University of Virginia Library

Marsadas slain, Ajolfo lay for long
Wounded and sore; and saw the mornings rise
Impatient, and the golden sunsets fail
Regretful: for he said, 'Tis all unmeet
That I, a strong-thewed warrior, rust unused
When all the world is full of wrongs and waits
This goodly sword to right them. Oftentimes
The artist Fancy came, and painted him
Lionida more fair than angels are:
And in the stillness of the starred midnight
Sometimes he woke as though he heard her name,
Lionida, lisped lightly through the room;
Then slept again to dream his happy dream,
So calm and glad he almost sighed at morn.

One day he rose, and dressed himself, and sat
Beside the window, watching where the sun
Burned round the blackened shadows of the trees;
And all the sky was like a flaming vault
Of burnished steel: the loud cicala screeched
His scrannel note; but every bird was hushed
In woodland glooms; a gurgling fountain fell
And splashed ith' court; when Oripida prayed
Her mother, queen, and wife of Danacon,
That she might visit this brave knight whose sword
Had freed her father's kingdom from his foe.—
Whenas she knelt before him, she and all
Her maids, he rose, and with a knightly grace
Raised her, and kissed her hand with courtly speech:
Then listened whilst the queen poured forth a strain
Of well-turned phrase and turgid compliment,
With many words too long and strong for truth:
Until at last they left him, wearied out,
To reap once more the harvest of his thought
In quiet mood and calm.

But not so she,
The beauteous Oripida: nevermore
Could any sunny morning bring her back
Her happy-hearted childhood free from care
As once it was, but ne'er should be again;
For she had passed the Eden bounds of youth
And stood with men and women: Thought and Care
Now called her sister: happiness was gone.

Long time she bore her weight of maiden grief
Untold, until her cheeks grew pale and all
Her heart seemed fire: so at the last she went
To Farlet, dwarf and servitor to him
She loved, and bade him tell Ajolfo how
She loved him like to die. But Farlet said,
I fear he may be angry. No, she said,
No gentle nature e'er refused his love
To one who loved him. So the roguish dwarf
Went to Ajolfo laughingly and told
Him all. Yes, said Ajolfo, it is true;
Love asks for love: and paused wrapt in deep thought,
Feeling a hundred thousand little flames
Flutter about his heart which entered not.
But Farlet, seeing that he paused, rejoined:
Whom dost thou love? Then, waking from his dream:
I have no love at all, he said, until
I see Lionida whom thy fair words
Have placed within the temple of my heart
The worshipped wonder of its inmost shrine.
Leave all to me, said Farlet. And, with this,
He went to Oripida, telling her
Ajolfo loved her more than life itself.
So with a secret joy she prayed the queen
To go to him she loved, ambassadress
Of love: who went and sought his room and said,
O, Stranger Knight, thy wounds are almost healed:
But ere thou leave us I would crave a boon.
Madam, he said, how should I grant a boon
To one whose wishes are my law: a grace
You do me in the asking: wholly yours.
Then said the queen, The thing I ask is, that
You ask somewhat of me. My faith, he said,
If you would serve me to my utmost wish,
Give me a sheep-skin coat with all the fleece
Unshorn upon it. So she promised him.—
Then Oripida called her maidens round
And, taking costliest stuffs of woven gold,
Made him a wondrous vest; the upper half
A snowy fleece; below, a miracle
Of cunning work, and, by the counsel of
An old wise henchman, there was wrought thereon
A shield, and, on its ground of spotless white,
A head of unicorn; for,—so he said,—
'Twill prove a sign: since by a maiden pure
The unicorn is taken willingly.
And so the work was finished.

Three days passed,
When in the pleasant shade of orange trees
Ajolfo, with his dwarf, walked to and fro,
Whom Oripida saw, whose longing eyes
Were always swift to see: moreover saw
No other save the dwarf; then lightly sped,
And threw her arms about his neck before
He thought, and kissed him greedily:
Not such a kiss as women give each other,
But an electric fire that overflowed
Her heart and burst to flame at touch of lips,
Sweetening the issue: but Ajolfo, pained,
Repulsed her. Noble damsel, said he, has
The king, your royal father, honoured me
That I should do him wrong and wrong you too?
Then, filled with tingling shame from head to foot,
She fled: but soon her passion chased
All shame away; and, throwing down her hair,
She bruised her face and tore her dress, and thus
Appeared before the queen, and, weeping, cried:
Behold what he hath done, the Stranger Knight,
To shame me in the presence of the dwarf!
And so the queen, right angry, told the king.
But, musing pensively, Ajolfo passed,
Tossed by a thousand doubts, into his room;
Then sent the dwarf where Danacon held court
To listen for the end; who, when he heard
The accusation of the queen, returned
And told Ajolfo, warning him to flee.

Then as the steeds were saddled, and they stood
About to go, the henchman crossed the court
And asked them, Whither go you? And the dwarf:
To Pamphalonia. So he told the king;
Who stroked a snowy beard and, musing, said,
'Tis true, no doubt: for this he flies: and sought
To soothe his daughter. Let him go, he said;
Well come, well gone, and think no more of him:
Hoping to comfort her: but soon he saw
The fierce emotion flame o'er all her face
And fade to deadly paleness: so he knew
His daughter loved the Knight, and, smiling, left
The chamber. Then she closed the door, and took
A sword, and hid it in the bed, and called
The ancient shield-bearer, and said to him:
If that you hold a little love for me
Ride quickly, seek the Stranger and the dwarf
And learn their journey's end, and bring me word.
Nay, said he, that I knew or e'er they went:
They go to Pamphalonia. Then she sighed,
And all her heart died in her; for she knew
Lionida was there, and how fair fame
Had blown her name about the land as one
Who wore the crown of beauty and was held
Quiver of all Love's arrows, and, she knew,
Would prove a buckler 'twixt her heart and his.
Then, turning to the henchman: Take this shield
And broidered vest, she said, and likewise bear
This letter to him quickly. And he went.

She sat and listened till his horse's hoofs
Had died in distance: then she took the sword
And fixed the pummel to the wall and laid
Her bosom to the point and sprang upon it,
Shrieking and falling. So the king and queen
Came hasting to the chamber where she lay
Upon the floor, all steeped in blood: but ere
They came she gave a ghastly moan and died.—
The queen wept stormily; but, in his grief,
The king thought of Ajolfo left the land,
For whom his kingdom must the poorer prove.
Ajolfo rode for many days until
He reached a flowing stream whenas the sun
Stood near the zenith. There he paused awhile,
And, stretched in grateful shade, went brooding o'er
His strange adventure; when there came to him
The grey old shield-bearer and greeted him,
And gave the letter to him. Read, he said
To Farlet. Farlet read, and thus it ran:
To thee, O noble Knight, with mine own hand
I write in haste, which nevermore will write,
With tears and sighs saluting thee. Blind Love,
Who has deceived me, leads me to cold death
Where thou must follow. Thou hast left this realm
Through my sad chance: for this my heart is filled
With burning pains, for I have loved thee so
As maiden never loved who loves again.
Ere he who bears this letter shall arrive
Death will have found me by own sure hand.
A shield and vest I send, and for the love
I bear, wear them, and sometimes think of me.—
Thus closed the scroll with Oripida's name.

Ajolfo sighed: the ancient wept: the dwarf
Was sad, but crafty as a fox that knows
His scent; and, knowing ways of treachery,
Bade him who brought them don the vest
And kiss the shield, lest subtle poison might
Be borne by them. Ajolfo took the gifts
And gave his shield and bade the messenger
Bear it to Danacon: And so he did;
Which, Danacon receiving, hung above
His bed, and night and morning thought of him;
The bravest warrior he had ever known,
To whom he owed his kingdom: every year
Holding a solemn feast unto his gods
The day Ajolfo had Marsadas slain.