106
The first Booke of
Cant. VIII.
The same before the Geaunts gate he blew,That all the castle quaked from the grownd,And euery dore of freewill open flew:The Gyaunt selfe dismaied with that sownd,Where he with his Duessa dalliaunce fownd.In hast came rushing forth from inner bowre,With staring countenance sterne, as one astownd,And staggering steps, to weet, what suddein stowre,Had wrought that horror strange, and dar'd his dreaded powre.
And after him the proud Duessa came,High mounted on her many headed beast,And euery head with fyrie tongue did flame,And euery head was crowned on his creast,And bloody mouthed with late cruell feast.That when the knight beheld, his mightie shildVpon his manly arme he soone addrest,And at him fiersly flew, with corage fild,And eger greedinesse through euery member thrild.
Therewith the Gyant buckled him to fight,Inflamd with scornefull wrath and high disdaine,And lifting vp his dreadfull club on hight,All armd with ragged snubbes and knottie graine,Him thought at first encounter to haue slaine.But wist and wary was that noble Pere,And lightly leaping from so monstrous maine,Did fayre auoide the violence him nere;It booted nought, to thinke, such thunderbolts to beare.
Ne shame he thought to shonne so hideous might,The ydle stroke, enforcing furious way,Missing the marke of his misaymed sightDid fall to ground, and with his heauy sway
So
