As beseems that a hero be fostered was he nurtured with diligent heed;
But his own heart still was a wellspring of faith and of knightly deed,
That by him was the land of his father as with gold of a diadem crowned,
For in all the deeds of kingfolk all-kingly was he found.
And by this so great was he waxen that to halls of kings must he fare:
Glad-faced did the earls look on him, and dame and damsel there
Sore longed to behold him wending thitherward evermore,
And their eyes unto his shone welcome, and he knew the love they bore.
Ever that child of princes rode girt by a henchman-ring,
And in lovely-woven raiment of his mother’s fashioning;