The Life and Death of Richard Yea-and-NayHewlett, Maurice
General
The Life and Death of Richard Yea-and-Nay
Hewlett, Maurice
Richard I, King of England, 1157-1199 -- Fiction
Harvest with them was seed-time with others. It was seed-time with the
Archduke. King Richard set up his household in the Castle (with a good
lodging for Jehane in the Street of the Camel); King Philip, miserably
ill, went to the house of the Templars; with him, sedulously his friend,
the Marquess of Montferrat. But Luitpold of Austria proposed himself for
the Castle, and Richard endured him as well as he could. But then
Luitpold went further. He set up his banner on the tower, side by side
with Richard's Dragon, meaning no offence at all. Now King Richard's way
was a short way. He had found the Archduke a burdensome ass, but no
more. The world was full of such; one must take them as part of the
general economy of Providence. But he knew his own worth perfectly well,
and his own standing in the host; so when they told him where the
Austrian's flag flew, he said, 'Take it down.' They took it down.
Luitpold grew red, made a long speech in German at which Richard
frowned, and another (shorter) in Latin, at which he laughed. Luitpold
put up his flag again; again Richard said, 'Take it down.' Luitpold was
so angry that he made no speeches at all; he ran up his flag a third
time. When King Richard was told, he laughed, and on this occasion said,
'Throw it away.' Gaston of Béarn, more vivacious than discreet, did so
with ignominious detail. That day there was a council of the great
estates, at which King Philip presided in a furred gown; for though the
weather was suffocating his fever kept him chill to the bones. To the
Marquess, pale with his old grudge, was now added the Archduke, flaming
with his new one. The mottled Duke of Burgundy blinked approval of all
grudges, and young Saint-Pol poured fire into the fire. Richard was not
present, nor any of his faction; they, because they had not been
advertised, he, because he was in the Street of the Camel at the knees
of Jehane the Fair.
The Archduke began on the instant. 'By God, my lords,' he said, 'is
there in the world a beast more flagrant than the King of England not
killed already?' The Marquess showed the white rims of his eyes--'
Injurious, desperate, bloody villain,' was his commentary; and Saint-Pol
lifted up his hand to his master for leave to speak mischief. But King
Philip said fretfully, 'Well, well, we can all speak of something, I
suppose. He scorns me, he has always scorned me. He refuses me homage,
he shamed my sister; and now he takes the lead of me.'
The Marquess kept muttering to the table, 'Hopeless villain, hopeless
villain!' and the Archduke, after staring about him for sympathy,
claimed attention, if not that; for he brought his fist down with a
thump.
'By thunder, but I kill him!' he said deep in his throat. Saint-Pol came
running and kissed his knee, to Luitpold's great surprise.
Philip shivered in his furs. 'I must go home,' he fretted; 'I am smitten
to death. I must die in France.'
'Where is the King of England?' asked the, Marquess, knowing perfectly
well.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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