Page:The Lady of the Lake - Scott (1810).djvu/322

He was wonderliche strong,
Rome^[1] thretti fote long.
His berd was hot gret and rowe;^[2]
A space of a fot betweene is^[3] browe;
His clob was, to yeue^[4] a strok,
A lite bodi of an ok.^[5]
Beues hadde of him wonder gret,
And askede him what a het,^[6]
And yaf^[7] men of his contrè
Were ase meche^[8] ase was he.
'Me name,' a sede,^[9] 'is Ascopard
Garci me sent hiderward,
For to bring this quene ayen,
And the Beues her of-slen.^[10]
Icham Garci is^[11] champioun,
And was i-driue out of me^[12] toun,
Al for that ich was so lite.^[13]
Eueri man me wolde smite,
Ich was so lite and so merugh,^[14]
Eueri man me clepede dwerugh.^[15]
And now icham in this londe,
I wax mor^[16] ich understonde,
And strengere than other tene;^[17]
And that schel on us be sene.

Sir Bevis of Hampton, I. 2512. Auchinleck MS. fol. 189.

 

Note IX.

Though all unasked his birth or name.—St. XXIX. p. 35.

The highlanders, who carried hospitality to a punctilious excess, are said to have considered it as churlish, to ask a stran-

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1. Fully.
2. Rough.
3. His.
4. Give.
5. The stem of a little oak tree.
6. He hight, was called.
7. If.
8. Great.
9. He said.
10. Slay.
11. His.
12. My.
13. Little.
14. Lean.
15. Dwarf.
16. Greater, taller.
17. Ten.