"Truly," said Wamba, without stirring from the spot, "I have consulted

my legs upon this matter, and they are altogether of opinion, that

to carry my gay garments through these sloughs, would be an act of

unfriendship to my sovereign person and royal wardrobe; wherefore,

Gurth, I advise thee to call off Fangs, and leave the herd to their

destiny, which, whether they meet with bands of travelling soldiers,

or of outlaws, or of wandering pilgrims, can be little else than to

be converted into Normans before morning, to thy no small ease and

comfort."

"The swine turned Normans to my comfort!" quoth Gurth; "expound that

to me, Wamba, for my brain is too dull, and my mind too vexed, to read

riddles."

"Why, how call you those grunting brutes running about on their four

legs?" demanded Wamba.

"Swine, fool, swine," said the herd, "every fool knows that."

"And swine is good Saxon," said the Jester; "but how call you the sow

when she is flayed, and drawn, and quartered, and hung up by the heels,

like a traitor?"

"Pork," answered the swine-herd.

"I am very glad every fool knows that too," said Wamba, "and pork, I

think, is good Norman-French; and so when the brute lives, and is in

the charge of a Saxon slave, she goes by her Saxon name; but becomes a

Norman, and is called pork, when she is carried to the Castle-hall to

feast among the nobles; what dost thou think of this, friend Gurth, ha?"

"It is but too true doctrine, friend Wamba, however it got into thy

fool's pate."

"Nay, I can tell you more," said Wamba, in the same tone; "there is old

Alderman Ox continues to hold his Saxon epithet, while he is under the

charge of serfs and bondsmen such as thou, but becomes Beef, a fiery

French gallant, when he arrives before the worshipful jaws that are

destined to consume him. Mynheer Calf, too, becomes Monsieur de Veau

in the like manner; he is Saxon when he requires tendance, and takes a

Norman name when he becomes matter of enjoyment."

"By St Dunstan," answered Gurth, "thou speakest but sad truths; little

is left to us but the air we breathe, and that appears to have been

reserved with much hesitation, solely for the purpose of enabling us to

endure the tasks they lay upon our shoulders. The finest and the fattest

is for their board; the loveliest is for their couch; the best and

bravest supply their foreign masters with soldiers, and whiten distant

lands with their bones, leaving few here who have either will or the

power to protect the unfortunate Saxon. God's blessing on our master

Cedric, he hath done the work of a man in standing in the gap; but

Reginald Front-de-Boeuf is coming down to this country in person, and we

shall soon see how little Cedric's trouble will avail him.--Here, here,"

he exclaimed again, raising his voice, "So ho! so ho! well done, Fangs!

thou hast them all before thee now, and bring'st them on bravely, lad."




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