<h2><SPAN name="chap05"></SPAN>AS YOU LIKE IT</h2>
<p>During the time that France was divided into provinces (or dukedoms, as
they were called) there reigned in one of these provinces a usurper who
had deposed and banished his elder brother, the lawful duke.</p>
<p>The duke who was thus driven from his dominions retired with a few
faithful followers to the forest of Arden; and here the good duke lived
with his loving friends, who had put themselves into a voluntary exile for
his sake, while their land and revenues enriched the false usurper; and
custom soon made the life of careless ease they led here more sweet to
them than the pomp and uneasy splendor of a courtier’s life. Here
they lived like the old Robin Hood of England, and to this forest many
noble youths daily resorted from the court, and did fleet the time
carelessly, as they did who lived in the golden age. In the summer they
lay along under the fine shade of the large forest trees, marking the
playful sports of the wild deer; and so fond were they of these poor
dappled fools, who seemed to be the native inhabitants of the forest, that
it grieved them to be forced to kill them to supply themselves with
venison for their food. When the cold winds of winter made the duke feel
the change of his adverse fortune, he would endure it patiently, and say:</p>
<p>“These chilling winds which blow upon my body are true counselors;
they do not flatter, but represent truly to me my condition; and though
they bite sharply, their tooth is nothing like so keen as that of
unkindness and ingratitude. I find that howsoever men speak against
adversity, yet some sweet uses are to be extracted from it; like the
jewel, precious for medicine, which is taken from the head of the venomous
and despised toad.”</p>
<p>In this manner did the patient duke draw a useful moral from everything
that he saw; and by the help of this moralizing turn, in that life of his,
remote from public haunts, he could find tongues in trees, books in the
running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.</p>
<p>The banished duke had an only daughter, named Rosalind, whom the usurper,
Duke Frederick, when he banished her father, still retained in his court
as a companion for his own daughter, Celia. A strict friendship subsisted
between these ladies, which the disagreement between their fathers did not
in the least interrupt, Celia striving by every kindness in her power to
make amends to Rosalind for the injustice of her own father in deposing
the father of Rosalind; and whenever the thoughts of her father’s
banishment, and her own dependence on the false usurper, made Rosalind
melancholy, Celia’s whole care was to comfort and console her.</p>
<p>One day, when Celia was talking in her usual kind manner to Rosalind,
saying, “I pray you, Rosalind, my sweet cousin, be merry,” a
messenger entered from the duke, to tell them that if they wished to see a
wrestling-match, which was just going to begin, they must come instantly
to the court before the palace; and Celia, thinking it would amuse
Rosalind, agreed to go and see it.</p>
<p>In those times wrestling, which is only practised now by country clowns,
was a favorite sport even in the courts of princes, and before fair ladies
and princesses. To this wrestling-match, therefore, Celia and Rosalind
went. They found that it was likely to prove a very tragical sight; for a
large and powerful man, who had been long practised in the art of
wrestling and had slain many men in contests of this kind, was just going
to wrestle with a very young man, who, from his extreme youth and
inexperience in the art, the beholders all thought would certainly be
killed.</p>
<p>When the duke saw Celia and Rosalind he said: “How now, daughter and
niece, are you crept hither to see the wrestling? You will take little
delight in it, there is such odds in the men. In pity to this young man, I
would wish to persuade him from wrestling. Speak to him, ladies, and see
if you can move him.”</p>
<p>The ladies were well pleased to perform this humane office, and first
Celia entreated the young stranger that he would desist from the attempt;
and then Rosalind spoke so kindly to him, and with such feeling
consideration for the danger he was about to undergo, that, instead of
being persuaded by her gentle words to forego his purpose, all his
thoughts were bent to distinguish himself by his courage in this lovely
lady’s eyes. He refused the request of Celia and Rosalind in such
graceful and modest words that they felt still more concern for him; he
concluded his refusal with saying:</p>
<p>“I am sorry to deny such fair and excellent ladies anything. But let
your fair eyes and gentle wishes go with me to my trial, wherein if I be
conquered there is one shamed that was never gracious; if I am killed,
there is one dead that is willing to die. I shall do my friends no wrong,
for I have none to lament me; the world no injury, for in it I have
nothing; for I only fill up a place in the world which may be better
supplied when I have made it empty.”</p>
<p>And now the wrestling-match began. Celia wished the young stranger might
not be hurt; but Rosalind felt most for him. The friendless state which he
said he was in, and that he wished to die, made Rosalind think that he
was, like herself, unfortunate; and she pitied him so much, and so deep an
interest she took in his danger while he was wrestling, that she might
almost be said at that moment to have fallen in love with him.</p>
<p>The kindness shown this unknown youth by these fair and noble ladies gave
him courage and strength, so that he performed wonders; and in the end
completely conquered his antagonist, who was so much hurt that for a while
he was unable to speak or move.</p>
<p>The Duke Frederick was much pleased with the courage and skill shown by
this young stranger; and desired to know his name and parentage, meaning
to take him under his protection.</p>
<p>The stranger said his name was Orlando, and that he was the youngest son
of Sir Rowland de Boys.</p>
<p>Sir Rowland de Boys, the father of Orlando, had been dead some years; but
when he was living he had been a true subject and dear friend of the
banished duke; therefore, when Frederick heard Orlando was the son of his
banished brother’s friend, all his liking for this brave young man
was changed into displeasure and he left the place in very ill humor.
Hating to bear the very name of any of his brother’s friends, and
yet still admiring the valor of the youth, he said, as he went out, that
he wished Orlando had been the son of any other man.</p>
<p>Rosalind was delighted to hear that her new favorite was the son of her
father’s old friend; and she said to Celia, “My father loved
Sir Rowland de Boys, and if I had known this young man was his son I would
have added tears to my entreaties before he should have ventured.”</p>
<p>The ladies then went up to him and, seeing him abashed by the sudden
displeasure shown by the duke, they spoke kind and encouraging words to
him; and Rosalind, when they were going away, turned back to speak some
more civil things to the brave young son of her father’s old friend,
and taking a chain from off her neck, she said:</p>
<p>“Gentleman, wear this for me. I am out of suits with fortune, or I
would give you a more valuable present.”</p>
<p>When the ladies were alone, Rosalind’s talk being still of Orlando,
Celia began to perceive her cousin had fallen in love with the handsome
young wrestler, and she said to Rosalind:</p>
<p>“Is it possible you should fall in love so suddenly?”</p>
<p>Rosalind replied, “The duke, my father, loved his father dearly.”</p>
<p>“But,” said Celia, “does it therefore follow that you
should love his son dearly?. For then I ought to hate him, for my father
hated his father; yet do not hate Orlando.”</p>
<p>Frederick, being enraged at the sight of Sir Rowland de Boys’s son,
which reminded him of the many friends the banished duke had among the
nobility, and having been for some time displeased with his niece because
the people praised her for her virtues and pitied her for her good father’s
sake, his malice suddenly broke out against her; and while Celia and
Rosalind were talking of Orlando, Frederick entered the room and with
looks full of anger ordered Rosalind instantly to leave the palace and
follow her father into banishment, telling Celia, who in vain pleaded for
her, that he had only suffered Rosalind to stay upon her account.</p>
<p>“I did not then,” said Celia, “entreat you to let her
stay, for I was too young at that time to value her; but now that I know
her worth, and that we so long have slept together, rose at the same
instant, learned, played, and eat together, I cannot live out of her
company.”</p>
<p>Frederick replied: “She is too subtle for you; her smoothness, her
very silence, and her patience speak to the people, and they pity her. You
are a fool to plead for her, for you will seem more bright and virtuous
when she is gone; therefore open not your lips in her favor, for the doom
which I have passed upon her is irrevocable.”</p>
<p>When Celia found she could not prevail upon her father to let Rosalind
remain with her, she generously resolved to accompany her; and, leaving
her father’s palace that night, she went along with her friend to
seek Rosalind’s father, the banished duke, in the forest of Arden.</p>
<p>Before they set out Celia considered that it would be unsafe for two young
ladies to travel in the rich clothes they then wore; she therefore
proposed that they should disguise their rank by dressing themselves like
country maids. Rosalind said it would be a still greater protection if one
of them was to be dressed like a man. And so it was quickly agreed on
between them that, as Rosalind was the tallest, she should wear the dress
of a young countryman, and Celia should be habited like a country lass,
and that they should say they were brother and sister; and Rosalind said
she would be called Ganymede, and Celia chose the name of Aliena.</p>
<p>In this disguise, and taking their money and jewels to defray their
expenses, these fair princesses set out on their long travel; for the
forest of Arden was a long way off, beyond the boundaries of the duke’s
dominions.</p>
<p>The lady Rosalind (or Ganymede, as she must now be called) with her manly
garb seemed to have put on a manly courage. The faithful friendship Celia
had shown in accompanying Rosalind so many weary miles made the new
brother, in recompense for this true love, exert a cheerful spirit, as if
he were indeed Ganymede, the rustic and stout-hearted brother of the
gentle village maiden, Aliena.</p>
<p>When at last they came to the forest of Arden they no longer found the
convenient inns and good accommodations they had met with on the road,
and, being in want of food and rest, Ganymede, who had so merrily cheered
his sister with pleasant speeches and happy remarks all the way, now owned
to Aliena that he was so weary he could find in his heart to disgrace his
man’s apparel and cry like a woman; and Aliena declared she could go
no farther; and then again Ganymede tried to recollect that it was a man’s
duty to comfort and console a woman, as the weaker vessel; and to seem
courageous to his new sister, he said:</p>
<p>“Come, have a good heart, my sister Aliena. We are now at the end of
our travel, in the forest of Arden.”</p>
<p>But feigned manliness and forced courage would no longer support them;
for, though they were in the forest of Arden, they knew not where to find
the duke. And here the travel of these weary ladies might have come to a
sad conclusion, for they might have lost themselves and perished for want
of food, but, providentially, as they were sitting on the grass, almost
dying with fatigue and hopeless of any relief, a countryman chanced to
pass that way, and Ganymede once more tried to speak with a manly
boldness, saying:</p>
<p>“Shepherd, if love or gold can in this desert place procure us
entertainment, I pray you bring us where we may rest ourselves; for this
young maid, my sister, is much fatigued with traveling, and faints for
want of food.”</p>
<p>The man replied that he was only a servant to a shepherd, and that his
master’s house was just going to be sold, and therefore they would
find but poor entertainment; but that if they would go with him they
should be welcome to what there was. They followed the man, the near
prospect of relief giving them fresh strength, and bought the house and
sheep of the shepherd, and took the man who conducted them to the shepherd’s
house to wait on them; and being by this means so fortunately provided
with a neat cottage, and well supplied with provisions, they agreed to
stay here till they could learn in what part of the forest the duke dwelt.</p>
<p>When they were rested after the fatigue of their journey, they began to
like their new way of life, and almost fancied themselves the shepherd and
shepherdess they feigned to be. Yet sometimes Ganymede remembered be had
once been the same Lady Rosalind who had so dearly loved the brave Orlando
because be was the son of old Sir Rowland, her father’s friend; and
though Ganymede thought that Orlando was many miles distant, even so many
weary miles as they had traveled, yet it soon appeared that Orlando was
also in the forest of Arden. And in this manner this strange event came to
pass.</p>
<p>Orlando was the youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys, who, when he died,
left him (Orlando being then very young) to the care of his eldest
brother, Oliver, charging Oliver on his blessing to give his brother a
good education and provide for him as became the dignity of their ancient
house. Oliver proved an unworthy brother, and, disregarding the commands
of his dying father, he never put his brother to school, but kept him at
home untaught and entirely neglected. But in his nature and in the noble
qualities of his mind Orlando so much resembled his excellent father that,
without any advantages of education, he seemed like a youth who had been
bred with the utmost care; and Oliver so envied the fine person and
dignified manners of his untutored brother that at last he wished to
destroy him, and to effect this be set on people to persuade him to
wrestle with the famous wrestler who, as has been before related, had
killed so many men. Now it was this cruel brother’s neglect of him
which made Orlando say he wished to die, being so friendless.</p>
<p>When, contrary to the wicked hopes he had formed, his brother proved
victorious, his envy and malice knew no bounds, and he swore he would burn
the chamber where Orlando slept. He was overheard making his vow by one
that had been an old and faithful servant to their father, and that loved
Orlando because he resembled Sir Rowland. This old man went out to meet
him when he returned from the duke’s palace, and when he saw Orlando
the peril his dear young master was in made him break out into these
passionate exclamations:</p>
<p>“O my gentle master, my sweet master! O you memory of Old Sir
Rowland! Why are you virtuous? Why are you gentle, strong, and valiant?
And why would you be so fond to overcome the famous wrestler? Your praise
is come too swiftly home before you.”</p>
<p>Orlando, wondering what all this meant, asked him what was the matter. And
then the old man told him how his wicked brother, envying the love all
people bore him, and now hearing the fame he had gained by his victory in
the duke’s palace, intended to destroy him by setting fire to his
chamber that night, and in conclusion advised him to escape the danger he
was in by instant flight; and knowing Orlando had no money, Adam (for that
was the good old man’s name) had brought out with him his own little
hoard, and he said:</p>
<p>“I have five hundred crowns, the thrifty hire I saved under your
father and laid by to be provision for me when my old limbs should become
unfit for service. Take that, and He that doth the ravens feed be comfort
to my age! Here is the gold. All this I give to you. Let me be your
servant; though I look old I will do the service of a younger man in all
your business and necessities.”</p>
<p>“O good old man!” said Orlando, “how well appears in you
the constant service of the old world! You are not for the fashion of
these times. We will go along together, and before your youthful wages are
spent I shall light upon some means for both our maintenance.”</p>
<p>Together, then, this faithful servant and his loved master set out; and
Orlando and Adam traveled on, uncertain what course to pursue, till they
came to the forest of Arden, and there they found themselves in the same
distress for want of food that Ganymede and Aliena had been. They wandered
on, seeking some human habitation, till they were almost spent with hunger
and fatigue.</p>
<p>Adam at last said: “O my dear master, I die for want of food. I can
go no farther!” He then laid himself down, thinking to make that
place his grave, and bade his dear master farewell.</p>
<p>Orlando, seeing him in this weak state, took his old servant up in his
arms and carried him under the shelter of some pleasant trees; and he said
to him: “Cheerly, old Adam. Rest your weary limbs here awhile, and
do not talk of dying!”</p>
<p>Orlando then searched about to find some food, and he happened to arrive
at that part of the forest where the duke was; and he and his friends were
just going to eat their dinner, this royal duke being seated on the grass,
under no other canopy than the shady covert of some large trees.</p>
<p>Orlando, whom hunger had made desperate, drew his sword, intending to take
their meat by force, and said: “Forbear and eat no more. I must have
your food!”</p>
<p>The duke asked him if distress had made him so bold or if he were a rude
despiser of good manners. On this Orlando said he was dying with hunger;
and then the duke told him he was welcome to sit down and eat with them.
Orlando, hearing him speak so gently, put up his sword and blushed with
shame at the rude manner in which he had demanded their food.</p>
<p>“Pardon me, I pray you,” said he. “I thought that all
things had been savage here, and therefore I put on the countenance of
stern command; but whatever men you are that in this desert, under the
shade of melancholy boughs, lose and neglect the creeping hours of time,
if ever you have looked on better days, if ever you have been where bells
have knolled to church, if you have ever sat at any good man’s
feast, if ever from your eyelids you have wiped a tear and know what it is
to pity or be pitied, may gentle speeches now move you to do me human
courtesy!”</p>
<p>The duke replied: “True it is that we are men (as you say) who have
seen better days, and though we have now our habitation in this wild
forest, we have lived in towns and cities and have with holy bell been
knolled to church, have sat at good men’s feasts, and from our eyes
have wiped the drops which sacred pity has engendered; therefore sit you
down and take of our refreshment as much as will minister to your wants.”</p>
<p>“There is an old poor man,” answered Orlando, “who has
limped after me many a weary step in pure love, oppressed at once with two
sad infirmities, age and hunger; till he be satisfied I must not touch a
bit.”</p>
<p>“Go, find him out and bring him hither,” said the duke.
“We will forbear to eat till you return.”</p>
<p>Then Orlando went like a doe to find its fawn and give it food; and
presently returned, bringing Adam in his arms.</p>
<p>And the duke said, “Set down your venerable burthen; you are both
welcome.”</p>
<p>And they fed the old man and cheered his heart, and he revived and
recovered his health and strength again.</p>
<p>The duke inquired who Orlando was; and when he found that he was the son
of his old friend, Sir Rowland de Boys, be took him under his protection,
and Orlando and his old servant lived with the duke in the forest.</p>
<p>Orlando arrived in the forest not many days after Ganymede and Aliena came
there and (as has been before related) bought the shepherd’s
cottage.</p>
<p>Ganymede and Aliena were strangely surprised to find the name of Rosalind
carved on the trees, and love-sonnets fastened to them, all addressed to
Rosalind; and while they were wondering how this could be they met Orlando
and they perceived the chain which Rosalind had given him about his neck.</p>
<p>Orlando little thought that Ganymede was the fair Princess Rosalind who,
by her noble condescension and favor, had so won his heart that he passed
his whole time in carving her name upon the trees and writing sonnets in
praise of her beauty; but being much pleased with the graceful air of this
pretty shepherd-youth, he entered into conversation with him, and be
thought he saw a likeness in Ganymede to his beloved Rosalind, but that he
had none of the dignified deportment of that noble lady; for Ganymede
assumed the forward manners often seen in youths when they are between
boys and men, -and with much archness and humor talked to Orlando of a
certain lover, “who,” said she, “haunts our forest, and
spoils our young trees with carving Rosalind upon their barks; and he
hangs odes upon hawthorns, and elegies on brambles, all praising this same
Rosalind. If I could find this lover, I would give him some good counsel
that would soon cure him of his love.”</p>
<p>Orlando confessed that he was the fond lover of whom he spoke,, and asked
Ganymede to give him the good counsel he talked Of. The remedy Ganymede
proposed, and the counsel he gave him was that Orlando should come every
day to the cottage where he and his sister Aliena dwelt.</p>
<p>“And then,” said Ganymede, “I will feign myself to be
Rosalind, and you shall feign to court me in the same manner as you would
do if I was Rosalind, and then I will imitate the fantastic ways of
whimsical ladies to their lovers, till I make you ashamed of your love;
and this is the way I propose to cure you.”</p>
<p>Orlando had no great faith in the remedy, yet he agreed to come every day
to Ganymede’s cottage and feign a playful courtship; and every day
Orlando visited Ganymede and Aliena, and Orlando called the shepherd
Ganymede his Rosalind, and every day talked over all the fine words and
flattering compliments which young men delight to use when they court
their mistresses. It does not appear, however, that Ganymede made any
progress in curing Orlando of his love for Rosalind.</p>
<p>Though Orlando thought all this was but a sportive play (not dreaming that
Ganymede was his very Rosalind), yet the opportunity it gave him of saying
all the fond things he had in his heart pleased his fancy almost as well
as it did Ganymede’s, who enjoyed the secret jest in knowing these
fine love-speeches were all addressed to the right person.</p>
<p>In this manner many days passed pleasantly on with these young people; and
the good-natured Aliena, seeing it made Ganymede happy, let him have his
own way and was diverted at the mock-courtship, and did not care to remind
Ganymede that the Lady Rosalind had not yet made herself known to the duke
her father, whose place of resort in the forest they had learned from
Orlando. Ganymede met the duke one day, and had some talk with him, and
the duke asked of what parentage he came. Ganymede answered that he came
of as good parentage as he did, which made the duke smile, for he did not
suspect the pretty shepherd-boy came of royal lineage. Then seeing the
duke look well and happy, Ganymede was content to put off all further
explanation for a few days longer.</p>
<p>One morning, as Orlando was going to visit Ganymede, he saw a man lying
asleep on the ground, and a large green snake had twisted itself about his
neck. The snake, seeing Orlando approach, glided away among the bushes.
Orlando went nearer, and then he discovered a lioness lie crouching, with
her head on the ground, with a catlike watch, waiting until the sleeping
man awaked (for it is said that lions will prey on nothing that is dead or
sleeping). It seemed as if Orlando was sent by Providence to free the man
from the danger of the snake and lioness; but when Orlando looked in the
man’s face he perceived that the sleeper who was exposed to this
double peril was his own brother Oliver, who had so cruelly used him and
had threatened to destroy him by fire, and he was almost tempted to leave
him a prey to the hungry lioness; but brotherly affection and the
gentleness of his nature soon overcame his first anger against his
brother; and he drew his sword and attacked the lioness and slew her, and
thus preserved his brother’s life both from the venomous snake and
from the furious lioness; but before Orlando could conquer the lioness she
had torn one of his arms with her sharp claws.</p>
<p>While Orlando was engaged with the lioness, Oliver awaked, and, perceiving
that his brother Orlando, whom he had so cruelly treated, was saving him
from the fury of a wild beast at the risk of his own life, shame and
remorse at once seized him, and he repented of his unworthy conduct and
besought with many tears his brother’s pardon for the injuries he
had done him. Orlando rejoiced to see him so penitent, and readily forgave
him. They embraced each other and from that hour Oliver loved Orlando with
a true brotherly affection, though he had come to the forest bent on his
destruction.</p>
<p>The wound in Orlando’s arm having bled very much, he found himself
too weak to go to visit Ganymede, and therefore he desired his brother to
go and tell Ganymede, “whom,” said Orlando, “I in sport
do call my Rosalind,” the accident which had befallen him.</p>
<p>Thither then Oliver went, and told to Ganymede and Aliena how Orlando had
saved his life; and when he had finished the story of Orlando’s
bravery and his own providential escape he owned to them that he was
Orlando’s brother who had so cruelly used him; and then be told them
of their reconciliation.</p>
<p>The sincere sorrow that Oliver expressed for his offenses made such a
lively impression on the kind heart of Aliena that she instantly fell in
love with him; and Oliver observing how much she pitied the distress he
told her he felt for his fault, he as suddenly fell in love with her. But
while love was thus stealing into the hearts of Aliena and Oliver, he was
no less busy with Ganymede, who, hearing of the danger Orlando had been
in, and that he was wounded by the lioness, fainted; and when he recovered
he pretended that he had counterfeited the swoon in the imaginary
character of Rosalind, and Ganymede said to Oliver:</p>
<p>“Tell your brother Orlando how well I counterfeited a swoon.”</p>
<p>But Oliver saw by the paleness of his complexion that he did really faint,
and, much wondering at the weakness of the young man, he said, “Well,
if you did counterfeit, take a good heart and counterfeit to be a man.”</p>
<p>“So I do,” replied Ganymede, truly, “but I should have
been a woman by right.”</p>
<p>Oliver made this visit a very long one, and when at last he returned back
to his brother he had much news to tell him; for, besides the account of
Ganymede’s fainting at the hearing that Orlando was wounded, Oliver
told him how he had fallen in love with the fair shepherdess Aliena, and
that she had lent a favorable ear to his suit, even in this their first
interview; and he talked to his brother, as of a thing almost settled,
that he should marry Aliena, saying that he so well loved her that he
would live here as a shepherd and settle his estate and house at home upon
Orlando.</p>
<p>“You have my consent,” said Orlando. “Let your wedding
be to-morrow, and I will invite the duke and his friends. Go and persuade
your shepherdess to agree to this. She is now alone, for, look, here comes
her brother.”</p>
<p>Oliver went to Aliena, and Ganymede, whom Orlando had perceived
approaching, came to inquire after the health of his wounded friend.</p>
<p>When Orlando and Ganymede began to talk over the sudden love which had
taken place between Oliver and. Aliena, Orlando said be had advised his
brother to persuade his fair shepherdess to be married on the morrow, and
then he added how much he could wish to be married on the same day to his
Rosalind.</p>
<p>Ganymede, who well approved of this arrangement, said that if Orlando
really loved Rosalind as well as he professed to do, he should have his
wish; for on the morrow he would engage to make Rosalind appear in her own
person, and also that Rosalind should be willing to marry Orlando.</p>
<p>This seemingly wonderful event, which, as Ganymede was the Lady Rosalind,
he could so easily perform, be pretended he would bring to pass by the aid
of magic, which he said he had learned of an uncle who was a famous
magician.</p>
<p>The fond lover Orlando, half believing and half doubting what he heard,
asked Ganymede if he spoke in sober meaning.</p>
<p>“By my life I do,” said Ganymede. “Therefore put on your
best clothes, and bid the duke and your friends to your wedding, for if
you desire to be married to-morrow to Rosalind, she shall be here.”</p>
<p>The next morning, Oliver having obtained the consent of Aliena, they came
into the presence of the duke, and with them also came Orlando.</p>
<p>They being all assembled to celebrate this double marriage, and as yet
only one of the brides appearing, there was much of wondering and
conjecture, but they mostly thought that Ganymede was making a jest of
Orlando.</p>
<p>The duke, hearing that it was his own daughter that was to be brought in
this strange way, asked Orlando if he believed the shepherd-boy could
really do what he had promised; and while Orlando was answering that he
knew not what to think, Ganymede entered and asked the duke, if he brought
his daughter, whether he would consent to her marriage with Orlando.</p>
<p>“That I would,” said the duke, “if I had kingdoms to
give with her.”</p>
<p>Ganymede then said to Orlando, “And you say you will marry her if I
bring her here.”</p>
<p>“That I would,” said Orlando, “if I were king of many
kingdoms.”</p>
<p>Ganymede and Aliena then went out together, and, Ganymede throwing off his
male attire, and being once more dressed in woman’s apparel, quickly
became Rosalind without the power of magic; and Aliena, changing her
country garb for her own rich clothes, was with as little trouble
transformed into the lady Celia.</p>
<p>While they were gone, the duke said to Orlando that he thought the
shepherd Ganymede very like his daughter Rosalind; and Orlando said he
also had observed the resemblance.</p>
<p>They had no time to wonder how all this would end, for Rosalind and Celia,
in their own clothes, entered, and, no longer pretending that it was by
the power of magic that she came there, Rosalind threw herself on her
knees before her father and begged his blessing. It seemed so wonderful to
all present that she should so suddenly appear, that it might well have
passed for magic; but Rosalind would no longer trifle with her father, and
told him the story of her banishment, and of her dwelling in the forest as
a shepherd-boy, her cousin Celia passing as her sister.</p>
<p>The duke ratified the consent he had already given to the marriage; and
Orlando and Rosalind, Oliver and Celia, were married at the same time. And
though their wedding could not be celebrated in this wild forest with any
of the parade of splendor usual on such occasions, yet a happier
wedding-day was never passed. And while they were eating their venison
under the cool shade of the pleasant trees, as if nothing should be
wanting to complete the felicity of this good duke and the true lovers, an
unexpected messenger arrived to tell the duke the joyful news that his
dukedom was restored to him.</p>
<p>The usurper, enraged at the flight of his daughter Celia, and hearing that
every day men of great worth resorted to the forest of Arden to join the
lawful duke in his exile, much envying that his brother should be so
highly respected in his adversity, put himself at the head of a large
force and advanced toward the forest, intending to seize his brother and
put him with all his faithful followers to the sword; but by a wonderful
interposition of Providence this bad brother was converted from his evil
intention, for just as he entered the skirts of the wild forest he was met
by an old religious man, a hermit, with whom he had much talk and who in
the end completely turned his heart from his wicked design. Thenceforward
he became a true penitent, and resolved, relinquishing his unjust
dominion, to spend the remainder of his days in a religious house. The
first act of his newly conceived penitence was to send a messenger to his
brother (as has been related) to offer to restore to him his dukedom,
which be had usurped so long, and with it the lands and revenues of his
friends, the faithful followers of his adversity.</p>
<p>This joyful news, as unexpected as it was welcome, came opportunely to
heighten the festivity and rejoicings at the wedding of the princesses.
Celia complimented her cousin on this good, fortune which had happened to
the duke, Rosalind’s father, and wished her joy very sincerely,
though she herself was no longer heir to the dukedom, but by this
restoration which her father had made, Rosalind was now the heir, so
completely was the love of these two cousins unmixed with anything of
jealousy or of envy.</p>
<p>The duke had now an opportunity of rewarding those true friends who had
stayed with him in his banishment; and these worthy followers, though they
had patiently shared his adverse fortune, were very well pleased to return
in peace and prosperity, to the palace of their lawful duke.</p>
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