The Three Kings' Sons. Part I. The Text / edited from its unique MS, Harleian 326, about 1500 A.D. by F.J. Furnivall

All three Princes ask Ferant's Leave to go home.

IN this wise, talke the thre felawes, and diuised the maner of their departyng / and howe they might haue leue / and arguyd sore amonges them / whethir was bettir to take leue to-gedre / or ellis eche one by hym self / But at the last, they concluded alle iij. to-gedre to take leue at their maister at ones / whan they might se him best at leiser. Thus withyn a day or ij. aftir, they waited on their maister at a soper / and aftir he had soped, they thre to-gedre besought him that they might speke with hym / and he, as abasshed, toke them a-part / thinkyng ther was som matier of displeasir / for neuir bifore had they desired to speke with him in suche, wise. Le Surnome spake for them alle, seyng in this wise / "My lorde! it is longe that we haue ben in your seruice, wherin we haue had suche wele, and so grete honour, that we can neuir suffice to deserue it / Natheles, in the mooste humble wise that we can, we thanke you," and therwith they kneled downe / and he made hem to rise vp agein / and Surnome tolde forth his tale, seyng, "my lorde, ye se nowe the estat of this Reaume in suche cace / thankid be oure lord, that there is no werre, to the grete honour of the Emperour / and his Recommendacion is spredde through the world / ye knowe wele the long [leaf 97] trewes that he hath taken / wherby he hath litil nede of folkes / And we be pore gentilmen straungers, whiche gladly wille drawe to oure pore frendes / for euery man aught to haue naturalle loue to fadir & modir / and thies thinges considered, we be affermed & constreyned, by reasone & honour, to drawe vs home, and departe out of this cuntre / wherfore, humbly we beseche you, to licence vs to departe with the fauour of your good lordshippe / whiche we moost desire, next the Emperour" / It is not to be douted that this desire was a greuous at fferauntes hert / as he had felt him sore

hurt with a spere / and not without cause / alle his honour was by them iij., ffor he knewe wele at this day he was the moost renomed knyght of the world / and forthwith felle the water in his yeen / and seide / "my dere frendes, wille ye leue me nowe / haue y done any thing that shold myscontent you with me / no, to my knowlage / and as for the warres of this Reaume, they ar not yet ended / trouthe it is that there is a trews / but that shalƚ not long endure / and whan the warres shal begynne agein / y wold not haue lost your company, for no good. and also whan the werres begynne / we shalle entre in-to their Reaume, where men shalle se many grete dedes of armes / and allas! so moche as y haue loued you / and so glad as y haue ben to encrece your honoures / hou be ye now content to departe fro me?" Le Surnome answerd, "my lord, we may haue leiser y-nough to be with oure frendes / and come agein or the warres begynne" / whan fferaunt herd his wordes & conclusion, he departed fro them, and seide, "that on the morowe he wolde speke more with them." It is no question if he were that night pensif and fulƚ of sorow. his folkes that were aboute him, sawe wele by him, that he hadde herd som thing that pleased him not / fferaunt toke his hors, and rode to the Emperour / and tolde him fulle sorrowfully thentent of his seruauntes / wherof the Emperour toke right grete sorowe & displeasir / and askid if any remedy were to witℏolde them / "trewly," said fferaunt, "nay" / "Than," seid the Emperour, "I shalƚ make them to be required be my wif, my doughter, and alle my ladies" / "fforsothe," seide fferaunt, "alle that botith not. But y auise me of one thing / It is so, that for the grete honour ye haue don them / they be gretly bounden vnto you; wherfor [leaf 97, bk.] ye may wille them, seyng the mariage of your doughter shalbe yn May come tweluemoneth, that eche of theim promyse you to do your pleasir to be here at that tyme; for they be your seruauntes / and euery seruaunt aught to honour maister / and so may ye require them that they do at that tyme / and whan they come agein, perauenture ye may so entrete them that they wille abide stille with you" / To this counselle agreed the Emperour / and yn this purpose departed fferaunt fro him / and went to his loggyng / and made that night as goode chere as he might / alƚ-though his hert were rigℏt sorowfulƚ / and on the morow, aftir he had dyned, came his thre seruauntes to him agein, to know his pleasir vpon the request they had made him the day bifore / fferaunt answerd them in this wise / "my frendes, notwithstandyng / that of your grete

goode wille and curtesy, ye haue done me such honour as to repute you my seruauntes / Natheles ye be not so, for y neuir held my self worthy, nor of suche honour, to haue the seruice of so noble men / hou be it, your company hath ben to me moost ioie / and fulle fayne wold y haue done you more honour / if it wold haue pleased you to take it. Neuirtheles, ye be nowe with the Emperour; and he had you in suche chierte, that he hath put you vnto his doughter / whiche is the thing in the worlde that he loueth moost / and hath grete cause so to do; for she is one þat can deserue loue, and the thanke of euery creature / and of thies two most ye take leue / and whan ye haue leue of them, ye and y shalle agree weƚƚ y-nough" / they answerd that they "purposed so to do / and that on the morowe, with the pleasir of god, they wold go to him; and as they had grete cause to thanke his grace of his grete honour and curtesie that he had shewed them / whiche was impossible for them euir to deserue" / so on the morowe they for-gate not, whan tyme was, to come to do their seruice to their maistresse as they were accostomed, whiche had herde of this matier / wherfore she was in grete trouble and annoye / and when she sawe them bifore hir at the table, she coude no[t] withholde the teres from hir yeen / In this dyner tyme, ete she nothing that did hir good / for wondrely wele loued she them. whan the Emperour had dyned, they iij. came to-gedre before him / and, as humbly as thei coude, thankid him of the grete wele and honour that, of his [leaf 98] grace, he had done them / and aftir shewed him, hou "by the grace of god, and of high and good prowesse, and of his suggetes, he had his hole Reaume peasibly; and for that cause they alle were concluded, by his licence, nowe to drawe agein to their cuntrees; for it was longe sith they sawe their frendes, or herd of them / whiche euery man of right aught to desire / wherfore they besought the Emperour that it might please him to gif them leve." The Emperour made them many grete desires to abide / and grete and large offres / but by no meane coude he remeue them from their purpose; and he sawe that / and in conclusion, he desired them to come agein to the tournay / that shold be made for the mariage of his doughter / and seide vnto them / "althougℏ that none of you iij. may tournay there, I shall make othir tournays and ffestes, where your worthynes shalbe showed with many othir noble men / and also ye know wele it is the custome, euery man to be redy with his seruice to his maister and maistresse at any suche ffeest, and ye be reteyned with hir / wherfore ye aught

in no wise than to faile hir" / Alle thre of one wille made hym promyse & othe, that if they were in helth and at their large, they wold not faile to be there agein at that day. On this condicioun the Emperour licenced them to departe. Thus toke they leve of him / and went to the Emperesse to take their leve; wherof she was right sory / & ther toke they their leve / and went to their maistres / and tolde hir hou they had taken leve bothe of the Emperour and of themperesse / and eueriche of them offred him-self to aventure body, liff, and goodes in hir seruice, for his pleasir and honour / This yong lady answerd them with fulle sorowfulle hert / "I pray god, my frendes, conduyte you, & sende you asmoche ioye and honour as eche of you is worthy to haue; and then shalle ye be largely sped / and that shalle alway be my prier" / and thus departed they out of the chambre / [alle folkes] when they herd here-of, wepte full sore, and sorowed / for wondrely wele were thies iij. felawes belouid with euery creature; neuirtheles it might noon othirwise be / Thies iij. felawes went to their loggynges til on̄ the morowe / Themperour sent eche of them iij. M.ƚ scutes and ij. coursers / and the faire lady, his doughter, sent eche of them a purs & a dyamant. In the mornyng toke they leve of alle their company / and eche of them toke leve of othir / whiche departynge was [leaf 98, bk.] right sorowfull, for eche of them loued othir as bretheren. Thus leue y them, euery man takyng his way / and retourne agein to the Emperour. [[Illumin.: Emperor's reception.]]