Enter Mucedorus solus.
MUCEDORUS.
Unknown to any here within these woods,
With bloody Bremo do I lead my life.
The monster! he doth murther all he meets;
He spareth none, and none doth him escape.
Who would continue—who, but only I—
In such a cruel cut-throat’s company?
Yet Amadine is there, how can I choose?
Ah, silly soul! how oftentimes she sits
And sighs, and calls: Come, shepherd, come,
Sweet Mucedorus, come and set me free,
When Mucedorus present stands her by!
But here she comes.
Enter Amadine.
What news, fair lady, as you walk these woods?
AMADINE.
Ah, hermit! none but bad and such as thou know’st.
MUCEDORUS.
How do you like your Bremo and his woods?
AMADINE.
Oh, not my Bremo, nor my Bremo’s woods.
MUCEDORUS.
And why not yours? Methinks he loves you well.
AMADINE.
I like him not, his love to me is nothing worth.
MUCEDORUS.
Lady, in this, methinks, you offer wrong,
To hate the man that ever loves you best.
AMADINE.
Hermit, I take no pleasure in his love,
Neither doth Bremo like me best.
MUCEDORUS.
Pardon my boldness, fair lady, sith we both
May safely talk now out of Bremo’s sight,
Unfold to me, if so you please, the full discourse
How, when, and why you came into these woods,
And fell into this bloody butcher’s hands.
AMADINE.
Hermit, I will;
Of late a worthy shepherd I did love—
MUCEDORUS.
A shepherd, lady? Sure, a man unfit
To match with you!
AMADINE.
Ay, hermit, this is true,
And when we had—
MUCEDORUS.
Stay there, the wild man comes;
Defer the rest until another time.
Enter Bremo.
BREMO.
What secret tale is this? What whispering have we here?
Villain, I charge thee tell thy tale again.
MUCEDORUS.
If needs I must, lo! here it is again:
Whenas we both had lost the sight of thee,
It griev’d us both, but specially thy queen,
Who in thy absence ever fears the worst,
Lest some mischance befall your royal grace.
Shall my sweet Bremo wander through the woods,
Toil to and fro for to redress my wants,
Hazard his life and all to cherish me?
I like not this, quoth she,
And thereupon crav’d to know of me,
If I could teach her handle weapons well.
My answer was, I had small skill therein,
But glad, most mighty king, to learn of thee.
And this was all.
BREMO.
Was ’t so? None can dislike of this. I’ll teach
You both to fight; but first, my queen, begin:
Here, take this weapon; see how thou canst use it.
AMADINE.
This is too big, I cannot wield it in my arm.
BREMO.
Is’t so? We’ll have a knotty crabtree-staff
For thee. [To Mucedorus.] But, sirrah, tell me, what say’st thou?
MUCEDORUS.
With all my heart I willing am to learn.
BREMO.
Then take my staff, and see how canst wield it.
MUCEDORUS.
First teach me how to hold it in my hand.
[Taking the staff.]
BREMO.
Thou holdst it well.
[To Amadine.] Look how he doth, thou mayst the sooner learn.
MUCEDORUS.
Next tell me how and when ’tis best to strike.
BREMO.
[Aside.] ’Tis best to strike when time doth serve,
’Tis best to lose no time.
MUCEDORUS.
[Aside.] Then now or never is my time to strike.
BREMO.
And when thou strikest, be sure thou hit the head.
MUCEDORUS.
The head?
BREMO.
The very head.
MUCEDORUS.
Then have at thine.
[He strikes him down dead.]
So! lie there and die;
A death, no doubt, according to desert,
Or else a worse, as thou deservest a worse.
AMADINE.
It glads my heart, this tyrant’s death to see.
MUCEDORUS.
Now, lady, it remains in you
To end the tale you lately had begun,
Being interrupted by this wicked wight—
You said you loved a shepherd?
AMADINE.
Ay, so I do, and none but only him;
And will do still, as long as life shall last.
MUCEDORUS.
But tell me, lady, sith I set you free,
What course of life do you intend to take?
AMADINE.
I will disguised wander through the world,
Till I have found him out.
MUCEDORUS.
How, if you find your shepherd in these woods?
AMADINE.
Ah, none so happy then as Amadine.
MUCEDORUS.
In tract of time a man may alter much:
Say, lady, do you know your shepherd well?
[He discloseth himself.]
AMADINE.
My Mucedorus, hath he set me free?
MUCEDORUS.
He hath set thee free.
AMADINE.
And lived so long unknown to Amadine?
MUCEDORUS.
Ay, that’s a question whereof you mayn’t be resolved.
You know that I am banish’d from the court,
I know likewise each passage is beset,
So that we cannot long escape unknown,
Therefore my will is this, that we return,
Right through the thickets, to the wild man’s cave,
And there a while live on’s provision,
Until the search and narrow watch be past.
This is my counsel, and I think it best.
AMADINE.
I think the very same.
MUCEDORUS.
Come, let’s be gone.
Enter the Clown, who searches, and falls over the wild Man, and so carries him away.
MOUSE.
Nay, soft, sir, are you here? A bots on you! I was like to be hanged for not
finding you; we would borrow a certain stray king’s-daughter of you; a wench, a
wench, sir, we would have.
MUCEDORUS.
A wench of me? I’ll make thee eat my sword.
MOUSE.
Oh Lord, nay, an you are so lusty, I’ll call a cooling card for you. Ho,
master, master, come away quickly!
Enter Segasto.
SEGASTO.
What’s the matter?
MOUSE.
Look, master, Amadine and the shepherd! O brave!
SEGASTO.
What, minion, have I found you out?
MOUSE.
Nay, that’s a lie, I found her out myself.
SEGASTO.
Thou gadding huswife,
What cause hadst thou to gad abroad,
Whenas thou knowest our wedding-day so nigh?
AMADINE.
Not so, Segasto; no such thing in hand.
Show your assurance, then I’ll answer you.
SEGASTO.
Thy father’s promise my assurance is.
AMADINE.
But what he promised, he hath not perform’d.
SEGASTO.
It rests in thee for to perform the same.
AMADINE.
Not I.
SEGASTO.
And why?
AMADINE.
So is my will, and therefore even so.
MOUSE.
Master, with a nonny, nonny, no!
SEGASTO.
Ah, wicked villain! art thou here?
MUCEDORUS.
What needs these words? We weigh them not.
SEGASTO.
We weigh them not! proud shepherd, I scorn thy company.
MOUSE.
We’ll not have a corner of thy company.
MUCEDORUS.
I scorn not thee, nor yet the least of thine.
MOUSE.
That’s a lie, a would have killed me with his pugsnando.
SEGASTO.
This stoutness, Amadine, contents me not.
AMADINE.
Then seek another, that may you better please.
MUCEDORUS.
Well, Amadine, it only rests in thee
Without delay to make thy choice of three:
There stands Segasto, here a shepherd stands,
There stands the third: now make thy choice.
MOUSE.
A lord at the least I am.
AMADINE.
My choice is made, for I will none but thee.
SEGASTO.
A worthy mate, no doubt, for such a wife.
MUCEDORUS.
And, Amadine, why wilt thou none but me?
I cannot keep thee as thy father did;
I have no lands for to maintain thy state,
Moreover if thou mean to be my wife,
Commonly this must be thy use:
To bed at midnight, up at four,
Drudge all the day, and trudge from place to place,
Whereby our daily victuals for to win:
And last of all, which is the worst of all,
No princess then, but plain a shepherd’s wife.
MOUSE.
[Aside.] Then God gi’ you good morrow, goody shepherd!
AMADINE.
It shall not need; if Amadine do live,
Thou shalt be crowned king of Aragon.
MOUSE.
O master, laugh; when he’s king, then I’ll be a queen.
MUCEDORUS.
Then know that which never tofore was known,
I am no shepherd, no Aragonian I,
But born of royal blood:
My father’s of Valencia king, my mother queen;
Who for thy sacred sake took this hard task in hand.
AMADINE.
Ah, how I joy my fortune is so good!
SEGASTO.
Well, now I see Segasto shall not speed.
But, Mucedorus, I as much do joy
To see thee here within our court of Aragon,
As if a kingdom had befallen me this time.
I with my heart surrender it to thee.
[He giveth her to him.]
And loose what right to Amadine I have.
MOUSE.
[Aside.] What, a barn’s door, and born where my father was constable? A
bots on thee, how dost thou?
MUCEDORUS.
Thanks, good Segasto; but yet you levell’d at the crown.
MOUSE.
Master, bear this, and bear all.
SEGASTO.
Why so, sir?
MOUSE.
He says you take a goose by the crown.
SEGASTO.
Away, go to, sir; post you to the king,
Whose heart is fraught with careful doubts,
Gladden him up, and tell him these good news,
And we will follow, as fast as we may.
MOUSE.
I go, master; I run, master.
[Exeunt severally.]
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