He found those of
Hereward and Torfrida, at least, as polished as his own.
"I am glad you are content, Lord Abbot," said Torfrida; "I trust you
prefer dining with me to burning me, as you meant to do."
"I burn such peerless beauty! I injure a form made only for the courts of
kings! Heaven and all saints, knighthood and all chivalry, forbid. What
Taillebois may have said, I know not! I am no more answerable for his
intentions than I am for his parentage,--or his success this day. Let
churls be churls, and wood-cutters wood-cutters. I at least, thanks to my
ancestors, am a gentleman."
"And, as a gentleman, will of course contribute to the pleasure of your
hosts. It will surely please you to gratify us with one stave at least of
that song, which has made your name famous among all knights," holding out
a harp.
"I blush; but obey. A harp in the greenwood? A court in the wilderness!
What joy!"
And the vain Abbot took the harp, and said,--"These, if you will allow my
modesty to choose, are the staves on which I especially pride myself. The
staves which Taillefer--you will pardon my mentioning him--"
"Why pardon? A noble minstrel he was, and a brave warrior, though our foe.
And often have I longed to hear him, little thinking that I should hear
instead the maker himself.
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