A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court | Page 5

a sort of
stupefied fascination, till we turned a corner of the wood and were lost to her view. That
she should be startled at me instead of at the other man, was too many for me; I couldn't
make head or tail of it. And that she should seem to consider me a spectacle, and totally
overlook her own merits in that respect, was another puzzling thing, and a display of
magnanimity, too, that was surprising in one so young. There was food for thought here. I
moved along as one in a dream.
As we approached the town, signs of life began to appear. At intervals we passed a
wretched cabin, with a thatched roof, and about it small fields and garden patches in an
indifferent state of cultivation. There were people, too; brawny men, with long, coarse,

uncombed hair that hung down over their faces and made them look like animals. They
and the women, as a rule, wore a coarse tow-linen robe that came well below the knee,
and a rude sort of sandal, and many wore an iron collar. The small boys and girls were
always naked; but nobody seemed to know it. All of these people stared at me, talked
about me, ran into the huts and fetched out their families to gape at me; but nobody ever
noticed that other fellow, except to make him humble salutation and get no response for
their pains.
In the town were some substantial windowless houses of stone scattered among a
wilderness of thatched cabins; the streets were mere crooked alleys, and unpaved; troops
of dogs and nude children played in the sun and made life and noise; hogs roamed and
rooted contentedly about, and one of them lay in a reeking wallow in the middle of the
main thoroughfare and suckled her family. Presently there was a distant blare of military
music; it came nearer, still nearer, and soon a noble cavalcade wound into view, glorious
with plumed helmets and flashing mail and flaunting banners and rich doublets and
horse-cloths and gilded spearheads; and through the muck and swine, and naked brats,
and joyous dogs, and shabby huts, it took its gallant way, and in its wake we followed.
Followed through one winding alley and then another,--and climbing, always
climbing--till at last we gained the breezy height where the huge castle stood. There was
an exchange of bugle blasts; then a parley from the walls, where men-at-arms, in hauberk
and morion, marched back and forth with halberd at shoulder under flapping banners with
the rude figure of a dragon displayed upon them; and then the great gates were flung open,
the drawbridge was lowered, and the head of the cavalcade swept forward under the
frowning arches; and we, following, soon found ourselves in a great paved court, with
towers and turrets stretching up into the blue air on all the four sides; and all about us the
dismount was going on, and much greeting and ceremony, and running to and fro, and a
gay display of moving and intermingling colors, and an altogether pleasant stir and noise
and confusion.





CHAPTER II
KING ARTHUR'S COURT
The moment I got a chance I slipped aside privately and touched an ancient common
looking man on the shoulder and said, in an insinuating, confidential way:
"Friend, do me a kindness. Do you belong to the asylum, or are you just on a visit or

something like that?"
He looked me over stupidly, and said:
"Marry, fair sir, me seemeth--"
"That will do," I said; "I reckon you are a patient."
I moved away, cogitating, and at the same time keeping an eye out for any chance
passenger in his right mind that might come along and give me some light. I judged I had
found one, presently; so I drew him aside and said in his ear:
"If I could see the head keeper a minute--only just a minute--"
"Prithee do not let me."
"Let you _what_?"
"Hinder me, then, if the word please thee better. Then he went on to say he was an
under-cook and could not stop to gossip, though he would like it another time; for it
would comfort his very liver to know where I got my clothes. As he started away he
pointed and said yonder was one who was idle enough for my purpose, and was seeking
me besides, no doubt. This was an airy slim boy in shrimp-colored tights that made him
look like a forked carrot, the rest of his gear was blue silk and dainty laces and ruffles;
and he had long yellow curls, and wore a plumed pink satin cap tilted complacently over
his ear. By his look, he was good-natured; by his gait, he was