A heathen king was therein,
That Christendom came to win,
His power was full wide.’”
“The king, of course, plays the part of the cruel ship-captain,” said Herbert.
“Yes. Seven days’ hunger drives the knight and his lady to the sultan’s galley, to ask for bread: taken for spies, they are at first driven off, until the noble stature of the knight, and the fair complexion of the wife, ‘bright as a blossom on a tree,’ convince the Saracens that their piteous tale is true. To the knight the sultan offers rank, honors, and wealth, if he will renounce Christianity and fight under the Moslem banners. Sir Isumbras refuses, and renews his petition for bread. Then, continues the poet,
“‘The sultan beheld that lady there,
Him thought an angel that she were,
Comen a-down from heaven:
Man—I will give thee gold and fee,
An thou that woman will sellen me,