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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=431380" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Muleteer</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE Lombard princes oft pervade my mind;<br>The present tale Boccace relates you'll find;<br>Agiluf was the noble monarch's name;<br>Teudelingua he married, beauteous dame,<br>The last king's widow, who had left no heir,<br>And whose dominions proved our prince's share.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">No Beauty round compare could with the queen;<br>And ev'ry blessing on the throne was seen,<br>When Cupid, in a playful moment, came,<br>And o'er Agiluf's stable placed his flame;<br>There left it carelessly to burn at will,<br>Which soon began a muleteer to fill,<br>With LOVE'S all-powerful, all-consuming fire,<br>That naught controls, and youthful breasts desire.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE muleteer was pleasing to the sight:<br>Gallant, good-humoured, airy, and polite,<br>And ev'ry way his humble birth belied;<br>A handsome person, nor was sense denied;<br>He showed it well, for when the youth beheld,<br>With eyes of love, the queen, who all excelled,<br>And ev'ry effort anxiously had made,<br>To stop the flames that would his heart invade;<br>When vain it proved, he took a prudent part:--</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WHO can, like Cupid, manage wily art?<br>Whate'er stupidity we may discern,<br>His pupils more within a day can learn,<br>Than MASTERS knowledge in the schools can gain,<br>Though they in study should ten years remain;<br>The lowest clown he presently inspires,<br>With ev'ry tendency that love requires;<br>Of this our present tale's a proof direct,<br>And none that feel--its truths will e'er suspect:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE am'rous muleteer his thoughts employed;<br>Consid'ring how his wish might be enjoyed.<br>Without success to certainty were brought,<br>Life seemed to him not worth a slender thought;<br>To hazard ev'ry thing; to live or die!<br>Possession have!--or in the grave to lie!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE Lombard custom was, that when the king,<br>Who slept not with his queen, (a common thing<br>In other countries too), desired to greet<br>His royal consort, and in bed to meet,<br>A night-gown solely o'er his back he threw,<br>And then proceeded to the interview,<br>Knocked softly at the door, on which a fair,<br>Who waited on the queen with anxious care,<br>Allowed the prince to enter; took his light,<br>(Which only glimmered in the midst of night,)<br>Then put it out, and quickly left the room:--<br>A little lantern to dispel the gloom,<br>With waxen taper that emitted rays--<br>In diff'rent countries various are their ways!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">OUR wily, prying, crafty muleteer,<br>Knew well these forms were current through the year:<br>He, like the king, at night himself equipped,<br>And to the queen's superb apartment slipped.<br>His face concealed the fellow tried to keep;<br>The waiting dame was more than half asleep;<br>The lover got access:--soon all was clear;<br>The prince's coming he had but to fear,<br>And, as the latter had, throughout the day,<br>The chase attended an extensive way,<br>'Twas more than probable he'd not be led,<br>(Since such fatigue he'd had,) to quit his bed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">PERFUMED, quite neat, and lively as a bird,<br>Our spark (safe entered) uttered not a word.<br>'Twas often customary with the king,<br>When state affairs, or other weighty thing,<br>Displeasure gave, to take of love his fill,<br>Yet let his tongue the while continue still.<br>A singularity we needs must own,<br>With this the wife was long familiar grown.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">OUR am'rous wight more joys than one received,<br>If our narrator of the tale's believed;<br>(In bed a muleteer is worth three kings,<br>And value oft is found in humble things.)<br>The queen began to think her husband's rage<br>Had proved a stimulus such wars to wage,<br>And made him wond'rous stout in pleasure's sport,<br>Though all the while his thoughts were-'bout the court.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WITH perfect justice Heav'n its gifts bestows;<br>But equal talents all should not compose.<br>The prince's virtues doubtless were designed,<br>To take command, and govern o'er mankind.<br>The lawyer, points of difficulty views,<br>Decides with judgment, and the truth pursues.<br>In Cupid's scenes the muleteer succeeds:--<br>Each has his part:--none universal meeds.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WITH pleasures feasted, our gallant retired,<br>Before the morn fresh blushes had acquired.<br>But scarcely had he left the tender scene,<br>'Ere king Agiluf came to see his queen,<br>Who much surprise expressed, and to him said:<br>My dear, I know your love, but from this bed,<br>You'll recollect how recently you went,<br>And having wonders done, should be content.<br>For heav'n's sake, consider more your health;<br>'Tis dearer far to me than Croesus' wealth.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WITHIN the royal breast suspicions rose,<br>But nothing then the monarch would disclose.<br>He instantly withdrew without a word;<br>His sentiments to speak had been absurd,<br>And to the stable flew, since he believed<br>The circumstances, which his bosom grieved,<br>Whate'er mysterious doubts might then appear,<br>Proceeded from some am'rous muleteer.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WHEN round the dorture he began to creep,<br>The troop appeared as if dissolved in sleep,<br>And so they truly were, save our gallant,<br>Whose terrors made him tremble, sigh, and pant:<br>No light the king had got; it still was dark;<br>Agiluf groped about to find the spark,<br>Persuaded that the culprit might be known,<br>By rapid beating of the pulse alone.<br>The thought was good; to feel the prince began,<br>And at the second venture, found his man,<br>Who, whether from the pleasures he'd enjoyed,<br>Or fear, or dread discov'ry to avoid,<br>Experienced (spite of ev'ry wily art,)<br>At once quick beating of the pulse and heart.<br>In doubt how this adventure yet might end,<br>He thought to seem asleep would him befriend.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">MEANWHILE the king, though not without much pains,<br>Obtained the scissors used for horses' manes.<br>With these, he said, I'll mark the fond gallant,<br>That I may know again the one I want.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">THE monarch from the muleteer with care,<br>In front, snipt off a bulky lock of hair.<br>This having done, he suddenly withdrew;<br>But carelessly away the trophy threw;<br>Of which the sly gallant advantage took,<br>And thus the prince's subtle project shook;<br>For instantly began our artful spark,<br>His fellow servants like himself to mark.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">WHEN day arrived the monarch was surprised,<br>To see each muleteer alike disguised;<br>No hair in front of either now was seen;<br>Why, how is this? said he: What can it mean?<br>Fifteen or more, if I believe my sight,<br>My wife has satisfied this very night.<br>Well! well! he'll now escape if mum he prove;<br>But there again I trust he ne'er shall move.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=La+Fontaine">La Fontaine</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=431380" data-title="The Muleteer de La Fontaine" data-description="THE Lombard princes oft pervade my mind;
The present tale Boccace relates you'll find;
Agiluf was the noble monarch's name;
Teudelingua he married, beauteous dame,
The last king's widow, who had left no heir,
And whose dominions proved our prince'..."></div>
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