CHAPTER I.
How
the Lion, King of all Beasts, sent out his commandments that all Beasts should
come to his feast and Court.
IT was about the time of Pentecost or
Whitsuntide, that the woods commonly be lusty and gladsome, and the trees clad
with leaves and blossoms, and the ground with herbs and flowers sweet smelling,
and also the fowls and birds singing melodiously in their harmony, that the Lion,
the noble King of all Beasts, would in the holy days of this feast hold an open
Court at state; which he did to know over all in his land, and commanded by
straight commissions and commandments that every Beast should come thither, in
such wise that all the Beasts great and small came to the Court save Reynart
the Fox: for he knew himself faulty and guilty in many things ag ainst many
Beasts that thither should comen, that he durst not adventure to go thither.
When the King of all Beasts had assembled all his Court, there was none of them
all but that he had complained sore on Reynart the Fox.
No comments:
Post a Comment