Page 1985 - Shakespeare - Vol. 2

And nature, stronger than his just occasion,
Made him give battle to the lioness, [130]
Who quickly fell before him; in which hurtling
From miserable slumber I awak’d.

CELIA
Are you his brother?

ROSALIND
Was’t you he rescu’d?

CELIA
Was’t you that did so oft contrive to kill him?

OLIVER
’Twas I. But ’tis not I. I do not shame [135]
To tell you what I was, since my conversion
So sweetly tastes, being the thing I am.

ROSALIND

But for the bloody napkin.

OLIVER

By and by.
When from the first to last betwixt us two
Tears our recountments had most kindly bath’d − [140]
As how I came into that desert place −

In brief, he led me to the gentle Duke,
Who gave me fresh array and entertainment,
Committing me unto my brother’s love,
Who led me instantly unto his cave, [145]

There stripp’d himself, and here upon his arm
The lioness had torn some flesh away,
Which all this while had bled; and now he fainted,
And cried in fainting upon Rosalind.

Brief, I recover’d him, bound up his wound, [150]
And after some small space, being strong at heart,