Ipomedon in drei englischen bearbeitungen / hrsg. von Eugen Kölbing.

Now in this mean tyme had Ipomedon a messanger,
[line 20] that hight Egeon, the which he left all way in Calabre, to
herken tithandes prively all way of his ladie & to bring him
worde. And this Egeon, when he wist of this tournement,
sped him to Ipomedon in all the hast, that he might, and
told him, how the ladie of hire own desire & hire own list
[line 25] made crie such a tournement; & when he had herd that, he
was the ioyefullest man, that might be, & told Tholomew,
that he wald ordayn him for that tournement, & that he
wold goo serve the king of Cecile.

And then went he & ordaynt him in array in the
[line 30] maner of an hunter & toke a faire mvte of houndes with him
& an horn about his nek, & toke a faire maide, that was a
cosyn of his, and led hire bridle by the way. Also he ordant
Tholomew, to come a litle beforn him with his harnes, and
with him ordant he to come a tall yong man, sittyng on
[line 35] a white stede, all trapped in white, & with him a somer
with his harneis all white, that longed therto, for oon day.

And aftre him come an othre faire soired stede, trapped
all in reid, & all the harneis, that longed to him, all rede,
for the secund day.

[line 40] And aftre him come on othre on a faire blak stede &
all the harneis blak, that longed to him, for the third day.
& then him self come the last, leding this gentil womans
bridle. And in this array rode he, to he come into a forest
in the lond of Cecile, fast by the citee of Palerne, there the
[line 45] king dwelled; & on that same day happened, that the king
was in the same forest on huntyng & had left his men ychoon,
save only his nevew Capanius & an othre man, & in the same
tyme come Ipomedon riding in the same array, that I told
before, & the king herd noys of hors by the way & had
[line 50] mervaill, what it might be.

For he se neuer ere knight lede harneis by the way,
for it was the guyse in that tyme, a knight, that went to
seke aventures, shuld goo & come alloon withoute more felaw∣shipp,
& then the king sent Campanius, [f. 95a.] to see, what thei
[line 5] were, & Campanius come and asked, whens he was and whedre
he come for evell or goode, & he said, nay, he come fro far
contre, to speke with the king, if it liked him. And Cam∣panius
come to the king & said: "Sothlie, neuer, sith I was
born, se I so semely a man, as theire maister is, no so faire
[line 10] hors no so faire harneis ne so faire havkes no so faire houn∣des!"
& said, that the maister of theim come to speke with
the king, if it liked vnto him.

And the king went him self, to se theim, and Ipome∣don
spake to him and said, he was a man of a far contree
[line 15] & was comen thidre, to serve him, if it liked vnto him, and
[16 quene] quen auf rasur geschr. ] that gentle woman, his cosyn, he wold, were with the quene,
because that he had herd so much worshipp spoken on him
in all contrees, passing all othre men, "& if it like vnto you,
my seruice, I wolle serve you on a certan conant, that I
[line 20] wolle make with you!" And the king said, he was glad of
his seruice & wold withhold him with a goode will, bot if
his asking were the more vnresonable.

And then the king charged Campanius, to goo with
him into the citee of Palern and herbore him at the fairest
[line 25] place of all the tovn, & he did soo, and there Tholomew made
redy for sopere, and Ipomedon made Campanius to soupe with
him & made him goode chere, for his hert fell mich vnto
him, & cause, why: they were brethre as on the modre side,
bot neithre wist of othre.

[line 30] And so as they sat at soupere, Ipomedon toke a copp
of gold and drank vnto Campanius and praid him, to take
the copp of his gyft, & that they might be felaws as brethre
euermore aftre, and he toke of him this cupp and thanked
him & said, truly, he was glad & ioyfull, to haue company
[line 35] of him or to doo, that might be plesaunce to him.

And then aftre they went to the courte to gedre, to
speke with the king, & then Ipomedon spake to the king &
said, he wold serve him opon a certan conuaunt, that he
wold make with him, & elles noght; & the king answerd
[line 40] and said, bot if his asking were the more vnskyllfull, he
wold withhold him gladly. And he said agayn, if it liked
vnto him, he wold serve the quene so, that men shuld call
[43 dr. lay r.] roth unter∣strichen. ] him the quene derling, drwe lay roigne. And also more
ouer that he might goo with hire ich a tyme, that she shuld
[line 45] come fro the chambre to the hall, & kys hire oons, when he
come, & oons, whan he yede, & also he said, that he wold
doo noght elles, bot serve the quene & aftre goo on hawking
& on hunttyng, & if he wold not graunt him, he said,
certayn, he wold not serve him, ne that he was not so worthie
[line 50] [50 And] nd ms.] a king, as men of him said. And the king was wondre-wroth

with him and thoght, it was a wonderfull asking, & logh
him to scorn & wold have refused him, & Campanius con∣saled
him and prayd him, to graunt him & let him not passe
so, for, he said, certayn, he did it, for he wold not be knowen.

[line 5] And so the king graunt him, and he beleft with the
quene & his cosyn also, bot neuer might they know othre name
of him ne when he was, bot drue le roigne, & so served he
the quene a grete while, so that all men lufed him wondrely
[9 soueryanly ms. ] wele, & souraynly the quene loved him wele ouer all othre
[line 10] thing.

And he, euery day, when all men ordant theim, to
goo to the tournement, he went alway on huntyng, and [f. 95b.] euer∣more,
whan knightes spake of dedes of armes or turnementz,
[14 of] on ms. ] he spake euermore of hunting and of houndes, and if they
[line 15] spake of paramours, he spake of havkes, so that nooman
might parceyve, that he loved paramours nor othre man hed,
& thus vsed he all way, so that euery man logh him to
scorne & had grete pite, that in so semely a person was noo
bountie no manhode.