Charles William Bailey - King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table - Part I - The Marriage of Geraint lyrics

SCENE I [Dance: huntsmen and maidens.] SCENE II [Queen enters with Attendants. Geraint enters.] Queen. Late, late, Sir Prince, indeed, later than we. Geraint. Yea, noble Queen, I own it, and so late That I but come like you to see the hunt, Not join it. Queen. Then wait with me, Sir Knight, For on this little knoll, if anywhere, There is good chance that we shall hear the hounds: Here often they break covert at our feet. [Looking off.] What knight is that that shows a youthful face, Imperious, and of haughtiest lineaments. Go, ask his name. [Off.] You shall not know. Attendant. Then will I ask it of himself. [Off.] Thou art not worthy even to speak of him. [Sound of whip. Attendant rushes back insulted.] Geraint. I will avenge this insult, noble Queen, Done in your maiden's person to yourself; And I will track this vermin to their earths; To find at some place I shall come at, arms On loan, or else for pledge: and, being found, Then will I fight him, and will break his pride, And on the third day will again be here, So that I be not fall'n in fight. Farewell. Queen. Farewell, fair Prince, Be prosperous on this journey as in all, And may you light on all things that you love! And live to wed with her whom first you love; But ere you wed with any, bring your bride, And I, were she the daughter of a king, Yea, tho' she were a beggar from the hedge, Will clothe her for her bridals like the sun. SCENE III Sparrow-Hawk's town. [Geraint, Youth, Armourer.] Geraint. Here, as I think, I have tracked him to his earth. What means the tumult in the town? Youth [scouring still]. The Sparrow-Hawk. [Churl pa**es with com bag.] Geraint. What means the hubbub here? Churl. Ugh! the Sparrow-Hawk. Geraint. You, friend, what means this tumult in the town? Armourer. Friend, he that labours for the Sparrow-Hawk Has little time for idle questioners. Geraint [angrily]. A thousand pips eat up your Sparrow-Hawk! Tits, wrens, and all wing'd nothings peck him dead! Ye think the rustic cackle of your bourg The murmur of the world! What is it to me? O wretched set of sparrows, one and all, Who pipe of nothing but of sparrow-hawks! Speak, if ye be not like the rest, hawk-mad, Where can I get me harbourage for the night? And arms, arms, arms to fight my enemy? Speak! Armourer [looking upJ. Pardon me, O stranger knight; We hold a tourney here to-morrow morn, And there is scantly time for half the work. Arms? Truth! I know not: all are wanted here. Harbourage? Truth, good truth, I know not, save, It may be, at Earl Yniol's, o'er the bridge Yonder. SCENE IV Outside Yniol' s castle. Yniol. Whither, fair son? Geraint. O friend, I seek a harbourage for the night. Yniol. Enter therefore and partake The slender entertainment of a house Once rich, now poor, but ever open-door'd. Geraint. Thanks, venerable friend, So that ye do not serve me sparrow-hawks For supper, I will enter, I will eat With all the pa**ion of a twelve-hours' fast. Yniol. Graver cause than yours is mine To curse this hedgerow thief, the Sparrow-Hawk: But in, go in; for save yourself desire it, We will not touch upon him ev'n in jest. SCENE V In the castle. [Enid and her mother, who is spinning.] Enid [sings]. Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel and lower the proud; Turn thy wild wheel thro' sunshine, storm, and cloud; Thy wheel, and thee we neither love nor hate. Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel with smile or frown; With that wild wheel we go not up or down; Our hoard is little, but our hearts are great. Smile and we smile, the lords of many lands; Frown and we smile, the lords of our own hands; For man is man and master of his fate. Turn, turn thy wheel above the staring crowd; Thy wheel and thou art shadows in the cloud; Thy wheel and thee we neither love nor hate. Yniol [to Geraint, entering]. Hark, by the bird's song ye may learn the nest. [Enters.] Enid, the good knight's horse stands in the court; Take him to the stall, and give him corn, And we will make us merry as we may. Our hoard is little, but our hearts are great. [Enid rises to go out. Geraint attempts to stop her. Yniol seizes Geraint by the scarf.] Rest! The good house, tho' ruined, O my son, Endures not that her guest should serve himself. [Supper is served.] Geraint. Fair Host and Earl, I pray your cour­tesy; This Sparrow-Hawk, what is he? Tell me of him. His name? but no, good faith, I will not have it: For if it be the knight whom late I saw Ride into that new fortress by your town, White from the mason's hand, then have I sworn From his own lips to have it--I am Geraint Of Devon--for this morning, when the Queen Sent her own maiden to demand the name, His dwarf, a vicious under-shapen thing, Struck at her with his whip, and she returned Indignant to the Queen: and then I swore That I would track this caitiff to his hold, That I would break his pride and learn his name, Avenging this great insult done the Queen. Yniol. Art thou he, indeed, Geraint, a name far sounded among men For noble deeds? and truly I, when first I saw you moving by me on the bridge, Felt ye were somewhat, yea, by your state And presence might have guessed you one of those That eat in Arthur's hall at Camelot. Nor speak I now from foolish flattery; For this dear child hath often heard me praise Your feats of arms and often when I praised Hath asked again, and ever loved to hear. Your foe, My curse, my nephew--I will not let his name Slip from my lips if I can help it-- He keeps me in this ruinous castle here, Where doubtless he would put me soon to d**h, But that his pride too much despises me, And I myself sometimes despise myself; For I have let men be, and have their way. Geraint. Then grant me arms, That if the Sparrow-Hawk, this nephew, fight In next day's tourney I may break his pride. Yniol. Arms, indeed, but old And rusty, old and rusty, Prince Geraint, Are mine, and therefore at thine asking, thine. But in this tournament can no man tilt, Except the lady he loves best be there. He being apt at arms, and big of bone, Hath ever won it for the lady with him; And toppling over all antagonism, Hath earned himself the name of Sparrow-Hawk. But thou, thou hast no lady, canst not fight. Geraint. Thy leave! Let me lay lance in rest, O noble host, For this dear child, because I never saw, Tho' having seen all beauties of our time, Nor can see elsewhere, anything so fair. [Enid goes out.] Yniol [to his wlfe]. Ere thou go to rest, Tell her, and prove her heart toward the Prince. SCENE VI The overthrow of Sparrow-Hawk. TABLEAU: EDRYN ON GROUND. GERAINT WITH HIS FOOT ON BREAST. Geraint. Thy name. Edryn. Edryn, son of Nudd. Ashamed am I that I should tell it thee. My pride is broken: men have seen my fall. Geraint. Then, Edryn, son of Nudd, These two things shalt thou do, or else thou diest. First, thou thyself and with thy wretched dwarf, Shalt ride to Arthur's court, and coming there, Crave pardon for the insult done the Queen, And shalt abide her judgment on it; next, Thou shalt give back their earldom to thy kin. These two things shalt thou do, or else thou diest. Edryn. These things will I do, For I have never yet been overthrown, And thou hast overthrown me, and my pride Is broken down, for Enid sees my fall!