“I looked at Lisa as she rode her mount at yesternoon, and saw her skirt the road with anxious eyes. Dost know for whom she sought, Beppo? Not me, who, breathless, watched behind a flowering bush to hide my ugliness. Now laugh, Beppo, and prove thou art the fool’s!
“But ’neath these stripes of color I did feel new strength, and saw me strided on a black beside her there. And, Beppo, knave, thou didst but rattle at thy chain, and lo, the shrinking of my dream!
“But we do limp quite merrily, and could we sing our song in truer measure—thou the mimic, and I the fool? Thine eyes hold more for me than all the world, since hers do see me not.
“We two together shall flatten ’neath the tree in yonder field and ride the clouds, Beppo, I promise ye, at after hour of noon.
“See! Tonio has slid the shutter’s bolt! I’ll spin a song and bart him for a sup.”
(Tonio) “So, baggage, thou hast slept aneath the smell thou lovest best!”
(Fool) “Oh, morrow, Tonio. The smell is weak as yester’s unsealed wine. My tank doth tickle with the dust of rust, and yet methinks thou would’st see my slattern stays to rattle like dry bones, to please thee. See, Beppo cryeth! Fetch me then a cup that I may catch the drops—or, here, I’ll milk the dragon o’er thy door!”
(Tonio) “Thou scrapple! Come within. ’Tis he who loveth not the fool who doth hate his God.”
(Fool) “I’m loth to leave my chosen company. Come, Beppo, his words are hard, but we do know his heart.