Jeffery Farnol

“ Be thou to thine own heart true, be thou brave and Shame shall fly thee since True-love out-faceth Shame! How say'st thou, Mopsa, thou wise witch-mother?”
“Ah, sweet children!” croaked the Witch, touching each with claw-like hand yet hand wondrous gentle. “True-love shall indeed find ye, hide where ye will. For True-love, though blind, they say, hath eyes to see all that is good and sweet and true. A poor man-at-arms in rusty mail may yet be true man and a fool, for all his motley, wise. To love such seemeth great folly, yet to the old, love is but folly. ”

“ SIR PALAMON: Mine, thou paltry knave, I say mine—
ROBIN: Buzz—ha—buzz!
JOCELYN: I pray you, Sir Knight, doth the Red Gui tilt at to-morrow's joust?
SIR PALAMON: Base mime, he doth! My Lord Gui of Ells, Lord Seneschal of Raddemore, is myfriend, a very mirror of knightly prowess, the sure might of whose lance none may abide. He is, in very truth, the doughtiest champion in all this fair country, matchless at any and every weapon, a-horse or a-foot, in sooth a very Ajax, Achilles, Hector, Roland and Oliver together and at once, one and indivisible, aye—by Cupid a very paladin! ”

“ Cried Robin: “O sweet Fool, I would I had been there to see This haughty lord of high degree In pretty, plashing pool.” Here shout of glee became a roar, That made the dungeon ring; They laughed, they rolled upon the floor, Till suddenly the massy door On creaking hinge did swing; And to them the head jailer now appeared, A sombre man who sighed through tangled beard.
“How now, rogue-lads,” said he, “grow ye merry in sooth by reason o' this Fool! Aye me, all men do grow merry save only I, Ranulph, Chief Torturer, Ranulph o' the Keys, o' the Gibbet, o' the City Axe—poor Ranulph the Headsman. ”

“ O, 't is a hideous face!”
“O Fool!” sighed Benedicta, “know'st thou not that True-love's eyes possess a magic whereby all loved things become fair and beauteous. So take courage, noble Motley, and may thy desires be crowned—even as our own.”
“Gramercy, thou sweet and gentle lady. Happiness companion thee alway and Love sing ever within thee. Now for ye twain is love's springtime, a season of sweet promise, may each promise find fulfilment and so farewell.”
“Why then, Sir Fool, an thou wilt tarry here in the good greenwood a while, may Love guide thee. ”

“ How may one of thy inches bear man of mine so far? LOBKYN: Why, Fool, though I of inches lack, I'm mighty strong, both arm and back, Thou that art longer man than me, Yet I am stronger man than thee, Though, lusty Fool, big fool you be, I'd bear thee, Fool, if thou wert three. And mark, Fool, if my grammar seemeth weak, Pray license it since I in verse must speak. JOCELYN: And pray why must thou speak in verse? LOBKYN: Nature hath on me laid this curse, And, though to speak plain prose I yearn, My prose to verse doth ever turn. ”

“ FYTTE 3 Tell'th how Duke Jocelyn of love did sing, And haughty knight in lily-pool did fling. Upon a morn, when dewy flowers fresh-waked Filled the glad air with perfume languorous, And piping birds a pretty tumult made, Thrilling the day with blended ecstasy; When dew in grass did light a thousand fires, And gemmed the green in flashing bravery— Forth of her bower the fair Yolanda came, Fresh as the morn and, like the morning, young, Who, as she breathed the soft and fragrant air, Felt her white flesh a-thrill with joyous life, And heart that leapt responsive to the joy. ”

“ I think if Love find Robin and Robin, so found of Love, shall learn to love Love for Love's sake, Love shall teach Robin how, hi loving Love—Love, if a plague, doth but plague him lovingly to his better judgment of Love, till, being on this wise, wise—he shall judge of Love lovingly, loving Love at last for Love's own lovely sake, rather than for his own selfish self. For as there is the passion of love, the which is a love selfish, so there is the true Spirit of Love, the which forgetteth self in Love's self, thus, self-forgotten, Love is crowned by Love's true self. ”

“ Now beholding this tall fellow, Jocelyn knew him for that same forest-rogue had wrestled with him in the green, and sung for his life the “Song of Roguery.” Wherefore he smiled on the fellow and the fellow on him: Quoth JOCELYN: I grieve to see A man like thee In such a woeful plight— Quoth the ROGUE: A Fool in fetters, Like his betters, Is yet a rarer sight.
“Ha i' the clout, good fellow, for Folly in fetters is Folly in need, and Folly in need is Folly indeed! But, leaving folly awhile, who art thou and what thy name?” ”

“ Behold, fair maid, Duke Joc'lyn's signet ring.” “Heaven's love!” she cried. “And can it truly be The Duke doth send a mountebank like thee, A Fool that hath nor likelihood nor grace From worn-out shoon unto thy blemished face— A face so scarred—so hateful that meseems At night 't will haunt and fright me with ill dreams; A slave so base—” “E'en so!” Duke Joc'lyn sighed, And his marred visage 'neath his hood did hide. “But, though my motley hath thy pride distressed, I am the Fool Duke Joc'lyn loveth best. And—ah, my lady, thou shalt never see In all this world a Fool the like of me!” ”

“ Art in danger? Speak, speak!”
“Nay, here is no harm for me, Joconde. And I am hither come for sake of a poor Fool that is braver than the bravest—one did jeopardise his foolish life for sake of a maid, wherefore I, Hugo, do give him life. Take now this wallet, within is good store of gold and better—a potent charm to close all watchful eyes. Hist, Joconde, and mark me well! Ranulph o' the Axe is a mighty drinker—to-night, drawn by fame of thy wit, he cometh with his fellows. This money shall buy them wine, in the wine cast this powder so shall they sleep and thou go free.” ”

“ The books that are nicest are always the sort That, when you have read them, seem always too short! If you make all your readers impatient like me, They'll buy none of your books—and then where shall we be? All people like reading of love when they can, So write them a lot, father, that is the plan. Go on to the love, then, for every one's sake, And end with a wedding— MYSELF: Your counsel I 'll take. I can woo them and wed them in less than no time, I can do it in prose, in blank verse, or in rhyme; But since, my dear, you are for speed, To end our Geste I will proceed. ”

“ A fool-duke, by my head! Who, clad like Fool, like Fool will fain be wed, For ass and dolt and fool of fools is he Who'll live in bondage to some talk-full she. Yet, if he'll wed, why i' the foul fiend's name, Must he in motley seek the haughty dame?” But now, while he did on this problem dwell, Two unexpected happenings befell: A fish to nibble on the worm began, And to him through the green a fair maid ran. Fast, fast amid the tangled brake she fled, Her cheeks all pale, her dark eyes wide with dread; But Pertinax her beauty nothing heeded, Since both his eyes to watch his fish were needed ”

“ Here was good cause for any maid to fear thee methinks.
Yet thou didst basely mock my fears with thy hateful song of “Derry down.”
HE: Because thy fears, being unjust, hurt me, for ah, Yolande, my love for thee is deep and true, and True-love is ever gentle and very humble.
SHE: Thus do I fear thee no more, Joconde!
HE: Because I am but lowly—a Fool beneath thy proud disdain?
SHE: Nay, Joconde. Because thou art indeed a very man. So now shall I sleep secure since nought of evil may come nigh me whiles I lie in thy care. ”

“ So wilt thou go, come joy, come pain, come life or death, since a maid is made to make man saint or devil, some days glad and some days sad, but ever and always a fool. And thou art Fool by profession, and, being lover professed and confessed, art doubly a fool; and since, good Folly, love's but folly and thou, a Fool, art deep in folly, so is thy state most melancholy. ”

“ But Jocelyn lay prone upon his face, between Lobkyn's firm-planted feet, and stirred not. So club whirled, sword flashed and pike darted while, high above the tumult, rose Lobkyn's fierce chant:
“Hot blood I quaff, At death I laugh, Brave Lobkyn Lollo, I. Come all that may, And all I'll slay, And teach ye how to die.”
“Lob—Lobkyn!” screamed the Witch. “Thou that drinkest nought but milk—talk not of blood, thou naughty poppet. Back now—stand back, I do command thee!”
Lobkyn smote a man to earth and, sighing regretful, stepped aside. ”

“ His scarlet plumes 'bove gleaming helm a-dance, His bannerole a-flutter from long lance, His gaudy shield with new-popped blazon glowed: Three stooping falcons that on field vert showed; But close-shut vizor hid from all his face As thus he rode at easy, ambling pace.
“Now as I live!” cried Benedicta. “By his device yon should be that foolish knight Sir Palamon of Tong!”
“Aye, truly!” sighed Yolande. “Though he wear no motley hither rideth indeed a very fool. And look, Benedicta—look! O, sure never rode knight in like array—see how the very populace groweth dumb in its amaze!” ”

“ Love, I do defy thee! “What is love? A toy so vain 'T is but found to lose again, Painful sweet and sweetest pain; Ah, love, come not nigh me. “But, love, an thou com'st to me, Wert thou as I'd have thee be, Welcome sweet I'd make for thee, And weary of thee never. “If with thy heart thou could'st endure, If thou wert strong and thou wert sure, A master now, and now a wooer, Thy slave I'd be for ever.” Thus sang she sweet beside the lily-pool, Unknowing any might her singing hear, When rose another voice, so rich, so full As thrilled her into rapt and pleasing wonder ”

“ The dream is past and we do wake at last, for thy motley Fool, thy Duke and lover am I, yet lover most of all. And thou who in thy divine mercy stooped to love the Fool, by that same love shalt thou lift Duke Jocelyn up to thee and heaven at last. And Oh, methinks the memory of thy so great and noble love shall be a memory fragrant everlastingly. ”

“ So keep ye all a youthful mind, Thus happiness ye all shall find If wit have ye, Like me! “O list ye, great and small, Proud knight, free man and thrall, True happiness, since life began, The birthright is of every man; Seize then your birthright if ye can, Since men are ye— Like me! “Thus I forsooth, a Fool, Do now ye wise ones school; Since of my folly, full and free, I wisely thus admonish ye, Be wise—or eke fools learn to be In verity— Like me!” ”

“ List, dear Friar John, thou the wisest and best loved of all my guardians ten; to-day ye are absolved henceforth all care of your wilful ward since to-day she passeth from the guardianship of ye ten to the keeping of one. Come forth, Pertinax, thou only one beloved of me for no reason but that thou art thou and I am I—as is ever the sweet, mad way of True-love—come forth, my dear-loved, poor soldier!” Out from the trees strode Pertinax but, beholding his face, Friar John scowled and, viewing his rich surcoat and goodly armour, fell to perspiring wonder and amaze. ”

“ But the Duchess up-starting, silenced Herald and trumpeters with imperious hand.
“Sir Knight of Tong,” said she, “'tis told thou'rt of nimble tongue and a maker of songs, so we bid thee sing if thy song be of Love—for Love is a thing little known and seldom understood these days. Here be very many noble knights wondrous learned in the smiting of buffets, but little else; here be noble dames very apt at the play of eyes, the twining of fingers, the languishment of sighs, that, seeking True-love, find but its shadow; and here also grey beards that have forgot the very name of Love. ”