_Yet of the same Dragon._
[Illustration]
ALSO a young man that wist not of the Dragon, went out of a shippe and
went through the yle till he came to a Castell, and came into the cave
and went so long till he founde a chamber, and there he saw a damosell
that kemde[1] hir heade & loked in a mirrour, and she had much
treasure aboute hir, and he trowed[2] she had been a common woman that
dwelled ther to kepe men, and he abode[3] the damosel, and the damosel
saw the shadowe of him in the mirrour, & she tourned toward him
and asked what he would, and he said he would be hir paramoure or
lemman,[4] and she asked him if he were a knight, and he sayd nay, and
she sayd then might he not be hir lemman, but she bad him go againe to
his fellowes and make him knighte and come againe on the morow and
she woulde come oute of the cave and then hee shoulde kisse hir on the
mouth, and she badde him haue no dread, for she would do him no
harme, although she semed hidious to him, she sayd it was done by
inchauntment, for she sayd that she was such as he saw hir then, and
she sayd that if he kissed hir, he should haue all the treasure, and
be hir lord, and lord of all those yles. Then he departed from hir and
went to his fellowes in the ship, and made him knight, and came againe
on the morow to kisse the damosel, and when he saw hir come out of the
cave in forme of a dragon, he had so great dread, that he fled to
the ship, and she folowed him, and when she saw that he tourned not
againe, she began to crye as a thing that had much sorow, and tourned
again, and sone after the knight dyed, and sithen[5] hetherto might no
knight see hir but he died anon. But when a knight commeth that is so
hardy to kisse hir, he shall not dye, but he shall tourne that damosel
into hir right shape and shal be lord of the countrey aforsayde. And
from thence men go to the yle of Rodes, the which the hospitallers
held and governed, and that they took sometime from the Emperour,
and it was wont to be called Colles[6] and so yet the Turkes call it
Colles. And sainct Paule in his Epistels writeth to them of the yle
Collocenses.[7] This yle is nere CLxxx[8] myle from Constantinople.
And from this yle of Rodes, men go into Cipres where are many vines,
the first is red and after a yeare they war all white, and those vines
that are most white, are most cleare and best smelling, And as men
passe by the way by a place where was wont to be a great citie that
men call Sathalay, and all that countrey was lost through the folly of
a young man, for he had a faire damosell that he loved well, and she
dyed sodenly & was buried in a grave of Marble & for the great love he
hadde to hir, he went in a nighte to hir tombe and opened it, & went
and lay by hir and when he had done he went away, & when it came to
the ende of ix monthes a voice came to him & sayd in this maner as in
the next chapter foloweth.
[Footnote 1: Kemped or combed.]
[Footnote 2: Thought.]
[Footnote 3: _Pynson_ says "obeyed unto the damsell"--that is,
made obeisance, or bowed to her.]
[Footnote 4: Sweetheart.]
[Footnote 5: Since then.]
[Footnote 6: From the Colossus there, a statue of Jupiter 70
cubits high, and which was accounted as one of the wonders of
the world.]
[Footnote 7: This is not so. The Epistle to the Colossians
was addressed to the inhabitants of Colossæ, a city in
Phrygia--which is clearly shown by his referring in cap. 4, v.
13, to two neighbouring cities. "For I bear him record, that
he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in _Laodicea_,
and them in _Hierapolis_."]
[Footnote 8: _Pynson_ and others say 800.]
[Decoration]