I read that once in Africa
A princely wight did reign,
Who had to name Cophetua,
As poets they did feign:
From nature's laws he did decline,
For sure he was not of my mind,
He car-ed not for women-kind,
But did them all disdain.
But mark what happened on a day:
As he out of his window lay,
He saw a beggar all in gray,
The which did cause his pain.

The blinded boy, that shoots so trim,
From heaven down did hie;
He drew a dart and shot at him,
In place where he did lie:
Which soon did pierce him to the quick,
And when he felt the arrow prick,
Which in his tender heart did stick,
He looked as he would die.
"What sudden chance is this," quoth he,
"That I to love must subject be,
Which never thereto would agree,
But still did it defy?"

Then from the window he did come,
And laid him on his bed,
A thousand heaps of care did run
Within his troubled head:
For now he means to crave her love,
And now he seeks which way to prove
How he his fancy might remove,
And not this beggar wed.
But Cupid had him so in snare,
That this poor beggar must prepare
A salve to cure him of his care,
Or else he would be dead.

And, as he musing thus did lie,
He thought for to devise
How he might have her company,
That so did 'maze his eyes.
"In thee," quoth he, "doth rest my life;
For surely thou shalt be my wife,
Or else this hand with bloody knife
The gods shall sure suffice!"
Then from his bed he soon arose,
And to his palace gate he goes;
Full little then this beggar knows
When she the king espies.

"The gods preserve your majesty!"
The beggars all gan cry:
"Vouchsafe to give your charity
Our children's food to buy!"
The king to them his purse did cast,
And they to part it made great haste;
This silly woman was the last
That after them did hie.
The king he called her back again,
And unto her he gave his chain;
And said, "With us thou shalt remain
Till such time as we die:

"For thou," quoth he, "shalt be my wife,
And honoured for my queen;
With thee I mean to lead my life,
As shortly shall be seen:
Our wedding shall appointed be,
And every thing in its degree;
Come on," quoth he, "and follow me,
Thou shalt go shift thee clean.
What is thy name, fair maid?" quoth he.
"Zenelophon, O king," quoth she:
With that she made a low courts-ey,
A trim one as I ween.

Thus hand in hand along they walk
Unto the king's pal-ace:
The king with courteous comely talk
This beggar doth embrace:
The beggar blusheth scarlet red,
And straight again as pale as lead,
But not a word at all she said,
She was in such amaze.
At last she spake with trembling voice
And said, "O king, I do rejoice
That you will take me for your choice,
And my degree's so base."

And when the wedding day was come,
The king commanded straight
The noblemen both all and some
Upon the queen to wait.
And she behaved herself that day,
As if she had never walked the way;
She had forgot her gown of gray,
Which she did wear of late.
The proverb old is come to pass,
The priest, when he begins his mass,
Forgets that ever clerk he was;
He knoweth not his estate.

Here you may read, Cophetua,
Though long time fancy-fed,
Compell-ed by the blinded boy
The beggar for to wed:
He that did lovers' looks disdain,
To do the same was glad and fain,
Or else he would himself have slain,
In story as we read.
Disdain no whit, O lady dear,
But pity now thy servant here,
Lest that it hap to thee this year,
As to that king it did.

And thus they led a quiet life
During their princely reign;
And in a tomb were buried both,
As writers showeth plain.
The lords they took it grievously,
The ladies took it heavily,
The commons cri-ed piteously,
Their death to them was pain.
Their fame did sound so passingly,
That it did pierce the starry sky,
And throughout all the world did fly
To every prince's realm.