Mano a poetical history of the time of the close of the tenth century concerning the adventures of a Norman knight which fell part in Normandy part in Italy. In four books. By Richard Watson Dixon |
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| I. |
| II. |
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. | IV.— OF AN ADVENTURE WHICH FELL TO MANO. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
| XII. |
| XIII. |
| III. |
| IV. |
 | Mano |  |
IV.— OF AN ADVENTURE WHICH FELL TO MANO.
Another day and night was passed before
We found that leader, in whose valiant eyes
Lay all the safety that we might explore:
Then, as we journeyed sadly at sunrise,
We came upon him riding loftily,
Clad in his knightly arms without disguise,
No seeming pilgrim now: by him, perdy,
A gallant lady in rich raiment dight
With hand right skilful and with looks full free
Was managing her courser proud and light.
Together came they pricking o'er the hill,
And great amazement filled us at the sight.
But in my heart arose the fear of ill:
For altered seemed the knight in look and mind,
When that he joined us, who for him stood still.
And how he chanced that lady brave to find
In that wild desert, must by me be told,
Whom in the tempest he had left behind.
He by adventure in the darksome cold
Passed onward o'er the summits wild and vast,
As he beyond us was both strong and bold:
And when the evil tempest first was past,
He found himself upon the shoulder broad
Of a great mountain, that was skyward cast.
Where straight before him, to the sky a load,
On a great horse, a knight with mighty spear,
Stood on the last verge which the mountain showed,
Who called to him, that he should come anear.
“For,” said that knight, “heaven sends thee to my aid;
Quick, quick! behold a double danger here,—
“One who to meet me single is afraid,
As best I guess, albeit to fight alone
On this lone shore our covenant was made.”
Even while he spake, two men at hand were shown
Riding right swiftly from the ground beneath:
And Mano fixed himself against the one
Who next him with his long spear threatened death.—
The spear hits full upon his armed breast,
Yet with weak force; and on the ground lieth:
But Mano's stroke, which lighted on the crest,
Bore down the other, though without a wound,
From horse; and he, stretched out, the cold earth pressed.
Whereat right quickly leaping to the ground,
Sir Mano loosed his helm: and, lo, a rain
Of long bright hair fell loosened all around:
As when from sheaf of yellow ripened grain
The thresher tears the bond wherewith 'twas bound,
That beauty broke to light upon the plain.
And lo, within the vizor's iron round
A pale and swooning face, and in the mail
A woman's tender form and limbs were found:
Who, as her senses had begun to fail
Now sank the more, the less she was embraced
In the iron prison, and waxed still more pale.
Then Mano feared the strength that he had cast
Into his blow: and was about to lend
What aid he might in pity and in haste:
When he beheld him whom he did befriend
Thrown to the ground by his strong enemy,
Who was in act to make of him an end.
Which when he saw, thither full fast ran he,
And with strong blows compelled the foe to turn,
Who faced him thereupon right stubbornly.
And long they fought, till Mano, who did burn
To achieve that part, with heaped strokes him slew,
And to the others minded to return.
Ah, then a piteous sight came to his view,
When back he went to seek that woman fair;
Behold, the knight for whom his sword he drew,—
He saw him hold the woman by her hair,
Crushing her with his foot, and thrusting deep
His sword into her throat, helplessly bare.
He could not stay it, the precious blood did leap,
The race was won by death ere he came nigh:
“Murderer, as thou hast sown thou now shalt reap.”
He spake in rage, and moved with menace high,
When, lo, the other cast his sword away,
And smilingly his onset dared defy:
And saying, “Such light crime I well can pay,”
Therewith cast off her helmet: and down fell
Long locks, as fair as those on ground that lay.
Then piece by piece her arms did she compel
To drop from her, and at the last stood free
A glorious lady, whose round form did swell
So fair and full, that marvel seemed to be
That man's straight armour her round limbs had cased.
In a white, close-made garment clad was she,
Which held her delicately from feet to waist;
And in all beauty there for eye to see
Some time she stood displayed: then with slow haste
She turned, and with the show of modesty,
Back to her horse withdrew for shrouding gown,
While stood that knight disordered verily.
He was by passion driven up and down
Between the dead and living, both so fair.
Him sometimes horror and amazement drown,
Then other thoughts: then death's dread presence there,
The bleeding corpse and trodden ground, down bore
All else that rose his heaving breast to share.
And all this ill within him wrought so sore,
As when a tall tree in the stormy wind
This way and that is lashed with angry roar.
From this to that he looked with troubled mind:
But last with hoarse demand to her he cries,
Asking what cause such cruel deed could find.
She then, with robe still loose, her stedfast eyes,
Filled with a seeming fear, toward him hied,
And thus began her tale.
We found that leader, in whose valiant eyes
Lay all the safety that we might explore:
Then, as we journeyed sadly at sunrise,
We came upon him riding loftily,
Clad in his knightly arms without disguise,
No seeming pilgrim now: by him, perdy,
A gallant lady in rich raiment dight
With hand right skilful and with looks full free
Was managing her courser proud and light.
Together came they pricking o'er the hill,
And great amazement filled us at the sight.
But in my heart arose the fear of ill:
For altered seemed the knight in look and mind,
When that he joined us, who for him stood still.
And how he chanced that lady brave to find
In that wild desert, must by me be told,
75
He by adventure in the darksome cold
Passed onward o'er the summits wild and vast,
As he beyond us was both strong and bold:
And when the evil tempest first was past,
He found himself upon the shoulder broad
Of a great mountain, that was skyward cast.
Where straight before him, to the sky a load,
On a great horse, a knight with mighty spear,
Stood on the last verge which the mountain showed,
Who called to him, that he should come anear.
“For,” said that knight, “heaven sends thee to my aid;
Quick, quick! behold a double danger here,—
“One who to meet me single is afraid,
As best I guess, albeit to fight alone
On this lone shore our covenant was made.”
Even while he spake, two men at hand were shown
Riding right swiftly from the ground beneath:
And Mano fixed himself against the one
Who next him with his long spear threatened death.—
The spear hits full upon his armed breast,
Yet with weak force; and on the ground lieth:
But Mano's stroke, which lighted on the crest,
Bore down the other, though without a wound,
From horse; and he, stretched out, the cold earth pressed.
Whereat right quickly leaping to the ground,
Sir Mano loosed his helm: and, lo, a rain
Of long bright hair fell loosened all around:
As when from sheaf of yellow ripened grain
The thresher tears the bond wherewith 'twas bound,
That beauty broke to light upon the plain.
And lo, within the vizor's iron round
76
A woman's tender form and limbs were found:
Who, as her senses had begun to fail
Now sank the more, the less she was embraced
In the iron prison, and waxed still more pale.
Then Mano feared the strength that he had cast
Into his blow: and was about to lend
What aid he might in pity and in haste:
When he beheld him whom he did befriend
Thrown to the ground by his strong enemy,
Who was in act to make of him an end.
Which when he saw, thither full fast ran he,
And with strong blows compelled the foe to turn,
Who faced him thereupon right stubbornly.
And long they fought, till Mano, who did burn
To achieve that part, with heaped strokes him slew,
And to the others minded to return.
Ah, then a piteous sight came to his view,
When back he went to seek that woman fair;
Behold, the knight for whom his sword he drew,—
He saw him hold the woman by her hair,
Crushing her with his foot, and thrusting deep
His sword into her throat, helplessly bare.
He could not stay it, the precious blood did leap,
The race was won by death ere he came nigh:
“Murderer, as thou hast sown thou now shalt reap.”
He spake in rage, and moved with menace high,
When, lo, the other cast his sword away,
And smilingly his onset dared defy:
And saying, “Such light crime I well can pay,”
Therewith cast off her helmet: and down fell
Long locks, as fair as those on ground that lay.
77
To drop from her, and at the last stood free
A glorious lady, whose round form did swell
So fair and full, that marvel seemed to be
That man's straight armour her round limbs had cased.
In a white, close-made garment clad was she,
Which held her delicately from feet to waist;
And in all beauty there for eye to see
Some time she stood displayed: then with slow haste
She turned, and with the show of modesty,
Back to her horse withdrew for shrouding gown,
While stood that knight disordered verily.
He was by passion driven up and down
Between the dead and living, both so fair.
Him sometimes horror and amazement drown,
Then other thoughts: then death's dread presence there,
The bleeding corpse and trodden ground, down bore
All else that rose his heaving breast to share.
And all this ill within him wrought so sore,
As when a tall tree in the stormy wind
This way and that is lashed with angry roar.
From this to that he looked with troubled mind:
But last with hoarse demand to her he cries,
Asking what cause such cruel deed could find.
She then, with robe still loose, her stedfast eyes,
Filled with a seeming fear, toward him hied,
And thus began her tale.
“The injuries,
If they be cause enough thou shalt decide,
Whose valiant hand hath helped me in my need,
The injuries I bore. I was a bride:
My lover known by many a noble deed:
(His bride I was, alas, but am no more,)
By name Ramengo, who this region freed
From the Arab robber, the idolater,
Who in his yearly fleets the sea o'errides,
And to the hills ascending from the shore,
In fixed camps on this poor land abides:
Of whom a numerous band, by demons sped,
Caught my brave love within the hill's deep sides,
When all alone, by fatal valour led,
Within their bounds he rode on enterprise:
Him there they overwhelmed, and left him dead.
“To me my brother came with tears and sighs,
And told me how he found him lying there
Slain, but not stripped: and bade me to arise,
That I with him the corpse away might bear.
I learned of him the place: from him I took
His arrows keen, nor further let him fare:
Alone on me that quest I undertook,
Mounted my swift horse, rode, and laboured through
The changed hills unto the bloody nook:
There found I dead him whom alive I knew:
Nor long in ambush waited, ere drew near
A wretch, who off my dead love's armour drew.
That stealthy wretch but made himself appear
Truer my arrow's mark: the husband he
Of her, the woman who now lieth here.
Into his breast my bolt went verily:
And I put on those arms which he to bear
From the dead body had begun to wry.
Likewise the caitiff's armour did I tear
From his false back, and on his own horse pile;
And so rode through the hostile valley near.
His hut I found fixed midst his people vile,
Clad was I in his mantle striped and red,
To avoid his cursed people by that wile.
Thus to his door I rode, and loudly said
Unto the woman who there sat within,
‘My husband by thy husband's side lies dead,
Both lying in the hills with naked skin.
Spoils bring I, but not such thou dost divine,
Nor am I that I seem these trappings in.
‘My husband his hand slew who fell by mine.
Take here this bloody mantle: take to thee
Thy husband's arms and horse: take that is thine:
‘And armed therewith come thou and fight with me,
Who will await thee on the high mountain
Alone, till death shall cease our enmity.’
Woman to woman never doth complain:
And she without a cry from me received
The challenge and the robe in dumb disdain;
Nor showed herself how suddenly bereaved:
But, as I rode away, in my mind's eye
Her dreadful look of hate I apperceived:
And suddenly, and with perplexity
Upon some treachery my thought was cast,
Which might on me be practised secretly.
And now for combat in the desert vast
Alone I stood upon the high mountain:
Far, far beneath whose height those clouds were massed,
Which on the vale were spending their thick rain:
The while like herds the rocks in vaporous wreath
Rested apart: and nought my eyes at strain
Could see, nor pierce the misty sea beneath.
Long waited I, and then dread horror shook
My body, and the mighty fear of death:
So that almost my hand the spear forsook,
And my horse fretted: still while terror bore
Down to the hostile valley my keen look,
The rising wind the vaporous curtain tore:
And two black forms I saw bounding with speed
To mount the opposing hill from that low shore.
Full fast they came; and now I knew indeed
The treacherous odds that in my heart I feared;
Wildly I turned to flee: when, at my need,
The noble knight, my rescuer, appeared.
Why tell I more, brave lord? thy hand of might
(For whose stout rescue be the heavens revered)
Her brother's soul hath sent to endless night:
Her brother, summoned by that traitress dead
Against a woman in unequal fight.
Judge therefore thou, whether unmerited
The vengeance which against her I did use.
And if thou answer, Yea: my blood to shed
By thy thrice worthy hand I nought refuse.”
If they be cause enough thou shalt decide,
Whose valiant hand hath helped me in my need,
The injuries I bore. I was a bride:
78
(His bride I was, alas, but am no more,)
By name Ramengo, who this region freed
From the Arab robber, the idolater,
Who in his yearly fleets the sea o'errides,
And to the hills ascending from the shore,
In fixed camps on this poor land abides:
Of whom a numerous band, by demons sped,
Caught my brave love within the hill's deep sides,
When all alone, by fatal valour led,
Within their bounds he rode on enterprise:
Him there they overwhelmed, and left him dead.
“To me my brother came with tears and sighs,
And told me how he found him lying there
Slain, but not stripped: and bade me to arise,
That I with him the corpse away might bear.
I learned of him the place: from him I took
His arrows keen, nor further let him fare:
Alone on me that quest I undertook,
Mounted my swift horse, rode, and laboured through
The changed hills unto the bloody nook:
There found I dead him whom alive I knew:
Nor long in ambush waited, ere drew near
A wretch, who off my dead love's armour drew.
That stealthy wretch but made himself appear
Truer my arrow's mark: the husband he
Of her, the woman who now lieth here.
Into his breast my bolt went verily:
And I put on those arms which he to bear
From the dead body had begun to wry.
Likewise the caitiff's armour did I tear
From his false back, and on his own horse pile;
79
His hut I found fixed midst his people vile,
Clad was I in his mantle striped and red,
To avoid his cursed people by that wile.
Thus to his door I rode, and loudly said
Unto the woman who there sat within,
‘My husband by thy husband's side lies dead,
Both lying in the hills with naked skin.
Spoils bring I, but not such thou dost divine,
Nor am I that I seem these trappings in.
‘My husband his hand slew who fell by mine.
Take here this bloody mantle: take to thee
Thy husband's arms and horse: take that is thine:
‘And armed therewith come thou and fight with me,
Who will await thee on the high mountain
Alone, till death shall cease our enmity.’
Woman to woman never doth complain:
And she without a cry from me received
The challenge and the robe in dumb disdain;
Nor showed herself how suddenly bereaved:
But, as I rode away, in my mind's eye
Her dreadful look of hate I apperceived:
And suddenly, and with perplexity
Upon some treachery my thought was cast,
Which might on me be practised secretly.
And now for combat in the desert vast
Alone I stood upon the high mountain:
Far, far beneath whose height those clouds were massed,
Which on the vale were spending their thick rain:
The while like herds the rocks in vaporous wreath
Rested apart: and nought my eyes at strain
Could see, nor pierce the misty sea beneath.
80
My body, and the mighty fear of death:
So that almost my hand the spear forsook,
And my horse fretted: still while terror bore
Down to the hostile valley my keen look,
The rising wind the vaporous curtain tore:
And two black forms I saw bounding with speed
To mount the opposing hill from that low shore.
Full fast they came; and now I knew indeed
The treacherous odds that in my heart I feared;
Wildly I turned to flee: when, at my need,
The noble knight, my rescuer, appeared.
Why tell I more, brave lord? thy hand of might
(For whose stout rescue be the heavens revered)
Her brother's soul hath sent to endless night:
Her brother, summoned by that traitress dead
Against a woman in unequal fight.
Judge therefore thou, whether unmerited
The vengeance which against her I did use.
And if thou answer, Yea: my blood to shed
By thy thrice worthy hand I nought refuse.”
| Mano | |