Act I - Scene II.
A banqueting hall in FITZWALTER'S castle. The guests are
assembling for the betrothal feast of ROBIN and MARIAN. Some of ROBIN
HOOD'S men, clad in Lincoln green, are just arriving at the doors.
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF runs forward to greet them.
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
Come in, my scraps of Lincoln green; come in,
My slips of greenwood. You're much wanted here!
Head, heart and eyes, we are all pent up in walls
Of stone--nothing but walls on every side--
And not a rose to break them--big blind walls,
Neat smooth stone walls! Come in, my ragged robins;
Come in, my jolly minions of the moon,
My straggling hazel-boughs! Hey, bully friar,
Come in, my knotted oak! Ho, little Much,
Come in, my sweet green linnet. Come, my cushats,
Larks, yellow-hammers, fern-owls, Oh, come in,
Come in, my Dian's foresters, and drown us
With may, with blossoming may!
FITZWALTER
Out, Shadow-of-a-Leaf!
Welcome, welcome, good friends of Huntingdon,
Or Robin Hood, by whatsoever name
You best may love him.
CRIES
Robin! Robin! Robin!
[Enter ROBIN HOOD.]
FITZWALTER
Robin, so be it! Myself I am right glad
To call him at this bright betrothal feast
My son.
[Lays a hand on ROBIN'S shoulder.]
Yet, though I would not cast a cloud
Across our happy gathering, you'll forgive
An old man and a father if he sees
All your glad faces thro' a summer mist
Of sadness.
ROBIN
Sadness? Yes, I understand.
FITZWALTER
No, Robin, no, you cannot understand.
ROBIN
Where's Marian?
FITZWALTER
Ay, that's all you think of, boy.
But I must say a word to all of you
Before she comes.
ROBIN
Why--what?...
FITZWALTER
No need to look
So startled; but it is no secret here;
For many of you are sharers of his wild
Adventures. Now I hoped an end had come
To these, until another rumour reached me,
This very day, of yet another prank.
You know, you know, how perilous a road
My Marian must ride if Huntingdon
Tramples the forest-laws beneath his heel
And, in the thin disguise of Robin Hood,
Succours the Saxon outlaws, makes his house
A refuge for them, lavishes his wealth
To feed their sick and needy.
[The SHERIFF and two of his men appear in the great doorway
out of sight of the guests.]
SHERIFF
[Whispering.]
Not yet! keep back!
One of you go--see that the guards are set!
He must not slip us.
FITZWALTER
Oh, I know his heart
Is gold, but this is not an age of gold;
And those who have must keep, or lose the power
Even to help themselves. No--he must doff
His green disguise of Robin Hood for ever,
And wear his natural coat of Huntingdon.
ROBIN
Ah, which is the disguise? Day after day
We rise and put our social armour on,
A different mask for every friend; but steel
Always to case our hearts. We are all so wrapped,
So swathed, so muffled in habitual thought
That now I swear we do not know our souls
Or bodies from their winding-sheets; but Custom,
Custom, the great god Custom, all day long
Shovels the dirt upon us where we lie
Buried alive and dreaming that we stand
Upright and royal. Sir, I have great doubts
About this world, doubts if we have the right
To sit down here for this betrothal feast
And gorge ourselves with plenty, when we know
That for the scraps and crumbs which we let fall
And never miss, children would kiss our hands
And women weep in gratitude. Suppose
A man fell wounded at your gates, you'd not
Pass on and smile and leave him there to die.
And can a few short miles of distance blind you?
Miles, nay, a furlong is enough to close
The gates of mercy. Must we thrust our hands
Into the wounds before we can believe?
Oh, is our sight so thick and gross? We came,
We saw, we conquered with the Conqueror.
We gave ourselves broad lands; and when our king
Desired a wider hunting ground we set
Hundreds of Saxon homes a-blaze and tossed
Women and children back into the fire
If they but wrung their hands against our will.
And so we made our forest, and its leaves
Were pitiful, more pitiful than man.
They gave our homeless victims the same refuge
And happy hiding place they give the birds
And foxes. Then we made our forest-laws,
And he that dared to hunt, even for food,
Even on the ground where we had burned his hut,
The ground we had drenched with his own kindred's blood,
Poor foolish churl, why, we put out his eyes
With red-hot irons, cut off both his hands,
Torture him with such horrors that ... Christ God,
How can I help but fight against it all?
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
Ah, gossips, if the Conqueror had but burned
Everything with four walls, hut, castle, palace,
And turned the whole wide world into a forest,
Drenched us with may, we might be happy then!
With sweet blue wood-smoke curling thro' the boughs,
And just a pigeon's flap to break the silence,
And ferns, of course, there's much to make men happy.
Well, well, the forest conquers at the last!
I saw a thistle in the castle courtyard,
A purple thistle breaking thro' the pavement,
Yesterday; and it's wonderful how soon
Some creepers pick these old grey walls to pieces.
These nunneries and these monasteries now,
They don't spring up like flowers, so I suppose
Old mother Nature wins the race at last.
FITZWALTER
Robin, my heart is with you, but I know
A hundred ages will not change this earth.
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
[With a candle in his hand.]
Gossip, suppose the sun goes out like this.
Pouf!
[Blows it out.]
Stranger things have happened.
FITZWALTER
Silence, fool!...
So, if you share your wealth with all the world
Earth will be none the better, and my poor girl
Will suffer for it. Where you got the gold
You have already lavished on the poor
Heaven knows.
FRIAR TUCK
Oh, by the mass and the sweet moon
Of Sherwood, so do I? That's none so hard
A riddle!
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
Ah, Friar Tuck, we know, we know!
Under the hawthorn bough, and at the foot
Of rainbows, that's where fairies hide their gold.
Cut me a silver penny out of the moon
Next time you're there.
[Whispers.]
Now tell me, have you brought
Your quarter-staff?
FRIAR TUCK
[Whispering.]
Hush! hush.
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
Oh, mum's the word!
I see it!
FITZWALTER
Believe me, Robin, there's one way
And only one--patience! When Lion-Heart
Comes home from the Crusade, he will not brook
This blot upon our chivalry. Prince John
Is dangerous to a heart like yours. Beware
Of rousing him. Meanwhile, your troth holds good;
But, till the King comes home from the Crusade
You must not claim your bride.
ROBIN
So be it, then....
When the great King comes home from the Crusade!...
FITZWALTER
Meanwhile for Marian's sake and mine, I pray
Do nothing rash.
[Enter WIDOW SCARLET. She goes up to ROBIN HOOD.]
WIDOW SCARLET
Are you that Robin Hood
They call the poor man's friend?
ROBIN
I am.
WIDOW SCARLET
They told me,
They told me I should find you here. They told me!
ROBIN
Come, mother, what's the trouble?
WIDOW SCARLET
Sir, my son
Will Scarlet lies in gaol at Nottingham
For killing deer in Sherwood! Sir, they'll hang him.
He only wanted food for him and me!
They'll kill him, I tell you, they'll kill him. I can't help
Crying it out. He's all I have, all! Save him!
I'll pray for you, I'll ...
ROBIN
[To FITZWALTER, as he raises WIDOW SCARLET gently to her
feet.]
Sir, has not the King
Come home from the Crusade? Does not your heart
Fling open wide its gates to welcome him?
FITZWALTER
Robin, you set me riddles. Follow your conscience.
Do what seems best.
ROBIN
I hope there is a way,
Mother. I knew Will Scarlet. Better heart
There never beat beneath a leather jerkin.
He loved the forest and the forest loves him;
And if the lads that wear the forest's livery
Of living green should happen to break out
And save Will Scarlet (as on my soul I swear,
Mother, they shall!) why, that's a matter none
Shall answer for to prince, or king, or God,
But you and Robin Hood; and if the judgment
Strike harder upon us than the heavenly smile
Of sunshine thro' the greenwood, may it fall
Upon my head alone.
[Enter the SHERIFF, with two of his men.]
SHERIFF
[Reads.]
In the King's name!
Thou, Earl of Huntingdon, by virtue of this writ art hereby
attainted and deprived of thine earldom, thy lands and all thy
goods and chattels whatsoever and whereas thou hast at divers
times trespassed against the officers of the king by force of
arms, thou art hereby outlawed and banished the realm.
ROBIN
That's well.
[He laughs.]
It puts an end to the great question
Of how I shall dispose my wealth, Fitzwalter.
But "banished"?--No! that is beyond their power
While I have power to breathe, unless they banish
The kind old oaks of Sherwood. They may call it
"Outlawed," perhaps.
FITZWALTER
Who let the villain in
Thro' doors of mine?
CRIES
Out with him! Out with him!
[The guests draw swords and the SHERIFF retreats thro' the doorway
with his men.]
ROBIN
Stop!
Put up your swords! He had his work to do.
[WIDOW SCARLET falls sobbing at his feet.]
WIDOW SCARLET
O master, master, who will save my son,
My son?
ROBIN
[Raising her.]
Why, mother, this is but a dream,
This poor fantastic strutting show of law!
And you shall wake with us in Sherwood Forest
And find Will Scarlet in your arms again.
Come, cheerly, cheerly, we shall overcome
All this. Hark!
[A bugle sounds in the distance. There is a scuffle in the doorway
and LITTLE JOHN bursts in with his head bleeding.]
LITTLE JOHN
Master, master, come away!
They are setting a trap for thee, drawing their lines
All round the castle.
ROBIN
How now, Little John,
They have wounded thee! Art hurt?
LITTLE JOHN
No, no, that's nothing.
Only a bloody cockscomb. Come, be swift,
Or, if thou wert a fox, thou'dst never slip
Between 'em. Ah, hear that?
[Another bugle sounds from another direction.]
That's number two.
Two sides cut off already. When the third
Sounds--they will have thee, sure as eggs is eggs.
Prince John is there, Fitzwalter cannot save 'ee.
They'll burn the castle down.
ROBIN
Prince John is there?
LITTLE JOHN
Ay, and my lord Fitzwalter had best look
Well to my mistress Marian, if these ears
Heard right as I came creeping thro' their lines.
Look well to her, my lord, look well to her.
Come, master, come, for God's sake, come away.
FITZWALTER
Robin, this is thy rashness. I warned thee, boy!
Prince John! Nay, that's too perilous a jest
For even a prince to play with me. Come, Robin,
You must away and quickly.
ROBIN
Let me have
One word with Marian.
LITTLE JOHN
It would be the last
On earth. Come, if you ever wish to see
Her face again.
FITZWALTER
Come, Robin, are you mad?
You'll bring us all to ruin!
[He opens a little door in the wall.]
The secret passage,
This brings you out by Much the Miller's wheel,
Thro' an otter's burrow in the river bank.
Come, quick, or you'll destroy us! Take this lanthorn.
If you're in danger, slip into the stream
And let it carry you down into the heart
Of Sherwood. Come now, quickly, you must go!
ROBIN
The old cave, lads, in Sherwood, you know where
To find me. Friar Tuck, bring Widow Scarlet
Thither to-morrow, with a word or two
From Lady Marian!
FITZWALTER
Quickly, quickly, go.
[He pushes ROBIN and LITTLE JOHN into the opening and shuts
the door. A pause.]
Oh, I shall pay for this, this cursed folly!
Henceforth I swear I wash my hands of him!
[Enter MARIAN, from a door on the right above the banqueting
hall. She pauses, pale and frightened, on the broad
steps leading down.]
MARIAN
Father, where's Robin?
FITZWALTER
Child, I bade you stay
Until I called you.
MARIAN
Something frightened me!
Father, where's Robin? Where's Robin?
FITZWALTER
Hush, Marian, hark!
[All stand listening.]
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
[Stealing to the foot of the stairs and whispering to LADY MARIAN.]
Lady, they're all so silent now. I'll tell you
I had a dream last night--there was a man
That bled to death, because of four grey walls
And a black-hooded nun.
FITZWALTER
[Angrily.]
Hist, Shadow-of-a-Leaf!
[The third bugle sounds. There is a clamour at the doors.
Enter PRINCE JOHN and his retainers.]
JOHN
[Mockingly.]
Now this is fortunate! I come in time
To see--Oh, what a picture! Lady Marian,
Forgive me--coming suddenly out of the dark
And seeing you there, robed in that dazzling white
Above these verdant gentlemen, I feel
Like one that greets the gracious evening star
Thro' a gap in a great wood.
Is aught amiss?
Why are you all so silent? Ah, my good,
My brave Fitzwalter, I most fervently
Trust I am not inopportune.
FITZWALTER
My lord,
I am glad that you can jest. I am sadly grieved
And sorely disappointed in that youth
Who has incurred your own displeasure.
JOHN
Ah?
Your future son-in-law?
FITZWALTER
Never on earth!
He is outlawed--
MARIAN
Outlawed!
FITZWALTER
And I wash my hands
Of Huntingdon. His shadow shall not darken
My doors again!
JOHN
That's vehement! Ha! ha!
And what does Lady Marian say?
MARIAN
My father
Speaks hastily. I am not so unworthy.
FITZWALTER
Unworthy?
MARIAN
Yes, unworthy as to desert him
Because he is in trouble--the bravest man
In England since the d
assembling for the betrothal feast of ROBIN and MARIAN. Some of ROBIN
HOOD'S men, clad in Lincoln green, are just arriving at the doors.
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF runs forward to greet them.
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
Come in, my scraps of Lincoln green; come in,
My slips of greenwood. You're much wanted here!
Head, heart and eyes, we are all pent up in walls
Of stone--nothing but walls on every side--
And not a rose to break them--big blind walls,
Neat smooth stone walls! Come in, my ragged robins;
Come in, my jolly minions of the moon,
My straggling hazel-boughs! Hey, bully friar,
Come in, my knotted oak! Ho, little Much,
Come in, my sweet green linnet. Come, my cushats,
Larks, yellow-hammers, fern-owls, Oh, come in,
Come in, my Dian's foresters, and drown us
With may, with blossoming may!
FITZWALTER
Out, Shadow-of-a-Leaf!
Welcome, welcome, good friends of Huntingdon,
Or Robin Hood, by whatsoever name
You best may love him.
CRIES
Robin! Robin! Robin!
[Enter ROBIN HOOD.]
FITZWALTER
Robin, so be it! Myself I am right glad
To call him at this bright betrothal feast
My son.
[Lays a hand on ROBIN'S shoulder.]
Yet, though I would not cast a cloud
Across our happy gathering, you'll forgive
An old man and a father if he sees
All your glad faces thro' a summer mist
Of sadness.
ROBIN
Sadness? Yes, I understand.
FITZWALTER
No, Robin, no, you cannot understand.
ROBIN
Where's Marian?
FITZWALTER
Ay, that's all you think of, boy.
But I must say a word to all of you
Before she comes.
ROBIN
Why--what?...
FITZWALTER
No need to look
So startled; but it is no secret here;
For many of you are sharers of his wild
Adventures. Now I hoped an end had come
To these, until another rumour reached me,
This very day, of yet another prank.
You know, you know, how perilous a road
My Marian must ride if Huntingdon
Tramples the forest-laws beneath his heel
And, in the thin disguise of Robin Hood,
Succours the Saxon outlaws, makes his house
A refuge for them, lavishes his wealth
To feed their sick and needy.
[The SHERIFF and two of his men appear in the great doorway
out of sight of the guests.]
SHERIFF
[Whispering.]
Not yet! keep back!
One of you go--see that the guards are set!
He must not slip us.
FITZWALTER
Oh, I know his heart
Is gold, but this is not an age of gold;
And those who have must keep, or lose the power
Even to help themselves. No--he must doff
His green disguise of Robin Hood for ever,
And wear his natural coat of Huntingdon.
ROBIN
Ah, which is the disguise? Day after day
We rise and put our social armour on,
A different mask for every friend; but steel
Always to case our hearts. We are all so wrapped,
So swathed, so muffled in habitual thought
That now I swear we do not know our souls
Or bodies from their winding-sheets; but Custom,
Custom, the great god Custom, all day long
Shovels the dirt upon us where we lie
Buried alive and dreaming that we stand
Upright and royal. Sir, I have great doubts
About this world, doubts if we have the right
To sit down here for this betrothal feast
And gorge ourselves with plenty, when we know
That for the scraps and crumbs which we let fall
And never miss, children would kiss our hands
And women weep in gratitude. Suppose
A man fell wounded at your gates, you'd not
Pass on and smile and leave him there to die.
And can a few short miles of distance blind you?
Miles, nay, a furlong is enough to close
The gates of mercy. Must we thrust our hands
Into the wounds before we can believe?
Oh, is our sight so thick and gross? We came,
We saw, we conquered with the Conqueror.
We gave ourselves broad lands; and when our king
Desired a wider hunting ground we set
Hundreds of Saxon homes a-blaze and tossed
Women and children back into the fire
If they but wrung their hands against our will.
And so we made our forest, and its leaves
Were pitiful, more pitiful than man.
They gave our homeless victims the same refuge
And happy hiding place they give the birds
And foxes. Then we made our forest-laws,
And he that dared to hunt, even for food,
Even on the ground where we had burned his hut,
The ground we had drenched with his own kindred's blood,
Poor foolish churl, why, we put out his eyes
With red-hot irons, cut off both his hands,
Torture him with such horrors that ... Christ God,
How can I help but fight against it all?
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
Ah, gossips, if the Conqueror had but burned
Everything with four walls, hut, castle, palace,
And turned the whole wide world into a forest,
Drenched us with may, we might be happy then!
With sweet blue wood-smoke curling thro' the boughs,
And just a pigeon's flap to break the silence,
And ferns, of course, there's much to make men happy.
Well, well, the forest conquers at the last!
I saw a thistle in the castle courtyard,
A purple thistle breaking thro' the pavement,
Yesterday; and it's wonderful how soon
Some creepers pick these old grey walls to pieces.
These nunneries and these monasteries now,
They don't spring up like flowers, so I suppose
Old mother Nature wins the race at last.
FITZWALTER
Robin, my heart is with you, but I know
A hundred ages will not change this earth.
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
[With a candle in his hand.]
Gossip, suppose the sun goes out like this.
Pouf!
[Blows it out.]
Stranger things have happened.
FITZWALTER
Silence, fool!...
So, if you share your wealth with all the world
Earth will be none the better, and my poor girl
Will suffer for it. Where you got the gold
You have already lavished on the poor
Heaven knows.
FRIAR TUCK
Oh, by the mass and the sweet moon
Of Sherwood, so do I? That's none so hard
A riddle!
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
Ah, Friar Tuck, we know, we know!
Under the hawthorn bough, and at the foot
Of rainbows, that's where fairies hide their gold.
Cut me a silver penny out of the moon
Next time you're there.
[Whispers.]
Now tell me, have you brought
Your quarter-staff?
FRIAR TUCK
[Whispering.]
Hush! hush.
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
Oh, mum's the word!
I see it!
FITZWALTER
Believe me, Robin, there's one way
And only one--patience! When Lion-Heart
Comes home from the Crusade, he will not brook
This blot upon our chivalry. Prince John
Is dangerous to a heart like yours. Beware
Of rousing him. Meanwhile, your troth holds good;
But, till the King comes home from the Crusade
You must not claim your bride.
ROBIN
So be it, then....
When the great King comes home from the Crusade!...
FITZWALTER
Meanwhile for Marian's sake and mine, I pray
Do nothing rash.
[Enter WIDOW SCARLET. She goes up to ROBIN HOOD.]
WIDOW SCARLET
Are you that Robin Hood
They call the poor man's friend?
ROBIN
I am.
WIDOW SCARLET
They told me,
They told me I should find you here. They told me!
ROBIN
Come, mother, what's the trouble?
WIDOW SCARLET
Sir, my son
Will Scarlet lies in gaol at Nottingham
For killing deer in Sherwood! Sir, they'll hang him.
He only wanted food for him and me!
They'll kill him, I tell you, they'll kill him. I can't help
Crying it out. He's all I have, all! Save him!
I'll pray for you, I'll ...
ROBIN
[To FITZWALTER, as he raises WIDOW SCARLET gently to her
feet.]
Sir, has not the King
Come home from the Crusade? Does not your heart
Fling open wide its gates to welcome him?
FITZWALTER
Robin, you set me riddles. Follow your conscience.
Do what seems best.
ROBIN
I hope there is a way,
Mother. I knew Will Scarlet. Better heart
There never beat beneath a leather jerkin.
He loved the forest and the forest loves him;
And if the lads that wear the forest's livery
Of living green should happen to break out
And save Will Scarlet (as on my soul I swear,
Mother, they shall!) why, that's a matter none
Shall answer for to prince, or king, or God,
But you and Robin Hood; and if the judgment
Strike harder upon us than the heavenly smile
Of sunshine thro' the greenwood, may it fall
Upon my head alone.
[Enter the SHERIFF, with two of his men.]
SHERIFF
[Reads.]
In the King's name!
Thou, Earl of Huntingdon, by virtue of this writ art hereby
attainted and deprived of thine earldom, thy lands and all thy
goods and chattels whatsoever and whereas thou hast at divers
times trespassed against the officers of the king by force of
arms, thou art hereby outlawed and banished the realm.
ROBIN
That's well.
[He laughs.]
It puts an end to the great question
Of how I shall dispose my wealth, Fitzwalter.
But "banished"?--No! that is beyond their power
While I have power to breathe, unless they banish
The kind old oaks of Sherwood. They may call it
"Outlawed," perhaps.
FITZWALTER
Who let the villain in
Thro' doors of mine?
CRIES
Out with him! Out with him!
[The guests draw swords and the SHERIFF retreats thro' the doorway
with his men.]
ROBIN
Stop!
Put up your swords! He had his work to do.
[WIDOW SCARLET falls sobbing at his feet.]
WIDOW SCARLET
O master, master, who will save my son,
My son?
ROBIN
[Raising her.]
Why, mother, this is but a dream,
This poor fantastic strutting show of law!
And you shall wake with us in Sherwood Forest
And find Will Scarlet in your arms again.
Come, cheerly, cheerly, we shall overcome
All this. Hark!
[A bugle sounds in the distance. There is a scuffle in the doorway
and LITTLE JOHN bursts in with his head bleeding.]
LITTLE JOHN
Master, master, come away!
They are setting a trap for thee, drawing their lines
All round the castle.
ROBIN
How now, Little John,
They have wounded thee! Art hurt?
LITTLE JOHN
No, no, that's nothing.
Only a bloody cockscomb. Come, be swift,
Or, if thou wert a fox, thou'dst never slip
Between 'em. Ah, hear that?
[Another bugle sounds from another direction.]
That's number two.
Two sides cut off already. When the third
Sounds--they will have thee, sure as eggs is eggs.
Prince John is there, Fitzwalter cannot save 'ee.
They'll burn the castle down.
ROBIN
Prince John is there?
LITTLE JOHN
Ay, and my lord Fitzwalter had best look
Well to my mistress Marian, if these ears
Heard right as I came creeping thro' their lines.
Look well to her, my lord, look well to her.
Come, master, come, for God's sake, come away.
FITZWALTER
Robin, this is thy rashness. I warned thee, boy!
Prince John! Nay, that's too perilous a jest
For even a prince to play with me. Come, Robin,
You must away and quickly.
ROBIN
Let me have
One word with Marian.
LITTLE JOHN
It would be the last
On earth. Come, if you ever wish to see
Her face again.
FITZWALTER
Come, Robin, are you mad?
You'll bring us all to ruin!
[He opens a little door in the wall.]
The secret passage,
This brings you out by Much the Miller's wheel,
Thro' an otter's burrow in the river bank.
Come, quick, or you'll destroy us! Take this lanthorn.
If you're in danger, slip into the stream
And let it carry you down into the heart
Of Sherwood. Come now, quickly, you must go!
ROBIN
The old cave, lads, in Sherwood, you know where
To find me. Friar Tuck, bring Widow Scarlet
Thither to-morrow, with a word or two
From Lady Marian!
FITZWALTER
Quickly, quickly, go.
[He pushes ROBIN and LITTLE JOHN into the opening and shuts
the door. A pause.]
Oh, I shall pay for this, this cursed folly!
Henceforth I swear I wash my hands of him!
[Enter MARIAN, from a door on the right above the banqueting
hall. She pauses, pale and frightened, on the broad
steps leading down.]
MARIAN
Father, where's Robin?
FITZWALTER
Child, I bade you stay
Until I called you.
MARIAN
Something frightened me!
Father, where's Robin? Where's Robin?
FITZWALTER
Hush, Marian, hark!
[All stand listening.]
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
[Stealing to the foot of the stairs and whispering to LADY MARIAN.]
Lady, they're all so silent now. I'll tell you
I had a dream last night--there was a man
That bled to death, because of four grey walls
And a black-hooded nun.
FITZWALTER
[Angrily.]
Hist, Shadow-of-a-Leaf!
[The third bugle sounds. There is a clamour at the doors.
Enter PRINCE JOHN and his retainers.]
JOHN
[Mockingly.]
Now this is fortunate! I come in time
To see--Oh, what a picture! Lady Marian,
Forgive me--coming suddenly out of the dark
And seeing you there, robed in that dazzling white
Above these verdant gentlemen, I feel
Like one that greets the gracious evening star
Thro' a gap in a great wood.
Is aught amiss?
Why are you all so silent? Ah, my good,
My brave Fitzwalter, I most fervently
Trust I am not inopportune.
FITZWALTER
My lord,
I am glad that you can jest. I am sadly grieved
And sorely disappointed in that youth
Who has incurred your own displeasure.
JOHN
Ah?
Your future son-in-law?
FITZWALTER
Never on earth!
He is outlawed--
MARIAN
Outlawed!
FITZWALTER
And I wash my hands
Of Huntingdon. His shadow shall not darken
My doors again!
JOHN
That's vehement! Ha! ha!
And what does Lady Marian say?
MARIAN
My father
Speaks hastily. I am not so unworthy.
FITZWALTER
Unworthy?
MARIAN
Yes, unworthy as to desert him
Because he is in trouble--the bravest man
In England since the d
Translation:
Language:
Reviews
No reviews yet.