Page:As You Like It (1919) Yale.djvu/98

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But kindness, nobler ever than revenge,

And nature, stronger than his just occasion,

Made him give battle to the lioness,

Who quickly fell before him: in which hurtling

From miserable slumber I awak'd.

Cel. Are you his brother?

Ros.Was it you he rescu'd?

Cel. Was 't you that did so oft contrive to kill him?

Oli. 'Twas I; but 'tis not I. I do not shame

To tell you what I was, since my conversion

So sweetly tastes, being the thing I am.

Ros. But, for the bloody napkin?

Oli.By and by.

When from the first to last, betwixt us two,

Tears our recountments had most kindly bath'd,

As how I came into that desert place:—

In brief, he led me to the gentle duke,

Who gave me fresh array and entertainment,

Committing me unto my brother's love;

Who led me instantly unto his cave,

There stripp'd himself; and here, upon his arm

The lioness had torn some flesh away,

Which all this while had bled; and now he fainted,

And cried, in fainting, upon Rosalind.

Brief, I recover'd him, bound up his wound;

And, after some small space, being strong at heart,

He sent me hither, stranger as I am,

To tell this story, that you might excuse

His broken promise; and to give this napkin,

Dy'd in his blood, unto the shepherd youth

That he in sport doth call his Rosalind.

 130 kindness: tenderness

131 just occasion: provocation

133 hurtling: clashing tumult

136 contrive: plot

142 recountments: recitals

152 recover'd: brought back to consciousness 