Ballad VI: King Cophetua and the Beggar-Maid

----"Her (Venus's) purblind son and heir,Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so true,When King Cophetua loved the beggar-maid."

"O base Assyrian knight, what is thy news?Let king Cophetua know the truth thereof."

I read that once in AffricaA princely wight did raine,Who had to name Cophetua,As poets they did faine:From natures lawes he did decline,For sure he was not of my mind,He cared not for women-kinde,But did them all disdaine.But, marke, what hapned on a day,As he out of his window lay,He saw a beggar all in gray,The which did cause his paine.

The blinded boy, that shootes so trim,From heaven downe did hie;He drew a dart and shot at him,In place where he did lye:Which soone did pierse him to the quicke,And when he felt the arrow pricke,Which in his tender heart did sticke,He looketh as he would dye.What sudden chance is this, quoth he,That I to love must subject be,Which never thereto would agree,But still did it defie?

Then from the window he did come,And laid him on his bed,A thousand heapes of care did runneWithin his troubled head:For now he meanes to crave her love,And now he seekes which way to prooveHow he his fancie might remoove,And not this beggar wed.But Cupid had him so in snare,That this poor begger must prepareA salve to cure him of his care,Or els he would be dead.

And, as he musing thus did lye,He thought for to deviseHow he might have her companye,That so did 'maze his eyes.In thee, quoth he, doth rest my life;For surely thou shalt be my wife,Or else this hand with bloody knifeThe Gods shall sure suffice.Then from his bed he soon arose,And to his pallace gate he goes;Full little then this begger knowesWhen she the king espies.

The gods preserve your majesty,The beggers all gan cry:Vouchsafe to give your charityOur childrens food to buy.The king to them his pursse did cast,And they to part it made great haste;This silly woman was the lastThat after them did hye.The king he cal'd her back againe,And unto her he gave his chaine;And said, With us you shal remaineTill such time as we dye:

For thou, quoth he, shalt be my wife,And honoured for my queene;With thee I meane to lead my life,As shortly shall be seene:Our wedding shall appointed be,And every thing in its degree:Come on, quoth he, and follow me,Thou shalt go shift thee cleane.What is thy name, faire maid? quoth he.Penelophon, O king, quoth she:With that she made a lowe courtsèy;A trim one as I weene.

Thus hand in hand along they walkeUnto the king's pallàce:The king with courteous comly talkeThis begger doth imbrace:The begger blusheth scarlet red,And straight againe as pale as lead,But not a word at all she said,She was in such amaze.At last she spake with trembling voyce,And said, O king, I doe rejoyceThat you wil take me for your choyce,And my degree's so base.

And when the wedding day was come,The king commanded straitThe noblemen both all and someUpon the queene to wait.And she behaved herself that day,As if she had never walkt the way;She had forgot her gowne of gray,Which she did weare of late.The proverbe old is come to passe,The priest, when he begins his masse,Forgets that ever clerke he was;He knowth not his estate.

Here you may read, Cophetua,Though long time fancie-fed,Compelled by the blinded boyThe begger for to wed:He that did lovers lookes disdaine,To do the same was glad and faine,Or else he would himselfe have slaine,In storie, as we read.Disdaine no whit, O lady deere,But pitty now thy servant heere,Least that it hap to thee this yeare,As to that king it did.

And thus they led a quiet lifeDuring their princely raigne;And in a tombe were buried both,As writers sheweth plaine.The lords they tooke it grievously,The ladies tooke it heavily,The commons cryed pitiously,Their death to them was paine,Their fame did sound so passingly,That it did pierce the starry sky,And throughout all the world did flyeTo every princes realme.