THE FAERIE QUEENE by Edmund Spenser TO The ... - Planet.ee

www.TaleBooks.comUpon the Bulwarkes cruelly did play,That now it gan to threaten neare decay:And evermore their wicked CapitaynProvoked them the breaches to assay,Sometimes with threats, sometimes with hope of gayn,Which by the ransack of that peece they should attayn.XV. On th' other syde, th' assieged Castles wardTheir stedfast stonds did mightily maintaine,And many bold repulse and many hardAtchievement wrought, with perill and with payne,That goodly frame from ruine to sustaine:And those two brethren Gyauntes did defendThe walles so stoutly with their sturdie mayne,That never entraunce any durst pretend,But they to direfull death their groning ghosts did send.XVI. The noble Virgin, Ladie of the Place,Was much dismayed with that dreadful sight,For never was she in so evill cace,Till that the Prince, seeing her wofull plight,Gan her recomfort from so sad affright,Offring his service, and his dearest lifeFor her defence against that Carle to fight,Which was their chiefe and th' authour of that strife:She him remercied as the Patrone of her life.XVII. Eftsoones himselfe in glitterand armes he dight,And his well proved weapons to him hent;So, taking courteous conge, he behightThose gates to be unbar'd, and forth he went.Fayre mote he thee, the prowest and most gent,That ever brandished bright steele on hye!Whome soone as that unruly rablementWith his gay Squyre issewing did espye,They reard a most outrageous dreadfull yelling cry:XVIII. And therewithall attonce at him let flyTheir fluttring arrowes, thicke as flakes of snow,And round about him flocke impetuously,Like a great water flood, that tombling lowFrom the high mountaines, threates to overflowWith suddein fury all the fertile playne,And the sad husbandmans long hope doth throwAdowne the streame, and all his vowes make vayne;Nor bounds nor banks his headlong ruine may sustayne.XIX. Upon his shield their heaped hayle he bore,And with his sword disperst the raskall flockes,Which fled asonder, and him fell before;As withered leaves drop from their dryed stockes,When the wroth Western wind does reave their locks:And underneath him his courageous steed,The fierce Spumador, trode them downe like docks;Page 236 , Faerie Queene, The - Edmund Spenser