StoryTitle("caps", "King Robert Of Sicily") ?>
PoemStart() ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Robert of Sicily, brother of Pope Urbane", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And Valmond, Emperor of Allemaine,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Apparelled in magnificent attire,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With retinue of many a knight and squire,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "On St. John's eve, at vespers, proudly sat", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And heard the priests chant the Magnificat.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And as he listened, o'er and o'er again", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Repeated, like a burden or refrain,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He caught the words, \"Deposuit potentes", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "De sede, et exaltavit humiles\";", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And slowly lifting up his kingly head", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He to a learned clerk beside him said,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"What mean these words?\" The clerk made answer meet,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"He has put down the mighty from their seat,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And has exalted them of low degree.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Thereat King Robert muttered scornfully,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"'T is well that such seditious words are sung", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Only by priests and in the Latin tongue;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For unto priests and people be it known,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "There is no power can push me from my throne!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And leaning back, he yawned and fell asleep,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Lulled by the chant monotonous and deep.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When he awoke, it was already night;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The church was empty, and there was no light,", "") ?>
Page(166) ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Save where the lamps, that glimmered few and faint,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Lighted a little space before some saint.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He started from his seat and gazed around,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But saw no living thing and heard no sound.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He groped toward the door, but it was locked;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He cried aloud, and listened, and knocked,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And uttered awful threatenings and complaints,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And imprecations upon men and saints.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The sounds reechoed from the roof and walls", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "As if dead priests were laughing in their stalls.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "At length the sexton, hearing from without", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The tumult of the knocking and the shout,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And thinking thieves were in the house or prayer,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Came with his lantern, asking, \"Who is there?\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Half choked with rage, King Robert fiercely said,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"Open:'tis I, the King! Art thou afraid?\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The frightened sexton, muttering, with a curse,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"This is some drunken vagabond, or worse!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Turned the great key and flung the portal wide;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A man rushed by him at a single stride,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Haggard, half naked, without hat or cloak,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who neither turned, nor looked at him, nor spoke,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But leaped into the blackness of the night,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And vanished like a spectre from his sight.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Robert of Sicily, brother of Pope Urbane", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And Valmond, Emperor of Allemaine,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Despoiled of his magnificent attire,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Bareheaded, breathless, and besprent with mire,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With sense of wrong and outrage desperate,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Strode on and thundered at the palace gate;", "") ?>
Page(167) ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Rushed through the courtyard, thrusting in his rage", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To right and left each seneschal and page,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And hurried up the broad and sounding stair,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "His white face ghastly in the torches' glare.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "From hall to hall he passed with breathless speed;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Voices and cries he heard, but did not heed,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Until at last he reached the banquet-room,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Blazing with light, and breathing with perfume.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "There on the dais sat another king,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Wearing his robes, his crown, his signet-ring,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "King Robert's self in features, form, and height,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But all transfigured with angelic light!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "It was an Angel; and his presence there", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With a divine effulgence rilled the air,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "An exaltation, piercing the disguise,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Though none the hidden Angel recognised.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A moment speechless, motionless, amazed,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The throneless monarch on the Angel gazed,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who met his look of anger and surprise", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With the divine compassion of his eyes;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then said, \"Who art thou? and why com'st thou here?\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To which King Robert answered with a sneer,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"I am the King, and come to claim my own", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "From an impostor, who usurps my throne!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And suddenly, at these audacious words,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Up sprang the angry guests, and drew their swords;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The Angel answered, with unruffled brow,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"Nay, not the King, but the King's Jester, thou", "") ?>
PagePoem(168, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Henceforth shalt wear the bells and scalloped cape,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And for thy counsellor shalt lead an ape;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Thou shalt obey my servants when they call,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And wait upon my henchmen in the hall!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Deaf to King Robert's threats and cries and prayers,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They thrust him from the hall and down the stairs;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A group of tittering pages ran before,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And as they opened wide the folding-door,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "His heart failed, for he heard, with strange alarms,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The boisterous laughter of the men-at-arms,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And all the vaulted chamber roar and ring", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With the mock plaudits of \"Long live the King!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Next morning, waking with the day's first beam,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He said within himself, \"It was a dream!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But the straw rustled as he turned his head,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "There were the cap and bells beside his bed,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Around him rose the bare, discolored walls,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Close by, the steeds were champing in their stalls,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And in the corner, a revolting shape,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Shivering and chattering sat the wretched ape.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "It was no dream; the world he loved so much", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Had turned to dust and ashes at his touch!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Days came and went; and now returned again", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To Sicily the old Saturnian reign;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Under the Angel's governance benign", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The happy island danced with corn and wine,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And deep within the mountain's burning breast", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Enceladus, the giant, was at rest.", "") ?>
Page(169) ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Meanwhile King Robert yielded to his fate,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sullen and silent and disconsolate.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Dressed in the motley garb that Jesters wear,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With look bewildered and a vacant stare,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Close shaven above the ears, as monks are shorn,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "By courtiers mocked, by pages laughed to scorn,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "His only friend the ape, his only food", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "What others left—he still was unsubdued.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And when the Angel met him on his way,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And half in earnest, half in jest, would say,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sternly, though tenderly, that he might feel", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The velvet scabbard held a sword of steel,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"Art thou the King?\" the passion of his woe", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Burst from him in resistless overflow", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And, lifting high his forehead he, would fling", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The haughty answer back, \"I am, I am the King!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Almost three years were ended; when there came", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Ambassadors of great repute and name", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "From Valmond, Emperor of Allemaine,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Unto King Robert, saying that Pope Urbane", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "By letter summoned them forthwith to come", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "On Holy Thursday to his city of Rome.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The Angel with great joy received his guests,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And gave them presents of embroidered vests,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And velvet mantles with rich ermine lined,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And rings and jewels of the rarest kind.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then he departed with them o'er the sea", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Into the lovely land of Italy,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Whose loveliness was more resplendent made", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "By the mere passing of that cavalcade,", "") ?>
Page(170) ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With plumes, and cloaks, and housings, and the stir", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Of jewelled bridle and of golden spur.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And lo! among the menials, in mock state,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Upon a piebald steed, with shambling gait,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "His cloak of fox-tails flapping in the wind,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The solemn ape demurely perched behind,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "King Robert rode, making huge merriment", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "In all the country towns through which they went.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The Pope received them with great pomp and blare", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Of bannered trumpets, on Saint Peter's square,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Giving his benediction and embrace,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Fervent, and full of apostolic grace.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "While with congratulations and with prayers", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He entertained the Angel unawares,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Robert, the Jester, bursting through the crowd,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Into their presence rushed, and cried aloud,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"I am the King! Look, and behold in me", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Robert, your brother, King of Sicily!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "This man, who wears my semblance to your eyes,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Is an impostor in a king's disguise.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Do you not know me? does no voice within", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Answer my cry, and say we are akin?\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The Pope in silence, but with troubled mien,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Gazed at the Angel's countenance serene;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The Emperor, laughing, said, \"It is strange sport", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To keep a madman for thy Fool at court!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And the poor, baffled Jester in disgrace", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Was hustled back among the populace.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "In solemn state the Holy Week went by,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And Easter Sunday gleamed upon the sky;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The presence of the Angel, with its light,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Before the sun rose, made the city bright,", "") ?>
Page(171) ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And with new fervour filled the hearts of men,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who felt that Christ indeed had risen again.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Even the Jester, on his bed of straw,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With haggard eyes the unwonted splendour saw,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He felt within a power unfelt before,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And, kneeling humbly on his chamber-floor,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He heard the rushing garments of the Lord", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sweep through the silent air, ascending heavenward.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And now the visit ending, and once more", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Valmond returning to the Danube's shore,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Homeward the Angel journeyed, and again", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The land was made resplendent with his train,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Flashing along the towns of Italy", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Unto Salerno, and from thence by sea.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And when once more within Palermo's wall,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And, seated on the throne in his great hall,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He heard the Angelus from convent towers,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "As if the better world conversed with ours,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He beckoned to King Robert to draw nigher,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And with a gesture bade the rest retire;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And when they were alone, the Angel said,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"Art thou the King?\" Then, bowing down his head,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "King Robert crossed both hands upon his breast,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And meekly answered him: \"Thou knowest best!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "My sins as scarlet are; let me go hence,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And in some cloister's school of penitence,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Across those stones, that pave the way to heaven,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Walk barefoot, till my guilty soul be shriven!\"", "") ?>
Page(172) ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The Angel smiled, and from his radiant face", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A holy light illumined all the place,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And through the open window, loud and clear,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They heard the monks chant in the chapel near,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Above the stir and tumult of the street:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"He has put down the mighty from their seat,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And has exalted them of low degree!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And through the chant a second melody", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Rose like the throbbing of a single string:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"I am an Angel, and thou art the King!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "King Robert, who was standing near the throne,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Lifted his eyes, and lo! he was alone!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But all apparelled as in days of old,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With ermined mantle and with cloth of gold;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And when his courtiers came, they found him there", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Kneeling upon the floor, absorbed in silent prayer.", "") ?>
PoemEnd() ?>
INTERLUDE
PoemStart() ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "And then the blue-eyed Norseman told", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "A Saga of the days of old.", "") ?> PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"There is,\" said he, \"a wondrous book", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Of Legends in the old Norse tongue,", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Of the dead kings of Norroway—", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Legends that once were told or sung", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "In many a smoky fireside nook", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Of Iceland, in the ancient day,", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "By wandering Saga-man or Scald;", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "'Heimskringla' is the volume called;", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "And he who looks may find therein", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "The story that I now begin.\"", "") ?>