Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 1.djvu/541

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NOTES.
367

alty, but even his complete set of features in the posession of another, he boldly proceeded to treat the angel as an impostor, threatening him with the vengeance of the pope and of the emperor, who he thought could not fail of distinguishing the true from the fictitious sovereign of Sicily.

"'Thou art my fool!' said the angel;
'Thou shalt be shorn every deal
'Like a fool, a fool to be;
'For thou hast now no dignity.
'Thine counsellor shall be an ape;
'And o'[1] clothing you shall be shape.—
'He shall ben thine own fere:
'Some wit of him thou might leere,
'Hounds, how so it befalle,
'Shall eat with thee in the hall.
'Thou shalt eaten on the ground;
'Thy 'sayer shall ben an hound,
'To assay thy meat before thee;
'For thou hast lore thy dignity.'
He cleped a barber him before,
That, as a fool, he should be shore,
All around like a frere,
An hande-brede[2] above the ear;

  1. One; i.e. in one.
  2. A hand's breadth.