THE ROYAL HOUSE OF FRANCE - outriders poetry project

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© 2009 Max Wickert
Therefore many lords of both Greater and Lesser Armenia came to the tournament; and there also
came many lords of Greece, among whom was King Marcabrun of Apollonia, a city that lies on the
Black Sea and whose domain extends toward the river Danube and in Eastern Rome from the
Danube to just beyond Constantinople.
That King Marcabrun came by sea, and with his great navy sailed through the Dardanelles, and
passed the Aegean Archipelago; then hugging the coast of the Peloponnesus and the island of
Cyprus, he reached the harbor of Armenias with ten ships laden with knights-at-arms. King Armin
did great honor to him, and, the day of the tournament having arrived, a tourney-ground was
constructed in the courtyard where there should be jousting, with blunted lances. Drusiana was to
stay on a balcony of the palace accompanied by many ladies.
That morning Bevis, seeing dinner made ready in the great hall of the palace, was afraid that he
would have to serve Drusiana. So he took Swallowtail, saddled him, took up a sickle for cutting
herbage, and rode on Swallowtail with other reapers to the outskirts of the city to cut fodder. And
there were more than two-hundred reapers in Bevis’ company.
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When the reaping was done, all of them loaded their burdens upon their horses, and Bevis looked
on with great pleasure. When each man had loaded his burden, Bevis did likewise. Twelve burdens
were loaded where Bevis stood and the others were scattered in diverse places about the
countryside, but all now were gathered around him, he being the most honored among them since
he served the king. Bevis now took up handful of long sheaves and fashioned a garland of hay for
himself. And loading his burden which consisted of two large sheaves and one smaller one, he