Page:Stories from Old English Poetry-1899.djvu/236

212 of all things about which the outside world was busy.

When they wished for food, the wood was full of birds, and game of all kinds; the antlered deer ran freely in its thick recesses; close by the forest, a small river flowed among clustering trees, in whose depths sported abundance of fish; the shepherds, whose cottages were built on the outskirts of the forest, furnished them with milk, and fruits, and vegetables, so that they lacked for nothing which could please or tempt the appetite. When it was cold or stormy, they made tents of thick boughs, to protect them from the weather; and at night their beds of leaves yielded them sweetest slumbers. The forest was indeed a delightful dwelling-place, better than any royal abode, for they lived there a happy and natural life, free from care; while in the palace, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”

The outlawed Duke had a daughter left in the court of his usurping brother, after whom his heart constantly yearned; so that, more than all his other misfortunes, this remembrance of her cast a shadow over his life. Most men would have been morose and bitter under all his wrongs, but the Duke was so sweet and gentle of spirit, so in harmony with the nature amid which he lived, that he could hear teachings of