Page:As You Like It (1919) Yale.djvu/98

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As You Like It, IV. iii

But kindness, nobler ever than revenge,
And nature, stronger than his just occasion,
Made him give battle to the lioness, 132
Who quickly fell before him: in which hurtling
From miserable slumber I awak'd.

Cel. Are you his brother?

Ros.Was it you he rescu'd?

Cel. Was 't you that did so oft contrive to kill him? 136

Oli. 'Twas I; but 'tis not I. I do not shame
To tell you what I was, since my conversion
So sweetly tastes, being the thing I am.

Ros. But, for the bloody napkin?

Oli.By and by. 140
When from the first to last, betwixt us two,
Tears our recountments had most kindly bath'd,
As how I came into that desert place:—
In brief, he led me to the gentle duke, 144
Who gave me fresh array and entertainment,
Committing me unto my brother's love;
Who led me instantly unto his cave,
There stripp'd himself; and here, upon his arm 148
The lioness had torn some flesh away,
Which all this while had bled; and now he fainted,
And cried, in fainting, upon Rosalind.
Brief, I recover'd him, bound up his wound; 152
And, after some small space, being strong at heart,
He sent me hither, stranger as I am,
To tell this story, that you might excuse
His broken promise; and to give this napkin, 156
Dy'd in his blood, unto the shepherd youth
That he in sport doth call his Rosalind.


130 kindness: tenderness
131 just occasion: provocation
133 hurtling: clashing tumult
136 contrive: plot
142 recountments: recitals
152 recover'd: brought back to consciousness