Page:The tale of Balen (IA taleofbalen00swin).pdf/23

 Again she spake: 'No need to set The might that man has matched not yet Against it; he whose hand shall get Grace to release the bonds that fret My bosom and my girdlestead With little strain of strength or strife Shall bring me as from death to life And win to sister or to wife Fame that outlives men dead.'

Then bade the king his knights assay This mystery that before him lay And mocked his might of manhood. 'Nay,' Quoth she, 'the man that takes away This burden laid on me must be A knight of record clean and fair As sunlight and the flowerful air, By sire and mother born to bear A name to shame not me.'