Junior High School Literature, Book 1Elson, William H. (William Harris)
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Junior High School Literature, Book 1
Elson, William H. (William Harris)
American literature; English literature; Readers
Ganymede and Aliena were strangely surprised to find the name of Rosalind
carved on the trees, and love-sonnets, fastened to them, all addressed
to Rosalind; and while they were wondering how this could be, they met
Orlando, and they perceived the chain which Rosalind had given him about
his neck.
Orlando little thought that Ganymede was the fair princess Rosalind, who,
by her noble condescension and favor, had so won his heart that he passed
his whole time in carving her name upon the trees, and writing sonnets
in praise of her beauty; but being much pleased with the graceful air of
this pretty shepherd-youth, he entered into conversation with him, and he
thought he saw a likeness in Ganymede to his beloved Rosalind, but that
he had none of the dignified deportment of that noble lady; for Ganymede
assumed the forward manners often seen in youths when they are between
boys and men, and with much archness and humor talked to Orlando of a
certain lover, “who,” said he, “haunts our forest, and spoils our young
trees with carving, ‘Rosalind,’ upon their barks; and he hangs odes upon
hawthorns and elegies on brambles, all praising this same Rosalind. If I
could find this lover, I would give him some good counsel that would soon
cure him of his love.”
Orlando confessed that he was the fond lover of whom he spoke, and asked
Ganymede to give him the good counsel he talked of. The remedy Ganymede
proposed, and the counsel he gave him, was that Orlando should come every
day to the cottage where he and his sister Aliena dwelt. “And then,” said
Ganymede, “I will feign myself to be Rosalind, and you shall feign to
court me in the same manner as you would do if I was Rosalind, and then I
will imitate the fantastic ways of whimsical ladies to their lovers, till
I make you ashamed of your love; and this is the way I propose to cure
you.” Orlando had no great faith in the remedy, yet he agreed to come
every day to Ganymede’s cottage, and feign a playful courtship; and every
day Orlando visited Ganymede and Aliena, and Orlando called the shepherd
Ganymede his Rosalind, and every day talked over all the fine words and
flattering compliments which young men delight to use when they court
their mistresses. It does not appear, however, that Ganymede made any
progress in curing Orlando of his love for Rosalind.
Though Orlando thought all this was but a sportive play (not dreaming
that Ganymede was his very Rosalind), yet the opportunity it gave him of
saying all the fond things he had in his heart, pleased his fancy almost
as well as it did Ganymede’s, who enjoyed the secret jest in knowing
these fine love-speeches were all addressed to the right person.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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