StoryTitle("caps", "The Ballad of Saint Giles and the Deer ") ?>
PoemStart() ?>
PagePoem(183, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "All in the forest far away ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Where no one ever came,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "There dwelt a good man, old and gray,—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Saint Giles the hermit's name. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "His forest home a rocky cave ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Beneath an aspen tree;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And for his friend Saint Giles did have ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "A Deer, who wandered free.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A gentle red and mottled Deer ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Who made her home close by. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who at his call came without fear. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Forgetting to be shy.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sure never all in lovely France ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Was there a Deer so tame; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Ah, but to see her start and prance ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "When he would call her name! ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "She gave him milk, his simple fare, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And browsed upon the green,", "") ?>
PagePoem(184, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Ah, such a gentle, loving pair ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "I wis was never seen.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And he was happy in his cell, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And joyous 'neath his trees, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Content with woodland beasts to dwell, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "His only neighbors these.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The wood was dark, the wood was grim, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And never till one day", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Had human voices troubled him, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Or world-folk passed that way. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But on a dewy springtime morn ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "When April climbed the hill, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "There came the wind of silver horn, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Halloos and whistles shrill;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The galloping of horses' feet, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The bloody bay of hounds, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Broke through the forest silence sweet ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And echoed deadly sounds.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Saint Giles sat in his lonely cell,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Whenas the rout drew nigh; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But at the noise his kind heart fell ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And sorrow dimmed his eye.", "") ?>
PagePoem(185, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He loved not men who hunt to kill, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Loved not the rich and grand, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For in those days the Pagans still ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Held lordship in the land.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But scarcely had he reached the door ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And seized his staff of oak, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When like a billow with a roar ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The chase upon him broke. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With one last hope of dear escape, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Into the open space", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Bounded a light and graceful shape, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The quarry of the chase.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "All flecked with foam, all quivering ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "With weariness and fear,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Crouched at his feet the hunted thing, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "His gentle friend, the Deer.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Behind her bayed the pack of hounds, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Their cruel teeth gleamed white, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Nearing with eager leaps and bounds; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "He turned sick at the sight.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Saint Giles looked down upon the Deer. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Saint Giles looked up again,", "") ?>
PagePoem(186, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He saw the danger drawing near, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The death, with all its pain. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He laid his hand upon her head, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The soft head of his friend,—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"And shall I let thee die?\" he said,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "\"And watch thy hapless end?\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He stooped and gently murmured, \"Nay!\" ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Stroking her mottled side,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He stepped before her where she lay; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "\"They slay me first!\" he cried. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Her frightened eyes looked up at him, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Her little heart beat high,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "She trembled sore in every limb,—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The bushes parted nigh.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Halloo! Halloo!\" the huntsmen cried", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "As through the hedge they burst; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "An archer all in green espied", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The crouching quarry first. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Swift as a thought his arrow flew, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Saint Giles threw out his arm, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Alack! the aim was all to true, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Saint Giles must bear the harm.", "") ?>
PagePoem(187, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The arrow pierced too well, too well; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "All in that mournful wood", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Saint Giles upon the greensward fell, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And dyed it with his blood.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He fell, but falling laid his hand ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Upon the trembling Deer,—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"My life for hers, dost understand?\" ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "He cried so all could hear.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Now as upon the green he lay ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "All in a deathly swound,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The King dashed up with courtiers gay ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And looked upon his wound;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The King rode up, and \"Ho!\" he cried, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"Whom find we in our wood?", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who spares the deer with mottled hide?", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Who sheds an old man's blood?\" ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The King looked down with ruthful eye ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "When all the thing was told, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Alack!\" he cried, \"he must not die, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "So kind a man and bold.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Bear me the Saint into his cave; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Who falls to save his friend", "") ?>
PagePoem(188, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Deserves for leech his King to have; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "I will his pallet tend.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They spared to him the sore-bought Deer; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And in that lowly cell", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For many weary days and drear ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The King came there to dwell. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The King, who was a godless man, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "A pagan, heart and soul,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Played nurse until the wound began ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To heal, and Giles was whole. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But in the little forest cave", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The King learned many things ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Known to the meanest Christian slave, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "But secrets from the kings.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For good Saint Giles had won his heart ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "By his brave deed and bold,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And ere the great King did depart ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "His Christian faith he told.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And while the red Deer stood beside, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The King gave Giles his word ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That e'er a Christian he would bide, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And keep what he had heard.", "") ?>
PagePoem(189, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And so the monarch rode away ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And left the two alone,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Saint Giles a happy man that day, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The good Deer still his own. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Safe from the eager hunting horde ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The Saint would keep his friend, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Protected by the King's own word ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Thenceforth unto the end.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For unmolested in his cell, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Careless of everything ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Giles with his friendly Deer could dwell ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Liege to a Christian King.", "") ?>
PoemEnd() ?>