight years old; and still from time to time Came murmurs of her beauty from the South, And of her brethren, knights of puissance; And still I wore her picture by my heart, And one dark tress; and all around them both Sweet thoughts would swarm as bees about their queen. But when the days drew nigh that I should wed, My father sent ambassadors with furs And jewels, gifts, to fetch her: these brought back Besides, they saw the king; he took the gifts; He said there was a compact; that was true : But then she had a will; was he to blame? That morning in the presence room I stood With Cyril and with Florian, my two friends: The first, a gentleman of broken means (His father's fault) but given to starts and bursts Of revel; and the last, my other heart, My shadow, my half-self, for still we moved Now while they spake I saw my father's face Grow long and troubled like a rising moon, Inflamed with wrath: he started on his feet, Tore the king's letter, snow'd it down, and rent The wonder of the loom thro' warp and woof From skirt to skirt; and at the last he sware That he would send a hundred thousand men, And bring her in a whirlwind: then he chew'd At last I spoke. My father, let me go. It cannot be but some gross error lies In this report, this answer of a king, Or, maybe, I myself, my bride once seen, Whate'er my grief to find her less than fame, May rue the bargain made.' And Florian said: 'I have a sister at the foreign court, Who moves about the Princess; she, you know, Who wedded with a nobleman from thence: He, dying lately, left her, as I hear, The lady of three castles in that land. Thro' her this matter might be sifted clean.' Then whisper'd Cyril: 'Take me with you too. I'll serve you better in a strait; Trust me, But when the council broke, I rose and past Thro' the wild woods that hung about the town ; Found a still place, and pluck'd her likeness out; Laid it on flowers, and watch'd it lying bathed |