Then straitway from his bosome 25
A little wand he drew;
And with it eke a mantle
Of wondrous shepe, and hew.
"Now have thou here, king Arthur,
Have this here of mee, 30
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 35
Slye glaunced at his dame.
And first came lady Guenever,
The mantle she must trye.
This dame, she was new-fangled,
And of a roving eye. 40
When she had tane the mantle,
And all was with it cladde,
From top to toe it shiver'd down,
As tho' with sheers beshradde.
One while it was too long, 45
Another while too short,
And wrinkled on her shoulders
In most unseemly sort.
Now green, now red it seemed,
Then all of sable hue. 50
"Beshrew me, quoth king Arthur,
I think thou beest not true."
Down she threw the mantle,
Ne longer would not stay;
But storming like a fury, 55
To her chamber flung away.
She curst the whoreson weaver,
That had the mantle wrought:
And doubly curst the froward impe,
Who thither had it brought. 60
"I had rather live in desarts
Beneath the green-wood tree:
Than here, base king, among thy groomes,
The sport of them and thee."