The leun stant on hille,
And he man hunten here,
Other thurg his nese smel
Smake that he negge,
Bi wile weie so he wile
To dele nither wenden,
Alle hise fet-steppes
After him he filleth,
Drageth dust with his stert
Ther he [dun] steppeth,
Other dust other deu,
That he ne cunne is finden,
Driueth dun to his den
Thar he him bergen wille.
All is man so is this erne [eagle],
Would[è] ye now listen,
Old in his[è] sinn[e]s derne [dark],
Or he becometh Christen.
The spelling is designedly modernised, but very slightly.
Maid[è] here thou mightst behold
This world[è]s love is but o res And is beset so fele-vold [manifoldly],
Fick|le and frack|le [frail] and wok | and les [weak and false].
Und|er mould | they li|eth [plural] cold
And fal|loweth [groweth yellow] as | doth mead|ow grass.
[63] It is sometimes asked by persons who should know better, "What has English prosody to do with these mostly un-English things?" The answer is simple—that these un-English things went largely, and essentially, to the making of English prosody.
[64] The poem commonly reputed as the oldest in French, St. Eulalia, is in something very like it, but was not followed up.