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PEER
- Make a beast of a man!
THE OLD MAN
- Nay, my son, you mistake;
- I make you a mannerly wooer, no more.
- A bright orange bow we'll allow you to wear,
- and that passes here for the highest of honours.
PEER [reflectively].
- It's true, as the saying goes: Man's but a mote.
- And it's wisest to follow the fashion a bit.
- Tie away!
THE OLD MAN
- You're a tractable fellow, I see.
THE COURTIER
- just try with what grace you can waggle and whisk it!
PEER [peevishly].
- Ha, would you force me to go still further?
- Do you ask me to give up my Christian faith?
THE OLD MAN
- No, that you are welcome to keep in peace.
- Doctrine goes free; upon that there's no duty;
- it's the outward cut one must tell a troll by.
- If we're only at one in our manners and dress,
- you may hold as your faith what to us is a horror.
PEER
- Why, in spite of your many conditions, you are
- a more reasonable chap than one might have expected.
THE OLD M
