The Canterbury Tales · The Knight’s Tale 277 (3/8)

Now will I turn to Arcita again,

That little wist how nighë was his care,

Till that Fortúne had brought him in the snare.

The busy lark, the messenger of day,

Saluteth in her song the morning gray;

And fiery Phoebus riseth up so bright,

That all the orient laugheth at the sight,

And with his streamës430 drieth in the greves431

The silver droppës, hanging on the leaves;

And Arcite, that is in the court royál

With Theseus, his squier principal,

Is ris’n, and looketh on the merry day.

And for to do his óbservance to May,

Remembering the point432 of his desire,

He on his courser, starting as the fire,

Is ridden to the fieldës him to play,

Out of the court, were it a mile or tway.

And to the grove, of which I have you told,

By áventure his way began to hold,

To makë him a garland of the greves,433

Were it of woodbine, or of hawthorn leaves,

And loud he sang against the sun so sheen.434

“O May, with all thy flowers and thy green,

Right welcome be thou, fairë freshë May,

I hope that I some green here getten may.”

And from his courser, with a lusty heart,

Into the grove full hastily he start,

And in a path he roamed up and down,

There as by áventure this Palamon

Was in a bush, that no man might him see,

For sore afeard of his death was he.

Nothing ne knew he that it was Arcite;

God wot he would have trowed it full lite.435

But sooth is said, gone since full many years,436

The field hath eyen, and the wood hath ears.

It is full fair a man to bear him even,437

For all day meeten men at unset steven.438

Full little wot Arcite of his felláw,

That was so nigh to hearken of his saw,439

For in the bush he sitteth now full still.

When that Arcite had roamed all his fill,

And sungen all the roundel440 lustily,

Into a study he fell suddenly,

As do those lovers in their quaintë gears,441

Now in the crop, and now down in the breres,442

Now up, now down, as bucket in a well.

Right as the Friday, soothly for to tell,

Now shineth it, and now it raineth fast,

Right so can geary443 Venus overcast

The heartës of her folk, right as her day

Is gearful,444 right so changeth she array.

Seldom is Friday all the weekë like.

When Arcite had y-sung, he gan to sike,445

And sat him down withouten any more:

“Alas!” quoth he, “the day that I was bore!

How longë, Juno, through thy cruelty

Wilt thou warrayen446 Thebes the city?

Alas! y-brought is to confusion

The blood royál of Cadm’ and Amphion:

Of Cadmus, which that was the firstë man,

That Thebes built, or first the town began,

And of the city first was crowned king.

Of his lineáge am I, and his offspring

By very line, as of the stock royál;

And now I am so caitiff and so thrall,447

That he that is my mortal enemy,

I serve him as his squiër poorëly.

And yet doth Juno me well morë shame,

For I dare not beknow448 mine owen name,

But there as I was wont to hight Arcite,

Now hight I Philostrate, not worth a mite.

Alas! thou fell Mars, and alas! Juno,

Thus hath your ire our lineage all fordo’.449

Save only me, and wretched Palamon,

That Theseus martýreth in prisón.

And over all this, to slay me utterly,

Love hath his fiery dart so brenningly450

Y-sticked through my truë careful heart,

That shapen was my death erst than my shert.451

Ye slay me with your eyen, Emily;

Ye be the causë wherefore that I die.

Of all the remnant of mine other care

Ne set I not the mountance of a tare,452

So that I could do aught to your pleasance.”

And with that word he fell down in a trance

A longë time; and afterward upstart

This Palamon, that thought thorough his heart

He felt a cold sword suddenly to glide:

For ire he quoke,453 no longer would he hide.

And when that he had heard Arcite’s tale,

As he were wood,454 with facë dead and pale,

He start him up out of the bushes thick,

And said: “False Arcita, false traitor wick’,455

Now art thou hent,456 that lov’st my lady so,

For whom that I have all this pain and woe,

And art my blood, and to my counsel sworn,

As I full oft have told thee herebeforn,

And hast bejaped457 here Duke Theseus,

And falsely changed hast thy namë thus;

I will be dead, or ellës thou shalt die.

Thou shalt not love my lady Emily,

But I will love her only and no mo’;

For I am Palamon thy mortal foe.

And though I have no weapon in this place,

But out of prison am astart458 by grace,

I dreadë459 not that either thou shalt die,

Or else thou shalt not loven Emily.

Choose which thou wilt, for thou shalt not astart.”

This Arcite then, with full dispiteous460 heart,

When he him knew, and had his talë heard,

As fierce as lion pulled out a swerd,

And saidë thus; “By God that sitt’th above,

N’ere it461 that thou art sick, and wood for love,

And eke that thou no weap’n hast in this place,

Thou should’st never out of this grovë pace,

That thou ne shouldest dien of mine hand.

For I defy the surety and the band,

Which that thou sayest I have made to thee.

What? very fool, think well that love is free;

And I will love her maugré462 all thy might.

But, for thou art a worthy gentle knight,

And wilnest to darraine her by bataille,463

Have here my troth, to-morrow I will not fail,

Without weeting464 of any other wight,

That here I will be founden as a knight,

And bringë harness465 right enough for thee;

And choose the best, and leave the worst for me.

And meat and drinkë this night will I bring

Enough for thee, and clothes for thy beddíng.

And if so be that thou my lady win,

And slay me in this wood that I am in,

Thou may’st well have thy lady as for me.”

This Palamon answér’d, “I grant it thee.”

And thus they be departed till the morrow,

When each of them hath laid his faith to borrow.466

O Cupid, out of allë charity!

O Regne467 that wilt no fellow have with thee!

Full sooth is said, that love nor lordëship

Will not, his thanks,468 have any fellowship.

Well finden that Arcite and Palamon.

Arcite is ridd anon unto the town,

And on the morrow, ere it were daylight,

Full privily two harness hath he dight,469

Both suffisant and meetë to darraine470

The battle in the field betwixt them twain.

And on his horse, alone as he was born,

He carrieth all this harness him beforn;

And in the grove, at time and place y-set,

This Arcite and this Palamon be met.

Then changë gan the colour of their face;

Right as the hunter in the regne471 of Thrace

That standeth at a gappë472 with a spear

When hunted is the lion or the bear,

And heareth him come rushing in the greves,473

And breaking both the boughës and the leaves,

Thinketh, “Here comes my mortal enemy,

Withoutë fail, he must be dead or I;

For either I must slay him at the gap;

Or he must slay me, if that me mishap:”

So fared they, in changing of their hue

As far as either of them other knew.474

There was no good day, and no saluting,

But straight, withoutë wordës rehearsing,

Evereach of them holp to arm the other,

As friendly, as he were his owen brother.

And after that, with sharpë spearës strong

They foined475 each at other wonder long.

Thou mightest weenë,476 that this Palamon

In his fighting were as a wood477 lion,

And as a cruel tiger was Arcite:

As wildë boars gan they together smite,

That froth as white as foam, for irë wood.478

Up to the ancle fought they in their blood.

And in this wise I let them fighting dwell,

And forth I will of Theseus you tell.

The Destiny, minister general,

That executeth in the world o’er all

The purveyánce,479 that God hath seen beforn;

So strong it is, that though the world had sworn

The contrary of a thing by yea or nay,

Yet some time it shall fallën on a day

That falleth not eft480 in a thousand year.

For certainly our appetitës here,

Be it of war, or peace, or hate, or love,

All is this ruled by the sight481 above.

This mean I now by mighty Theseus,

That for to hunten is so desiroús⁠—

And namëly482 the greatë hart in May⁠—

That in his bed there dawneth him no day

That he n’is clad, and ready for to ride

With hunt and horn, and houndës him beside.

For in his hunting hath he such delight,

That it is all his joy and appetite

To be himself the greatë hartë’s bane;483

For after Mars he serveth now Diane.

Clear was the day, as I have told ere this,

And Theseus, with allë joy and bliss,

With his Hippolyta, the fairë queen,

And Emily, y-clothed all in green,

On hunting be they ridden royally.

And to the grove, that stood there fastë by,

In which there was an hart, as men him told,

Duke Theseus the straightë way doth hold,

And to the laund484 he rideth him full right,

There was the hart y-wont to have his flight,

And over a brook, and so forth on his way.

This Duke will have a course at him or tway

With houndës, such as him lust485 to command.

And when this Duke was comë to the laund,

Under the sun he looked, and anon

He was ware of Arcite and Palamon,

That foughtë breme,486 as it were bullës two.

The brightë swordës wentë to and fro

So hideously, that with the leastë stroke

It seemed that it wouldë fell an oak,

But what they werë, nothing yet he wote.

This Duke his courser with his spurrës smote,

And at a start487 he was betwixt them two,

And pulled out a sword and cried, “Ho!

No more, on pain of losing of your head.

By mighty Mars, he shall anon be dead

That smiteth any stroke, that I may see!

But tell to me what mister488 men ye be,

That be so hardy for to fightë here

Withoutë judge or other officer,

As though it were in listës489 royally.”

This Palamon answered hastily,

And saidë: “Sir, what needeth wordës mo’?

We have the death deserved bothë two,

Two woful wretches be we, and caitíves,

That be accumbered490 of our own lives,

And as thou art a rightful lord and judge,

So give us neither mercy nor refuge.

And slay me first, for saintë charity,

But slay my fellow eke as well as me.

Or slay him first; for, though thou know it lite,491

This is thy mortal foe, this is Arcite,

That from thy land is banisht on his head,

For which he hath deserved to be dead.

For this is he that came unto thy gate

And saidë, that he hightë Philostrate.

Thus hath he japed492 thee full many year,

And thou hast made of him thy chief esquiér;

And this is he, that loveth Emily.

For since the day is come that I shall die

I makë pleinly493 my confessión,

That I am thilkë494 woful Palamon,

That hath thy prison broken wickedly.

I am thy mortal foe, and it am I

That so hot loveth Emily the bright,

That I would die here present in her sight.

Therefore I askë death and my jewise.495

But slay my fellow eke in the same wise,

For both we have deserved to be slain.”

This worthy Duke answér’d anon again,

And said, “This is a short conclusión.

Your own mouth, by your own confessión

Hath damned you, and I will it record;

It needeth not to pain you with the cord;

Ye shall be dead, by mighty Mars the Red.”496

The queen anon for very womanhead

Began to weep, and so did Emily,

And all the ladies in the company.

Great pity was it as it thought them all,

That ever such a chancë should befall,

For gentle men they were, of great estate,

And nothing but for love was this debate;

They saw their bloody woundës wide and sore,

And cried all at once, both less and more,

“Have mercy, Lord, upon us women all.”

And on their barë knees adown they fall,

And would have kiss’d his feet there as he stood,

Till at the last aslaked was his mood497

(For pity runneth soon in gentle heart);

And though at first for ire he quoke and start,

He hath consider’d shortly in a clause

The trespass of them both, and eke the cause:

And although that his ire their guilt accused,

Yet in his reason he them both excused;

As thus; he thoughtë well that every man

Will help himself in love if that he can,

And eke deliver himself out of prison.

And eke his heartë had compassión

Of women, for they wepten ever-in-one:498

And in his gentle heart he thought anon,

And soft unto himself he saidë: “Fie

Upon a lord that will have no mercy,

But be a lion both in word and deed,

To them that be in répentance and dread,

As well as to a proud dispiteous499 man

That will maintainë what he first began.

That lord hath little of discretión,

That in such case can no división:500

But weigheth pride and humbless after one.”501

And shortly, when his ire is thus agone,

He gan to look on them with eyen light,502

And spake these samë wordës all on height.503