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Wherein is continued the adventure of the Knight of the Wood, with the wise and witty dialogue between the two Squires.
[Pg 210]
Having retired a little apart, the Squire of the Wood said to
Sancho, "This is a toilsome life we squires to knights-errant
lead; in good truth, we eat our bread by the sweat of our brows,
which is one of the curses God laid upon our first parents."
"You may say too, that we eat it by the frost of our bodies,"
added Sancho; "for who has to bear more cold, as well as heat,
than your miserable squires to knight-errantry? It would not be
quite so bad if we could always get something to eat, for good fare
lessens care; but how often we must pass whole days without
breaking our fast—unless it be upon air!" "All this may be endured,"
quoth he of the Wood, "with the hopes of reward; for
that knight-errant must be unlucky indeed who does not speedily
recompense his squire with at least a handsome government, or
some pretty earldom." "I," replied Sancho, "have already
told my master that I should be satisfied with the government of
an island; and he is so noble, and so generous, that he has promised
it me a thousand times." "And I," said he of the Wood,
"should think myself amply rewarded for all my services with a
canonry; and I have my master's word for it too." "Why then,"
quoth Sancho, "belike your master is some knight of the church,
and so can bestow rewards of that kind on his squires; mine is
only a layman. Some of his wise friends advised him once to be
an archbishop, but he would be nothing but an emperor, and I
trembled all the while lest he should take a liking to the church;
because, you must know, I am not gifted that way; to say the
truth, sir, though I look like a man, I am a very beast in such
matters." "Let me tell you, friend," quoth he of the Wood,
"you are quite in the wrong; for these island-governments are
often more plague than profit. Some are crabbed, some beggarly,
some—in short, the best of them are sure to bring more care than
they are worth, and are mostly too heavy for the shoulders that
have to bear them. I suspect it would be wiser in us to quit this
thankless drudgery and stay at home, where we may find easier
work and better pastime; for he must be a sorry squire who has
not his nag, his brace of greyhounds, and an angling-rod to enjoy
himself with at home." "I am not without these things," answered
Sancho; "it is true I have no horse, but then I have an
ass which is worth twice as much as my master's steed. I would
not swap with him, though he should offer me four bushels of
barley to boot; no, that would not I, though you may take for a
joke the price I set upon my Dapple,—for dapple, sir, is the colour
[Pg 211]
of my ass. Greyhounds I cannot be in want of, as our town
is overstocked with them; besides, the rarest sporting is that we
find at other people's cost." (...)
(......)
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