Hath such a might, that men may in it see
When there shall fall any adversitý
Unto your realm, or to yourself also,
And openly who is your friend or foe.
And over all this, if any lady bright
Hath set her heart on any manner wight,
If he be false, she shall his treason see,
His newë love, and all his subtlety,
So openly that there shall nothing hide.
Wherefore, against this lusty summer-tide,
This mirror, and this ring that ye may see,
He hath sent to my lady Canacé,
Your excellentë daughter that is here.
The virtue of this ring, if ye will hear,
Is this, that if her list it for to wear
Upon her thumb, or in her purse it bear,
There is no fowl that flyeth under heaven,
That she shall not well understand his steven,3062
And know his meaning openly and plain,
And answer him in his languáge again:
And every grass that groweth upon root
She shall eke know, to whom it will do boot,3063
All be his woundës ne’er so deep and wide.
This naked sword, that hangeth by my side,
Such virtue hath, that what man that it smite,
Throughout his armour it will carve and bite,
Were it as thick as is a branched oak:
And what man is y-wounded with the stroke
Shall ne’er be whole, till that you list, of grace,
To stroke him with the flat in thilkë3064 place
Where he is hurt; this is as much to sayn,
Ye mustë with the flattë sword again
Stroke him upon the wound, and it will close.
This is the very sooth, withoutë glose;3065
It faileth not, while it is in your hold.”
And when this knight had thus his talë told,
He rode out of the hall, and down he light.
His steedë, which that shone as sunnë bright,
Stood in the court as still as any stone.
The knight is to his chamber led anon,
And is unarmed, and to meat y-set.3066
These presents be full richëly y-fet—3067
This is to say, the sword and the mirroúr—
And borne anon into the highë tow’r,
With certain officers ordain’d therefor;
And unto Canacé the ring is bore
Solemnëly, where she sat at the table;
But sickerly, withouten any fable,
The horse of brass, that may not be remued.3068
It stood as it were to the ground y-glued;
There may no man out of the place it drive
For no engíne of windlass or polive;3069
And causë why, for they can not the craft;3070
And therefore in the place they have it laft,
Till that the knight hath taught them the mannére
To voidë3071 him, as ye shall after hear.
Great was the press, that swarmed to and fro
To gauren3072 on this horse that stoodë so:
For it so high was, and so broad and long,
So well proportioned for to be strong,
Right as it were a steed of Lombardy;
Therewith so horsely, and so quick of eye,
As it a gentle Poileis3073 courser were:
For certes, from his tail unto his ear
Nature nor art ne could him not amend
In no degree, as all the people wend.3074
But evermore their mostë wonder was
How that it couldë go, and was of brass;
It was of Faerie, as the people seem’d.
Diverse folk diversëly they deem’d;
As many heads, as many wittës been.
They murmured, as doth a swarm of been,3075
And madë skills3076 after their fantasies,
Rehearsing of the oldë poetries,
And said that it was like the Pegasé,3077
The horse that haddë wingës for to flee;
Or else it was the Greekë’s horse Sinon,3078
That broughtë Troyë to destructión,
As men may in the oldë gestës3079 read.
“Mine heart,” quoth one, “is evermore in dread;
I trow some men of armës be therein,
That shapë them3080 this city for to win:
It were right good that all such thing were know.”
Another rowned3081 to his fellow low,
And said, “He lies; for it is rather like
An ápparéncë made by some magíc,
As jugglers playen at these feastës great.”
Of sundry doubts they jangle thus and treat.
As lewëd3082 people deemë commonly
Of thingës that be made more subtilly
Than they can in their lew’dness comprehend;
They deemë gladly to the badder end.3083
And some of them wonder’d on the mirroúr,
That borne was up into the master tow’r,3084
How men might in it suchë thingës see.
Another answér’d and said, it might well be
Naturallý by compositións
Of angles, and of sly reflectións;
And saidë that in Rome was such a one.
They speak of Alhazen and Vitellon,3085
And Aristotle, that wrote in their lives
Of quaintë3086 mirrors, and of próspectives,
As knowë they that have their bookës heard.
And other folk have wonder’d on the swerd,
That wouldë piercë throughout every thing;
And fell in speech of Telephus the king,
And of Achilles for his quaintë spear,
For he could with it bothë heal and dere,3087
Right in such wise as men may with the swerd
Of which right now ye have yourselvës heard.
They spake of sundry hard’ning of metál,
And spake of medicínës therewithal,
And how, and when, it shouldë harden’d be,
Which is unknowen algate3088 unto me.
Then spakë they of Canacéë’s ring,
And saiden all, that such a wondrous thing
Of craft of ringës heard they never none,
Save that he, Moses, and King Solomon,
Hadden a name of conning3089 in such art.
Thus said the people, and drew them apart.
Put natheless some saidë that it was
Wonder to maken of fern ashes glass,
And yet is glass nought like ashes of fern;
But, for3090 they have y-knowen it so ferne,3091
Therefore ceaseth their jangling and their wonder.
As sorë wonder some on cause of thunder,
On ebb and flood, on gossamer and mist,
And on all thing, till that the cause is wist.3092
Thus jangle they, and deemen and devise,
Till that the king gan from his board arise.
Phoebus had left the angle meridional,
And yet ascending was the beast royál,
The gentle Lion, with his Aldrian,3093
When that this Tartar king, this Cambuscan,
Rose from the board,
