A Boy.
Be still
I hear the crier's voice from down below!
A Girl.
He's wandered up and down the streets since dawn
And called until my blood runs cold!
The Boy.
Hush.
The Girl.
Hark!
Voice of the Crier (distant and ringing).
Today at noon, because King Mark has found
Her faithless and untrue, shall Queen Iseult
Be given to the lepers of Lubin,—
A gift to take or leave. And, furthermore,
Lord Tristram, who was once her paramour,
Transgressed King Mark's decree by entering
His realm. Whoever catches him and brings
Him quick or dead unto the King shall have
One hundred marks of gold for his reward.
'Tis good King Mark's decree that every one
Should hear and know these things that I have cried.
A Child.
Oh, I'm afraid! Will he come here, that man?
The Girl.
I know it all by heart, and still he cries!
A Man.
Ay, let him cry!
Another Man.
Lord Tristram, he's a fox;
To catch him they must have a good deep pit
Or else he'll scratch them so that all their lives
They'll think thereon.
A Girl.
Tristram's a noble lord,
I'd shield him an I could.