Page:Oedipus, King of Thebes (Murray 1911).djvu/42

Rh

Oh, riddles everywhere and words of doubt!

Aye. Thou wast their best reader long ago.

Laugh on. I swear thou still shalt find me so.

That makes thy pride and thy calamity.

I have saved this land, and care not if I die.

Then I will go.—Give me thine arm, my child.

Aye, help him quick.—To see him there makes wild

My heart. Once gone, he will not vex me more.

I fear thee not; nor will I go before

That word be spoken which I came to speak.

How canst thou ever touch me?—Thou dost seek

With threats and loud proclaim the man whose hand

Slew Laïus. Lo, I tell thee, he doth stand

Here. He is called a stranger, but these days

Shall prove him Theban true, nor shall he praise

His birthright. Blind, who once had seeing eyes,

Beggared, who once had riches, in strange guise,