Read Online Delphi Works of Ford Madox Ford (Illustrated) by Ford Madox Ford - Free Book Online

prize.’
    But the Prince only answered:
    ‘Oh, your Majesty!’ and her Majesty flushed a little at his reply.
    So they went on again in silence, and the road began to get fuller and fuller of people, and the Princess had her time so taken up by managing her ponies — for she was driving herself, you know — that she could not say much.
    However, just as they reached the entry she said:
    ‘By the bye, what seat have you got?’
    ‘I believe they’ve given me a seat over on the south side,’ he answered.
    ‘Dear me, how careless of them. Why, you’ll have the sun in your face all the time you’re not tilting, and it will give you such a headache. You’d better come into the Royal Box — they’ve got an awning over that, and you’ll be able to see much better. Do come.’
    So the Prince gave his horse to his page and went with the Princess and the Owl — for you must remember that the Owl was always perched on her shoulder.
    The lists were very gay with horses, and knights, and heralds, and many and great were the knights that intended to tilt. They had come from the uttermost parts of the world — from Kensington, from Nubia, from — well, from everywhere, for you see they did not get the chance of fighting for a princess every day. So you may imagine how many suitors there were. Nearly a thousand came, but a good many of them were not considered handsome enough, so they either went away in a tiff or else they stayed to look on. Still it would take a good three days before the last man had tilted.
    The entrance of the Princess was the signal for the music to begin, and the procession of knights filed past, each one bowing to the Princess and making his horse perform feats of skill. And then the tournament began and the knights charged each other, each in their turn. The way they managed it was for each knight to throw lots for the order of their fighting, and then they were to be divided into two bodies — the challengers and those to be challenged; and as it came to the turn of each challenger, he rode out and touched the shield of the knight on the other side with whom he wished to fight, and then the victors were to fight it out among themselves until they were all finished except one.
    The Prince of India happened to be one of the challengers, and his turn did not come until the afternoon. So during the morning he sat in the Royal Box talking to the Princess or to the lords and maids in waiting.
    But the Princess did not seem to enjoy the gentle and joyous passages of arms at all, for you see she was very soft-hearted, and did not like to see the knights knocked off their horses so very roughly. So, on the whole, she was not nearly so gay as the Prince, and indeed, she seemed very unhappy when he went to put on his panoply as his turn came near.
    However, he soon afterwards came into the lists dressed in his full armour, and you may be sure he looked very splendid, mounted on his black horse — for his armour was entirely of silver, and his shield shone so brightly that it hurt one’s eyes to look at it, and his long plumes floated in the wind a great many yards behind him.
    The spectators cheered him very much as he caracoled from one end of the lists to the other, and the Princess quite brightened up as she saw him.
    ‘I wonder whose shield he’s going to touch?’ she said to herself; and when she saw who it was she said:
    ‘Good gracious me! he’s challenged the Knight of Sarragos; why, he’s the greatest knight in the world. Oh dear, I’m sure the Prince will be beaten.’
    However, the knights were now going each to his own station at different ends of the lists. The horses seemed quite as excited as the knights, and they champed their bits and foamed and pawed up the ground, while the heralds read the challenge from the Prince of India to the Knight of Sarragos.
    It seemed as if the Princess was right about the strength of the Knight, for he was of enormous size, and he looked a veritable