THE TALE OF BALEN
11
Again she spake: 'No need to set
The might that man has matched not yet
Against it; he whose hand shall get
Grace to release the bonds that fret
My bosom and my girdlestead
With little strain of strength or strife
Shall bring me as from death to life
And win to sister or to wife
Fame that outlives men dead.'
Then bade the king his knights assay
This mystery that before him lay
And mocked his might of manhood. 'Nay,'
Quoth she, 'the man that takes away
This burden laid on me must be
A knight of record clean and fair
As sunlight and the flowerful air,
By sire and mother born to bear
A name to shame not me.'
