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

www.TaleBooks.comAnd th' utmost meanes of victory assay,Or th' utmost yssew of his owne decay.His owne good sword Mordure, that never fayldAt need till now, he lightly threw away,And his bright shield that nought him now avayld;And with his naked hands him forcibly assayld.XLII. Twixt his two mighty armes him up he snatcht,And crusht his carcas so against his brest,That the disdainfull sowle he thence dispatcht,And th' ydle breath all utterly exprest.Tho, when he felt him dead, adowne he kestThe lumpish corse unto the sencelesse grownd;Adowne he kest it with so puissant wrest,That backe againe it did alofte rebownd,And gave against his mother earth a gronefull sownd.XLIII. As when Joves harnesse-bearing Bird from hyeStoupes at a flying heron with proud disdayne,The stone-dead quarrey falls so forciblye,That yt rebownds against the lowly playne,A second fall redoubling backe agayne.Then thought the Prince all peril sure was past,And that he victor onely did remayne;No sooner thought, then that the Carle as fastGan heap huge strokes on him, as ere he down was cast.XLIV. Nigh his wits end then woxe th' amazed knight,And thought his labour lost, and travell vayne,Against this lifelesse shadow so to fight:Yet life he saw, and felt his mighty mayne,That, whiles he marveild still, did still him payne;Forthy he gan some other wayes advize,How to take life from that dead-living swayne,Whom still he marked freshly to arizeFrom th' earth, and from her womb new spirits reprize.XLV. He then remembered well, that had bene sayd,How th' Earth his mother was, and first him bore;She eke, so often as his life decayd,Did life with usury to him restore,And reysd him up much stronger than before,So soone as he unto her wombe did fall:Therefore to grownd he would him cast no more,Ne him committ to grave terrestriall,But beare him farre from hope of succour usuall.XLVI. Tho up he caught him twixt his puissant hands,And having scruzd out of his carrion corseThe lothfull life, now loosd from sinfull bands,Upon his shoulders carried him perforseAbove three furlongs, taking his full courseUntil he came unto a standing lake;Him thereinto he threw without remorse,Page 241 , Faerie Queene, The - Edmund Spenser