Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Adaptations; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Stories, plots, etc. -- Juvenile literature
Orlando went like a doe to find its fawn and give it food; and presently
returned, bringing Adam in his arms; and the duke said, "Set down your
venerable burthen; you are both welcome:" and they fed the old man, and
cheered his heart, and he revived, and recovered his health and strength
again.
The duke inquired who Orlando was; and when he found that he was the son
of his old friend, Sir Rowland de Boys, he took him under his
protection, and Orlando and his old servant lived with the duke in the
forest.
Orlando arrived in the forest not many days after Ganymede and Aliena
came there, and (as has been before related) bought the shepherd's
cottage.
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 favour, 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 humour 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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