Now have I certified thee of that thou stoodest in doubt. Then was
Solomon glad that there should come any such of his lineage; but ever
he marvelled and studied who that should be, and what his name might
be. His wife perceived that he studied, and thought she would know it
at some season; and so she waited her time, and asked of him the cause
of his studying, and there he told her altogether how the voice told
him. Well, said she, I shall let make a ship of the best wood and most
durable that men may find. So Solomon sent for all the carpenters of
the land, and the best. And when they had made the ship the lady said
to Solomon: Sir, said she, since it is so that this knight ought to
pass all knights of chivalry which have been to-fore him and shall come
after him, moreover I shall tell you, said she, ye shall go into Our
Lord’s temple, where is King David’s sword, your father, the which is
the marvelloust and the sharpest that ever was taken in any knight’s
hand. Therefore take that, and take off the pommel, and thereto make ye
a pommel of precious stones, that it be so subtly made that no man
perceive it but that they be all one; and after make there an hilt so
marvellously and wonderly that no man may know it; and after make a
marvellous sheath. And when ye have made all this I shall let make a
girdle thereto, such as shall please me.
All this King Solomon did let make as she devised, both the ship and
all the remnant. And when the ship was ready in the sea to sail, the
lady let make a great bed and marvellous rich, and set her upon the
bed’s head, covered with silk, and laid the sword at the feet, and the
girdles were of hemp, and therewith the king was angry. Sir, wit ye
well, said she, that I have none so high a thing which were worthy to
sustain so high a sword, and a maid shall bring other knights thereto,
but I wot not when it shall be, nor what time. And there she let make a
covering to the ship, of cloth of silk that should never rot for no
manner of weather. Yet went that lady and made a carpenter to come to
the tree which Abel was slain under. Now, said she, carve me out of
this tree as much wood as will make me a spindle. Ah madam, said he,
this is the tree the which our first mother planted. Do it, said she,
or else I shall destroy thee. Anon as he began to work there came out
drops of blood; and then would he have left, but she would not suffer
him, and so he took away as much wood as might make a spindle: and so
she made him to take as much of the green tree and of the white tree.
And when these three spindles were shapen she made them to be fastened
upon the selar of the bed. When Solomon saw this, he said to his wife:
Ye have done marvellously, for though all the world were here right
now, he could not devise wherefore all this was made, but Our Lord
Himself; and thou that hast done it wottest not what it shall betoken.
Now let it be, said she, for ye shall hear tidings sooner than ye ween.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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