Deep in the Forest of Arden lived a merry company. The Duke of that
country, banished by his usurping brother Frederick, had taken refuge
among the green woods, and there, far from the pomp and envious
clamour of Court, he lived happily with a few faithful followers.
Custom had made this new life sweeter than the old one of showy state.
Here were no fawning courtiers, no slander and intrigue; the only
hardships were those of the changing seasons. Even when the keen winds
of winter made the Duke shrink with cold, he would smile and say:
“This is no flattery; these are counsellors that make me feel really
what I am;” and the biting blast seemed to him less cruel than the
falsehood and ingratitude of men.
Not far from the forest was the house that had formerly belonged to
a good gentleman--Sir Rowland de Boys. Dying, Sir Rowland had left
all his possessions to his eldest son, Oliver, excepting one thousand
crowns, which was to go to the youngest son, Orlando. Sir Rowland,
however, had charged Oliver to bring up his two brothers carefully.
Oliver had sent the second son, Jaques, to school, where the boy did
well; but his youngest brother, Orlando, he kept at home, leaving
him utterly neglected and without any sort of training. Not only did
Oliver do nothing at all for his brother, but he even tried to take
away what advantages Orlando possessed by nature. He made him feed
with the servants, debarred him his place as brother, and in every
way possible seemed to aim at unfitting him for his position as a
gentleman.
Orlando was indignant at such treatment, and at last he rebelled
openly, declaring he would endure such servitude no longer. There was
an angry dispute between the young men, in which Oliver, as usual,
tried to bully his brother into submission. But Orlando’s spirit was
up. Stung to fury by Oliver’s insults, he seized hold of him, and
compelled him to listen to what he had to say. A faithful old servitor
of their father’s interposed, and tried to make peace, but Orlando was
determined not to yield.
“You _shall_ hear me,” he said, as Oliver struggled to free himself.
“My father charged you in his will to give me a good education. You
have trained me like a peasant, hiding from me all gentleman-like
qualities. The spirit of my father grows strong in me, and I will no
longer endure it. Therefore allow me such exercises as becomes a
gentleman, or give me the poor portion my father left me in his will,
and with that I will go seek my fortune.”
“And what will you do with it? Beg, when that is spent?” sneered
Oliver. “Well, sir, get you in; I will not be troubled with you much
longer. You shall have part of what you wish. I pray you, leave me.”
And then, turning to the old servant Adam, he added savagely, “Get you
with him, you old dog!”
“Is ‘old dog’ my reward?” said Adam sadly. “Most true, I have lost my
teeth in your service. God be with my old master! He would not have
spoken such a word.”
But Oliver had a plan for getting rid of this younger brother, and
that without expending a thousand crowns. Charles, the wrestler of
the usurping Duke, was to show his skill the following day at Court,
and Oliver knew it was Orlando’s intention to try a match with this
famous athlete. This report had also privately reached the ears of
the wrestler. Charles was a most powerful opponent, deadly in skill
and strength. Being a friend of Oliver’s, and not wishing to harm the
young Orlando, he came to Oliver’s house to warn him to dissuade his
brother from making the attempt, or at least to let him know, in the
event of any injury happening to Orlando, that it would be entirely of
the boy’s own seeking, and altogether against Charles’s will.
Oliver thanked Charles for his kind thought, and said he had himself
tried by every means to dissuade Orlando, but that he was resolute.
“I tell you, Charles, he is the stubbornest young fellow in France,”
Oliver said maliciously, “full of ambition, envious of every man’s
good parts, a secret and villainous contriver against me, his own
brother. Therefore use your discretion. I had as lief you broke his
neck as his finger. And you had better be on your guard, for if you do
him any slight disgrace, or if he fails to win glory for himself, he
will practise against you by poison, entrap you by some treacherous
device, and never leave you till he has taken your life by some
indirect means or other. For I assure you--and I speak it almost with
tears--there is no one living at this day so young and so villainous.”
Charles was naturally shocked to hear such a bad account of Orlando.
“I am heartily glad I came to you,” he said. “If he comes to-morrow
I’ll give him his payment;” and away he went, vowing to punish Orlando.
“Now I’ll stir up the youngster,” thought Oliver. “I hope I shall soon
see the end of him, for, though I don’t know why, I have an absolute
hatred of the boy. Yet he is gentle; never schooled, and yet learned;
full of noble device; enchantingly beloved by everyone--indeed, so
much in the hearts of all, especially of my own people, that I am
altogether thrown in the shade. But it shall not be so long; this
wrestler will put all right. Nothing remains but to make the boy more
eager for the wrestling, and that I’ll go and do at once.”