Kitap 11
Was ponnisht in the part that did offend for want of skill.
146
And so a slowe paaste Asses eares his heade did after beare.
This shame endevereth he to hyde. And therefore he did weare
A purple nyghtcappe ever since. But yit his Barber who
Was woont to notte him spyed it: and beeing eager to
Disclose it, when he neyther durst to utter it, nor could
It keepe in secret still, he went and digged up the mowld,
And whispring softly in the pit, declaard what eares hee spyde
His mayster have, and turning downe the clowre ageine, did hyde
His blabbed woordes within the ground, and closing up the pit
Departed thence and never made mo woordes at all of it.
Soone after, there began a tuft of quivering reedes to growe
Which beeing rype bewrayd theyr seede and him that did them sowe.
For when the gentle sowtherne wynd did lyghtly on them blowe,
They uttred foorth the woordes that had beene buried in the ground
And so reprovde the Asses eares of Midas with theyr sound.
Apollo after this revenge from Tmolus tooke his flyght:
194
And sweeping through the ayre, did on the selfsame syde alvght
Of Hellespontus, in the Realme of king Laomedon.
There stoode uppon the right syde of Sigaeum, and uppon
The left of Rhetye cliffe that tyme, an Altar buylt of old
To Jove that heereth all mennes woordes. Heere Phebus did behold
The foresayd king Laomedon beginning for to lay
Foundation of the walles of Troy: which woork from day to day
Went hard and slowly forward, and requyrd no little charge,
Then he togither with the God that rules the surges large,
Did put themselves in shape of men, and bargaynd with the king
Of Phrygia for a summe of gold his woork to end to bring.
Now when the woork was done, the king theyr wages them denayd,
And falsly faaste them downe with othes it was not as they sayd.
Thou shalt not mock us unrevendgd (quoth Neptune). And anon
He caused all the surges of the sea to rush uppon
The shore of covetous Troy, and made the countrye like the deepe.
The goodes of all the husbandmen away he quight did sweepe,
And overwhelmd theyr feeldes with waves. And thinking this too small
A pennance for the falsehod, he demaunded therwithall
His daughter for a monster of the Sea. Whom beeing bound
Untoo a rocke, stout Hercules delivering saufe and sound,
Requyrd his steeds which were the hyre for which he did compound.
And when that of so great desert the king denyde the hyre.
