A Select Collection of Old English Plays Volume Vii Part 30

[_Exit MUCEDORUS_.

ANSELMO. Prosperity forerun thee: awkward chance Never be neighbour to thy wishes' venture: Content and Fame advance thee: ever thrive, And glory thy mortality survive!

_Enter_ MOUSE _with a bottle of hay_.

MOUSE. O, horrible, terrible! Was ever poor gentleman so scar'd out of his seven senses? A bear? Nay, sure it cannot be a bear, but some devil in a bear's doublet; for a bear could never have had that agility to have frighted me. Well, I'll see my father hanged before I'll serve his horse any more. Well, I'll carry home my bottle of hay, and for once make my father's horse turn Puritan, and observe fasting-days, for he gets not a bit. But soft! this way she followed me; therefore I'll take the other path; and because I'll be sure to have an eye on him, I will take hands with some foolish creditor, and make every step backward.

[_As he goes backwards, the bear comes in, and he tumbles over her, and runs away, and leaves his bottle of hay behind him.]

Enter_ SEGASTO _running, and_ AMADINE _after him, being pursued with a bear_.

SEGASTO. O, fly, madam, fly, or else we are but dead!

AMADINE. Help, Segasto! help, help, sweet Segasto, or else I die!

[SEGASTO _runs away_.

SEGASTO. Alas, madam! there is no way but flight; Then haste, and save yourself.

AMADINE. Why then I die; ah! help me in distress.

_Enter_ MUCEDORUS _like a shepherd, with a sword drawn and a bear's head in his hand_.

MUCEDORUS. Stay, lady, stay; and be no more dismay'd; That cruel beast, most merciless and fell, Which hath bereaved thousands of their lives, Affrighted many with his hard pursues, Prying from place to place to find his prey, Prolonging thus his life by others' death, His carcase now lies headless, void of breath.

AMADINE. That foul, deformed monster, is he dead?

MUCEDORUS. a.s.sure yourself thereof--behold his head; Which, if it please you, lady, to accept, With willing heart I yield it to your majesty.

AMADINE. Thanks, worthy shepherd, thanks a thousand times; This gift, a.s.sure thyself, contents me more Than greatest bounty of a mighty prince, Although he were the monarch of the world.

MUCEDORUS. Most gracious G.o.ddess, more than mortal wight-- Your heavenly hue of right imports no less-- Most glad am I, in that it was my chance To undertake this enterprise in hand, Which doth so greatly glad your princely mind.

AMADINE. No G.o.ddess, shepherd, but a mortal wight-- A mortal wight distressed as thou seest: My father here is King of Arragon: I, Amadine, his only daughter am, And after him sole heir unto the crown.

Now, whereas it is my father's will To marry me unto Segasto, one, Whose wealth through father's former usury Is known to be no less than wonderful, We both of custom oftentimes did use, Leaving the court, to walk within the fields For recreation, especially [in] the spring, In that it yields great store of rare delights; And, pa.s.sing farther than our wonted walks, Scarce ent'red were within these luckless woods.

But right before us down a steep-fall hill, A monstrous ugly bear did hie him fast To meet us both--I faint to tell the rest, Good shepherd--but suppose the ghastly looks, The hideous fears, the thousand hundred woes, Which at this instant Amadine sustained.

MUCEDORUS. Yet, worthy princess, let thy sorrow cease, And let this sight your former joys revive.

AMADINE. Believe me, shepherd, so it doth no less.

MUCEDORUS. Long may they last unto your heart's content.

But tell me, lady, what is become of him, Segasto call'd, what is become of him?

AMADINE. I know not, I; that know the powers divine; But G.o.d grant this, that sweet Segasto live!

MUCEDORUS. Yet hard-hearted he, in such a case, So cowardly to save himself by flight, And leave so brave a princess to the spoil.

AMADINE. Well, shepherd, for thy worthy valour tried, Endangering thyself to set me free, Unrecompensed, sure, thou shalt not be.

In court thy courage shall be plainly known; Throughout the kingdom will I spread thy name.

To thy renown and never-dying fame; And that thy courage may be better known, Bear thou the head of this most monstrous beast In open sight to every courtier's view.

So will the king, my father, thee reward: Come, let's away and guard me to the court.

[MUCEDORUS. With all my heart.]

[_Exeunt.

Enter_ SEGASTO _solus_.

SEGASTO. When heaps of harms do hover over-head, 'Tis time as then, some say, to look about, And so [of] ensuing harms to choose the least.

But hard, yea hapless, is that wretch's chance, Luckless his lot and caitiff-like accurs'd, At whose proceedings fortune ever frowns-- Myself, I mean, most subject unto thrall; For I, the more I seek to shun the worst, The more by proof I find myself accurs't.

Erewhiles a.s.saulted with an ugly bear: Fair Amadine in company all alone: Forthwith by flight I thought to save myself, Leaving my Amadine unto her shifts; For death it was for to resist the bear, And death no less of Amadine's harms to hear.

Accursed I in ling'ring life thus long In living thus, each minute of an hour Doth pierce my heart with darts of thousand deaths: If she by flight her fury do escape, What will she think?

Will she not say--yea, flatly to my face, Accusing me of mere disloyalty-- A trusty friend is tried in time of need; But I, when she in danger was of death, And needed me, and cried, Segasto, help!

I turn'd my back, and quickly ran away, Unworthy I to bear this vital breath!

But what, what needs these plaints?

If Amadine do live, then happy I.

She will in time forgive, and so forget.

Amadine is merciful, not Juno-like, In harmful heart to harbour hatred long.

_Enter_ MOUSE _the Clown running, crying, Clubs_!

MOUSE. Clubs, p.r.o.ngs, pitchforks, bills! O help!

A bear, a bear, a bear!

SEGASTO. Still bears, and nothing else but bears?

Tell me, sirrah, where she is.

CLOWN. O sir, she is run down the woods: I see her white head and her white belly.

SEGASTO. Thou talkest of wonders, to tell me of white bears; But, sirrah, didst thou ever see any such?

CLOWN. No, faith, I never saw any such; But I remember my father's words, He bad me take heed I was not caught with a white bear.

SEGASTO. A lamentable tale, no doubt.

CLOWN. I tell you what, sir; as I was going afield to serve my father's great horse, and carried a bottle of hay upon my head--now, do you see, sir?--I, fast hoodwinked, that I could see nothing, perceiving the bear coming, I threw my hay into the hedge and ran away.

SEGASTO. What, from nothing?

CLOWN. I warrant you, yes; I saw something; for there was two load of thorns besides my bottle of hay, and that made three.

SEGASTO. But tell me, sirrah; the bear that thou didst see, Did she not bear a bucket on her arm?

CLOWN. Ha, ha, ha! I never saw bear go a-milking in all my life.

But hark you, sir, I did not look so high as her arm; I saw nothing but her white head and her white belly.

SEGASTO. But tell me, sirrah, where dost thou dwell?