Alas! we be too lewëd,1498 or too slow.
To ship was brought this woeful fairë maid
Solemnëly, with every circumstance:
“Now Jesus Christ be with you all,” she said.
There is no more, but “Farewell, fair Constance.”
She pained her1499 to make good countenance.
And forth I let her sail in this mannér,
And turn I will again to my mattér.
The mother of the Soudan, well of vices,
Espied hath her sonë’s plain intent,
How he will leave his oldë sacrifices:
And right anon she for her council sent,
And they be come, to knowë what she meant,
And when assembled was this folk in fere,1500
She sat her down, and said as ye shall hear.
“Lordës,” she said, “ye knowen every one,
How that my son in point is for to lete1501
The holy lawës of our Alkaron,1502
Given by God’s messenger Mahométe:
But one avow to greatë God I hete,1503
Life shall rather out of my body start,
Than Mahomet’s law go out of mine heart.
“What should us tiden1504 of this newë law,
But thraldom to our bodies, and penánce,
And afterward in hell to be y-draw,
For we renied Mahound our creance?1505
But, lordës, will ye maken assurance,
As I shall say, assenting to my lore?1506
And I shall make us safe for evermore.”
They sworen and assented every man
To live with her and die, and by her stand:
And every one, in the best wise he can,
To strengthen her shall all his friendës fand.1507
And she hath this emprise taken in hand,
Which ye shall hearë that I shall devise;1508
And to them all she spake right in this wise.
“We shall first feign us Christendom to take;1509
Cold water shall not grieve us but a lite:1510
And I shall such a feast and revel make,
That, as I trow, I shall the Soudan quite.1511
For though his wife be christen’d ne’er so white,
She shall have need to wash away the red,
Though she a fount of water with her led.”
O Soudaness,1512 root of iniquity,
Virago thou, Semiramis the secónd!
O serpent under femininity,
Like to the serpent deep in hell y-bound!
O feigned woman, all that may confound
Virtue and innocence, through thy malíce,
Is bred in thee, as nest of every vice!
O Satan envious! since thilkë day
That thou wert chased from our heritage,
Well knowest thou to woman th’ oldë way.
Thou madest Eve to bring us in serváge:1513
Thou wilt fordo1514 this Christian marriáge:
Thine instrument so (well-away the while!)
Mak’st thou of women when thou wilt beguile.
This Soudaness, whom I thus blame and warray,1515
Let privily her council go their way:
Why should I in this talë longer tarry?
She rode unto the Soudan on a day,
And said him, that she would reny her lay,1516
And Christendom of priestës’ handës fong,1517
Repenting her she heathen was so long;
Beseeching him to do her that honour,
That she might have the Christian folk to feast:
“To pleasë them I will do my laboúr.”
The Soudan said, “I will do at your hest,”1518
And kneeling, thanked her for that request;
So glad he was, he wist1519 not what to say.
She kiss’d her son, and home she went her way.
Arrived be these Christian folk to land
In Syria, with a great solemnë rout,
And hastily this Soudan sent his sond,1520
First to his mother, and all the realm about,
And said, his wife was comen out of doubt,
And pray’d them for to ride again1521 the queen,
The honour of his regnë1522 to sustene.
Great was the press, and rich was the array
Of Syrians and Romans met in fere.1523
The mother of the Soudan rich and gay
Received her with all so glad a cheer1524
As any mother might her daughter dear:
And to the nextë city there beside
A softë pace solemnely they ride.
Nought, trow I, the triúmph of Julius
Of which that Lucan maketh such a boast,
Was royaller, or morë curious,
Than was th’ assembly of this blissful host:
But O this scorpion, this wicked ghost,1525
The Soudaness, for all her flattering
Cast1526 under this full mortally to sting.
The Soudan came himself soon after this,
So royally, that wonder is to tell,
And welcomed her with all joy and bliss.
And thus in mirth and joy I let them dwell.
The fruit of his mattér is that I tell;
When the time came, men thought it for the best
That revel stint,1527 and men go to their rest.
The time is come that this old Soudaness
Ordained hath the feast of which I told,
And to the feast the Christian folk them dress
In general, yea, bothë young and old.
There may men feast and royalty behold,
And dainties more than I can you devise;
But all too dear they bought it ere they rise.
O sudden woe, that ev’r art successoúr
To worldly bliss! sprent1528 is with bitterness
Th’ end of our joy, of our worldly laboúr;
Woe occupies the fine1529 of our gladness.
Hearken this counsel, for thy sickerness:1530
Upon thy gladë days have in thy mind
The unware1531 woe of harm, that comes behind.
For, shortly for to tell it at a word,
The Soudan and the Christians every one
Were all to-hewn and sticked at the board,1532
But it were only Dame Constance alone.
This oldë Soudaness, this cursed crone,
Had with her friendës done this cursed deed,
For she herself would all the country lead.
Nor there was Syrian that was converted,
That of the counsel of the Soudan wot,1533
That was not all to-hewn, ere he asterted:1534
And Constance have they ta’en anon foot-hot,1535
And in a ship all steerëless,1536 God wot,
They have her set, and bid her learn to sail
Out of Syria again-ward to Itale.1537
A certain treasure that she thither lad,1538
And, sooth to say, of victual great plenty,
They have her giv’n, and clothës eke she had,
And forth
