"He had a sash of silk
About his middle meet;
And thus with seemly curtesie
He did King Arthur greet:
"'God speed thee, brave King Arthur.
Thus feasting in thy bower,
And Guenever, thy goodly queen,
That fair and peerless flower.
"'Ye gallant lords and lordlings,
I wish you all take heed,
Lest what ye deem a blooming rose
Should prove a cankered weed.'
"Then straightway from his bosom
A little wand he drew;
And with it eke a mantle,
Of wondrous shape and hue.
"'Now have thou here, King Arthur,
Have this here of me,
And give unto thy comely queen,
All shapen as you see.
"'No wife it shall become,
That once hath been to blame.'
Then every knight in Arthur's court
Sly glanced at his dame.
"And first came Lady Guenever,
The mantle she must try.
This dame she was new-fangled, [1]
And of a roving eye.
"When she had taken the mantle,
And all with it was clad,
From top to toe it shivered down,
As though with shears beshred.
"One while it was too long,
Another while too short,
And wrinkled on her shoulders,
In most unseemly sort.
"Now green, now red it seemed,
Then all of sable hue;
'Beshrew me,' quoth King Arthur,
'I think thou be'st not true!'