that was a token a maiden planted it.But after God came to Adam,and bade him know his wife fleshly as nature required.So lay Adam with his wife under the same tree;and anon the tree which was white was full green as any grass,and all that came out of it;and in the same time that they medled together there was Abel begotten:thus was the tree long of green colour.And so it befell many days after,under the same tree Caym slew Abel,whereof befell great marvel.For anon as Abel had received the death under the green tree,it lost the green colour and became red;and that was in tokening of the blood.And anon all the plants died thereof,but the tree grew and waxed marvellously fair,and it was the fairest tree and the most delectable that any man might behold and see;and so died the plants that grew out of it to-fore that Abel was slain under it.So long dured the tree till that Solomon,King David's son,reigned,and held the land after his father.This Solomon was wise and knew all the virtues of stones and trees,and so he knew the course of the stars,and many other divers things.
This Solomon had an evil wife,wherethrough he weened that there had been no good woman,and so he despised them in his books.So answered a voice him once:
Solomon,if heaviness come to a man by a woman,ne reck thou never;for yet shall there come a woman whereof there shall come greater joy to man an hundred times more than this heaviness giveth sorrow;and that woman shall be born of thy lineage.Tho when Solomon heard these words he held himself but a fool,and the truth he perceived by old books.Also the Holy Ghost showed him the coming of the glorious Virgin Mary.
Then asked he of the voice,if it should be in the yerde of his lineage.Nay,said the voice,but there shall come a man which shall be a maid,and the last of your blood,and he shall be as good a knight as Duke Josua,thy brother-in-law.
CHAPTER VI
How Solomon took David's sword by the counsel of his wife,and of other matters marvellous.
NOW have I certified thee of that thou stoodest in doubt.
Then was Solomon glad that there should come any such of his lineage;but ever he marvelled and studied who that should be,and what his name might be.His wife perceived that he studied,and thought she would know it at some season;and so she waited her time,and asked of him the cause of his studying,and there he told her altogether how the voice told him.Well,said she,I shall let make a ship of the best wood and most durable that men may find.So Solomon sent for all the carpenters of the land,and the best.And when they had made the ship the lady said to Solomon:Sir,said she,since it is so that this knight ought to pass all knights of chivalry which have been to-fore him and shall come after him,moreover I shall tell you,said she,ye shall go into Our Lord's temple,where is King David's sword,your father,the which is the marvelloust and the sharpest that ever was taken in any knight's hand.Therefore take that,and take off the pommel,and thereto make ye a pommel of precious stones,that it be so subtly made that no man perceive it but that they be all one;and after make there an hilt so marvellously and wonderly that no man may know it;and after make a marvellous sheath.And when ye have made all this I shall let make a girdle thereto,such as shall please me.
All this King Solomon did let make as she devised,both the ship and all the remnant.And when the ship was ready in the sea to sail,the lady let make a great bed and marvellous rich,and set her upon the bed's head,covered with silk,and laid the sword at the feet,and the girdles were of hemp,and therewith the king was angry.
Sir,wit ye well,said she,that I have none so high a thing which were worthy to sustain so high a sword,and a maid shall bring other knights thereto,but I wot not when it shall be,nor what time.And there she let make a covering to the ship,of cloth of silk that should never rot for no manner of weather.Yet went that lady and made a carpenter to come to the tree which Abel was slain under.
Now,said she,carve me out of this tree as much wood as will make me a spindle.Ah madam,said he,this is the tree the which our first mother planted.Do it,said she,or else I shall destroy thee.Anon as he began to work there came out drops of blood;and then would he have left,but she would not suffer him,and so he took away as much wood as might make a spindle:and so she made him to take as much of the green tree and of the white tree.And when these three spindles were shapen she made them to be fastened upon the selar of the bed.When Solomon saw this,he said to his wife:Ye have done marvellously,for though all the world were here right now,he could not devise wherefore all this was made,but Our Lord Himself;and thou that hast done it wottest not what it shall betoken.Now let it be,said she,for ye shall hear tidings sooner than ye ween.Now shall ye hear a wonderful tale of King Solomon and his wife.
CHAPTER VII
A wonderful tale of King Solomon and his wife.
THAT night lay Solomon before the ship with little fellowship.And when he was asleep him thought there came from heaven a great company of angels,and alighted into the ship,and took water which was brought by an angel,in a vessel of silver,and sprent all the ship.And after he came to the sword,and drew letters on the hilt.And after went to the ship's board,and wrote there other letters which said:Thou man that wilt enter within me,beware that thou be full within the faith,for I ne am but Faith and Belief.When Solomon espied these letters he was abashed,so that he durst not enter,and so drew him aback;and the ship was anon shoven in the sea,and he went so fast that he lost sight of him within a little while.
And then a little voice said:Solomon,the last knight of thy lineage shall rest in this bed.Then went Solomon and awaked his wife,and told her of the adventures of the ship.
