William Morris The Wood Beyond the World

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her arms hanging down by her sides. Then the Lady turned to her, and said:
Look to thyself, our Maid, while we are away. This fair young man thou
needest not to fear indeed, for he is good and leal; but what thou shalt do
with the King s Son I wot not. He is a hot lover forsooth, but a hard man; and
whiles evil is his mood, and perilous both to thee and me. And if thou do his
will, it shall be ill for thee; and if thou do it not, take heed of him, and
let me, and me only, come between his wrath and thee. I may do somewhat for
thee. Even yesterday he was instant with me to have thee chastised after the
manner of thralls; but I bade him keep silence of such words, and jeered him
and mocked him, till he went away from me peevish and in anger. So look to it
that thou fall not into any trap of his contrivance.
Then the Maid cast herself at the Mistress s feet, and kissed and embraced
them; and as she rose up, the Lady laid her hand lightly on her head, and
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then, turning to Walter, cried out: Now, Squire, let us leave all these
troubles and wiles and desires behind us, and flit through the merry greenwood
like the Gentiles of old days.
And therewith she drew up the laps of her gown till the whiteness of her knees
was seen, and set off swiftly toward the wood that lay south of the house, and
Walter followed, marvelling at her goodliness; nor durst he cast a look
backward to the Maiden, for he knew that she desired him, and it was her only
that he looked to for his deliverance from this house of guile and lies.
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CHAPTER XIV
THE HUNTING OF THE HART
As they went, they found a change in the land, which grew emptier of big and
wide-spreading trees, and more beset with thickets. From one of these they
roused a hart, and Walter let slip his hounds thereafter and he and the Lady
followed running. Exceeding swift was she, and well-
breathed withal, so that Walter wondered at her; and eager she was in the
chase as the very hounds, heeding nothing the scratching of briars or the
whipping of stiff twigs as she sped on.
But for all their eager hunting, the quarry outran both dogs and folk, and gat
him into a great thicket, amidmost whereof was a wide plash of water. Into the
thicket they followed him, but he took to the water under their eyes and made
land on the other side; and because of the tangle of underwood, he swam across
much faster than they might have any hope to come round on him;
and so were the hunters left undone for that time.
So the Lady cast herself down on the green grass anigh the water, while Walter
blew the hounds in and coupled them up; then he turned round to her, and lo!
she was weeping for despite that they had lost the quarry; and again did
Walter wonder that so little a matter should raise a passion of tears in her.
He durst not ask what ailed her, or proffer her solace, but was not ill apaid
by beholding her loveliness as she lay.
Presently she raised up her head and turned to Walter, and spake to him
angrily and said:
Squire, why dost thou stand staring at me like a fool?
Yea, Lady, he said; but the sight of thee maketh me foolish to do aught
else but to look on thee.
She said, in a peevish voice: Tush, Squire, the day is too far spent for soft
and courtly speeches;
what was good there is nought so good here. Withal, I know more of thine heart
than thou deemest.
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Walter hung down his head and reddened, and she looked on him, and her face
changed, and she smiled and said, kindly this time: Look ye, Squire, I am hot
and weary, and ill-content; but presently it will be better with me; for my
knees have been telling my shoulders that the cold water of this little lake
will be sweet and pleasant this summer noonday, and that I shall forget my
foil when I have taken my pleasure therein. Wherefore, go thou with thine
hounds without the thicket and there abide my coming. And I bid thee look not
aback as thou goest, for therein were peril to thee: I shall not keep thee
tarrying long alone.
He bowed his head to her, and turned and went his ways. And now, when he was a
little space away from her, he deemed her indeed a marvel of women, and
wellnigh forgat all his doubts and fears concerning her, whether she were a
fair image fashioned out of lies and guile, or it might be but an evil thing
in the shape of a goodly woman. Forsooth, when he saw her caressing the dear
and friendly Maid, his heart all turned against her, despite what his eyes and
his ears told his mind, and she seemed like as it were a serpent enfolding the
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simplicity of the body which he loved.
But now it was all changed, and he lay on the grass and longed for her coming;
which was delayed for somewhat more than an hour. Then she came back to him,
smiling and fresh and cheerful, her green gown let down to her heels.
He sprang up to meet her, and she came close to him, and spake from a laughing
face: Squire, hast thou no meat in thy wallet? For, meseemeth, I fed thee
when thou wert hungry the other day;
do thou now the same by me.
He smiled, and louted to her, and took his wallet and brought out thence bread
and flesh and wine, and spread them all out before her on the green grass, and
then stood by humbly before her. But she said: Nay, my Squire, sit down by me
and eat with me, for to-day are we both hunters together.
So he sat down by her trembling, but neither for awe of her greatness, nor for
fear and horror of her guile and sorcery.
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A while they sat there together after they had done their meat, and the Lady
fell a-talking with
Walter concerning the parts of the earth, and the manners of men, and of his
journeyings to and fro.
At last she said: Thou hast told me much and answered all my questions
wisely, and as my good
Squire should, and that pleaseth me. But now tell me of the city wherein thou [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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