THE KING

OF TARS
• “A, mightful Mahoun,” he gan to seyn,
“And Ternagaunt, of michel meyn,
 In you was never no gile.
Seyn Jubiter and Apolin,
Astirot and Seyn Jovin,
Help now in this perile.”
“O mighty Mohammed,” he began,
“And powerful Tervagaunt, no man
 Of honor have you betrayed.
Saint Jupiter and Apolin,Asteroth and Saint
Jovin, I call upon you for aid!
• Sche kist Mahoun and Apolin,
Astirot and Sir Jovin.
 For drede of wordes awe,
And while sche was in the temple
Of Ternagant and Jubiter,
Sche lerd the hethen lawe. (496-501)
And thei sche al the lawes couthe
And seyd hem openliche with hir mouthe,
 Jhesu forgat sche nought. (502-504)
She kissed Mahoun and Apolin,
Astiroth and Sir Jovin, 
Fearing each visage stern.
And while she was in the temple there
Of Tervagant and Jupiter, 
The heathen law she learned. (496-501)
But though the doctrines soon she knew,
And chanted them, it wasn’t
true, For Jesus she never forgot. (502-504)

“O dame,” he seyd biforn,
“Ogain mi godes thou art forsworn!
     With right resoun Y preve
The childe that is here of thee born
Bothe lim and lith it is forlorn
     Alle thurth thi fals bileve!
“Oh, dame,” he said,
“I see from this
That about my gods you’ve been remiss 
And lied to me, I perceive.
This little child of thee was born
Lacking his limbs and lies forlorn
 Because you don’t believe.

The lady replied to him from where

The levedi answerd and seyd tho,
She sadly lay in pain and care: 
Ther sche lay in care and wo,
“Dear sir, forsake that thought.
 “Leve sir, lat be that thought;
This child begotten between us two
The child was geten bitwen ous to.
 Is thus because of what you
For thi bileve it farth so,
 do—  By Him who has us wrought.
  Bi Him that ous hath wrought!
Wel lothe war a Cristen man
To wedde an hethen woman
     That leved on fals lawe;
Als loth was that soudan
To wed a Cristen woman,
     As Y finde in mi sawe.
Dreadful it was for a Christian man
To marry a female Saracen
Who worshiped that heathen way;
But even worse for that sultan to wed
A chaste and faithful Christian maid, 
As I find in my lay.
 BAPTISM
The prest toke the flesche anon
And cleped it the name of Jon
In worthschip of the day.
And when that it cristned was
It hadde liif and lim and fas
 And crid with gret deray,
….
Feirer child might non be bore —
It no hadde never a lime forlore,
Wele schapen it was, withalle;
The priest took up that lump anon
And named it with the name of
John In honor of the day.
Once it was christened in God’s grace,
It then had life, and limbs and face, 
And cried in a normal way
….
A fairer child there could not be.
 No limb on him was lacking;
he Was finely shaped withal
“And bot thou wilt Mahoun forsake
And to Jhesu mi Lord thee take,
 That tholed woundes five
Anon thou do thee Cristen make
Thou might be ferd for sorwe and wrake
 While that thou art olive.
And yif thou were a Cristen man
Bothe weren thine,” sche seyd than,
 “Thi childe and eke thi wive.
When thou art dede, thou schalt wende
Into blis withouten ende,
 Thi joie may no man kithe.”
“Unless Mahoun you will forsake
And Jesus as your savior take
Who suffered woundings five— 
Unless you are christened, you will be
Threatened by sorrow and misery
 As long as you’re alive.
But if you become a Christian man,
Both will be yours,” she told the Soudan, “
Your child and I, your wife,
And when you die you’ll go,
as well,Into that bliss that none can tell, 
And everlasting life.
The Cristen prest hight Cleophas; Then when the priest who was called Cleophas
Christened the sultan of Damas
He cleped the soudan of Damas
And gave him his own name,
 After his owhen name.
That ugly black skin, head to toe,
His hide that blac and lothely was
Through grace of God, turned white as snow,
Al white bicom thurth Godes gras
 And clear, with no more blame.
 And clere withouten blame.
On seeing his skin turn black to white,
And when the soudan seye that sight,
The sultan believed in God’s great might. 
Than leved he wele on God almight;
His former sorrow became
 His care went to game. Rejoicing when the priest had prayed
And when the prest hadde alle yseyd And on him the holy water laid.
And haly water on him leyd,
To chaumber thai went ysame.
For me were slawe knightes thro,
Thritti thousende and seven.
Forthi Y wil suffre no lenger thrawe
That Cristen folk be for me slawe,
With the grace of God in Heven.”
Thus, the maiden with wordes stille
Brought hem bothe in better wille
With resoun right and even.
Some thirty-thousand of 
Your nobles, all good Christian men.
I don’t want to cause such strife
again, By grace of God above.”
Thus the maiden with quiet speech
Persuaded her parents, until they
each Could see the sense thereof.
Thritti thousende ther were take The thirty thousand they took back
 Of Saracens both blue and black 
Of Sarrains bothe blo and blac
Were into dungeons thrown,
     And don in his prisoun.
And those who chose then to forswear 
And he that wald his lay forsake,
Their faith were baptized then and there, 
Cristen men he lete him make
With great devotion shown.
     With gret devocioun.
But those who said they’d rather not
And thai that wald be cristned nought,
Into a special place were brought
Into a stede thai weren ybrought
 A mile outside of town,
     A mile withouten the toun
Where Christian men, without a shred
And Cristen men withouten wene Of doubt, struck off each fellow’s head
Striken off her hevedes al bidene.