Contenteth me, and worth a monarchy.
I seek not to wax great by others' waning,
Or gather wealth I care not with what envy:
Sufficeth that I have maintains my state, 24
And sends the poor well pleased from my gate.
Cade. [Aside.] Here's the lord of the soil
come to seize me for a stray, for entering his
fee-simple without leave. Ah, villain! thou wilt 28
betray me, and get a thousand crowns of the
king by carrying my head to him; but I'll make
thee eat iron like an ostrich, and swallow my
sword like a great pin, ere thou and I part. 32
Iden. Why, rude companion, whatsoe'er thou be,
I know thee not; why then should I betray thee?
Is 't not enough to break into my garden,
And like a thief to come to rob my grounds, 36
Climbing my walls in spite of me the owner,
But thou wilt brave me with these saucy terms?
Cade. Brave thee! ay, by the best blood that
ever was broached, and beard thee too. Look on 40
me well: I have eat no meat these five days;
yet, come thou and thy five men, and if I do
not leave you all as dead as a door-nail, I pray
God I may never eat grass more. 44
Iden. Nay, it shall ne'er be said, while England stands,
That Alexander Iden, an esquire of Kent,
Took odds to combat a poor famish'd man.
Oppose thy steadfast-gazing eyes to mine, 48
See if thou canst out-face me with thy looks:
Set limb to limb, and thou art far the lesser;
Thy hand is but a finger to my fist;
Thy leg a stick compared with this truncheon; 52
21 and: and so is
24 sufficeth that: it is enough that what
31 eat . . . ostrich; cf. n.
52 truncheon: a thick staff (Iden's leg)
