The heremite held up bothe his honde
An thonked God of al His sonde,
And bar that child in to his chapel,
And for joie he rong his bel.
He dede up the gloven and the tresour
And cristned the child with gret honour:
In the name of the Trinité,
He hit nemnede Degarre,
Degarre nowt elles ne is
But thing that not never what hit is,
Other thing that is neggh forlorn also;
Forthi the schild he nemnede thous tho.
The heremite that was holi of lif
Hadde a soster that was a wif;
A riche marchaunt of that countré
Hadde hire ispoused into that cité.
To hire that schild he sente tho
Bi his knave, and the silver also,
And bad here take gode hede
Hit to foster and to fede,
And yif God Almighti wolde
Ten yer his lif holde,
Ayen to him hi scholde hit wise:
He hit wolde tech of clergise.
The litel child Degarre
Was ibrout into that cité.
The wif and hire loverd ifere
Kept his ase hit here owen were.
Bi that hit was ten yer old,
Hit was a fair child and a bold,
Wel inorissched, god and hende;
Was non betere in al that ende.
He wende wel that the gode man
Had ben his fader that him wan,
And the wif his moder also,
And the hermite his unkel bo;
And whan the ten yer was ispent,
To the hermitage he was sent,
And he was glad him to se,
He was so feir and so fre.
He taughte him of clerkes lore
Other ten wynter other more;
And when he was of twenti yer,
Staleworth he was, of swich pouer
That ther ne wan man in that lond
That o breid him might astond.
Tho the hermite seth, withouten les,
Man for himself that he wes,
Staleworht to don ech werk,
And of his elde so god a clerk,
He tok him his florines and his gloves
That he had kept to hise bihoves.
Ac the ten pound of starlings
Were ispended in his fostrings.
He tok him the letter to rede,
And biheld al the dede.
"O leve hem, par charité,
Was this letter mad for me?"
Ye, bi oure Lord, us helpe sschal!
Thus hit was," and told him al. | Both his hands he did raise
The hermit, thanking God with praise,
Into the chapel bore the boy,
And rang the holy bells for joy.
Putting the gloves and treasure away,
He christened with child without delay:
In the name of the Three-in-One
"Degare" he named this son,
For "Degare," this name of his,
Means "One who knows not who he is"
Or "Something that was almost lost";
Thus, with this name the child was crossed.
A holy life the hermit led.
He had a sister who was wed
To a merchant and they did dwell
In a city where they lived quite well.
Shortly the child to her was sent
With the silver that was meant
To care for it. He told her there
To feed and raise the child with care,
And if God the child allowed
Ten years of life, the hermit vowed
That he himself the child would raise,
Instructing him in holy ways.
Brought into the city with care
Degare now grew up there.
The hermit's sister with her loved one
Brought him up as their own son.
By the time he was ten-years old,
He was a child fair and bold,
Courteous, kind, and nourished well;
The best that did in that region dwell.
He well believed, that his father
Was the merchant and his mother
The merchant's wife, the hermit too
He assumed to be his uncle true.
For ten years he with them sojourned,
Then to the hermit's house returned,
Who received the child with joy,
For fair and noble was the boy.
As ten more winters passed them by,
The hermit taught him doctrine high;
And when the boy reached twenty years
Stronger he was than all his peers,
Indeed, no one in all the land,
Against his blows could make a stand.
Then the hermit, the truth did speak
That the boy might his fortune seek:
For strong of arm and a sage
Scholar he was for his age.
The hermit returned the gloves and gold
That he had guarded in his household
Except for the sum of ten pounds sterling
Which had been spent on the fostering.
The letter he gave the boy to read
And thus he found out all, indeed.
"For the sake of charity,
Dear uncle, was this letter for me?"
"Yes, by our Lord, who helps us so!"
All he told so the boy would know. |
