Britain ... - Blue-Lite

224 THE DEVOTED ONE. [Act V.
SCENE II. The grand Hall in the Palace.
Enter Canute and Attendants.
Bring forth the prisoners.
CANUTE.
Enter Zandagast and Ermingild, guarded.
Did we rightly hear
That ye had doomed your son to self-destruction,
A victim to your bloody gods ?
ZANDAGAST.
Thou didst :
And he, ere this, his mother's holy vow
Hath, like a true-born son of our brave race,
Nobly performed.
CANUTE.
So hasty in your guilt !
The deeper be your punishment. We look
With horror on you both. Ye Ve done a deed
So fearfully inhuman, that to us
Like ruthless fiends ye seem who have assumed
A mortal shape, that ye might on our realms
Bring down a heavy curse.
ERMIXGILD.
A blessing rather.
CANUTE.
Thou monster in the form of woman, peace !
ERMINGTLD.
Why should I hold my peace, when I have done
Nought, save what well behoved me ? Paid the gods
A debt of grateful honour, long their due,
And conquering all a mother's fondness, given