your monastery. Well, take no offence. Many a true word is spoken in
jest!"

The Monk took his jibing with patience, and answered him soberly. "I
will tell such a tale as I can with honesty. It shall be a life of
St. Edward, or else some tragedies; that is to say, the stories of
men who fell from great prosperity into misfortune. I have more than
a hundred at home in my cell, all composed in hexameters. I will tell
some that I can remember, and excuse me if I tell them somewhat out
of order." So he began, half chanting as if in church.



THE MONK'S TALE OF DIVERSE MEN WHO FELL INTO MISFORTUNE

In tragic manner will I now lament
The fate of those who fell from high degree
Into the depth of woe. For Fortune is
A fickle goddess found, and none may hold
Her favour for himself, when she would list
To flee. Trust not to blind prosperity,
If old examples yet may make us wise.

LUCIFER

With Lucifer, though he an angel is
And not a man, I will at first begin.
Fortune may not an angel smite, but through
His sin he fell to deepest Hell from Light.
O Lucifer, thou brightest angel form,