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The fury of battle, the frenzy of rage and despair, infected next the minstrels. The two pipers, who, during the conflict, had done their utmost to keep up the spirits of their brethren, now saw the dispute well nigh terminated for want of men to support it.
Hitherto holding aloof from his neighbors in Old Folksville, he suddenly went to a social gathering, and distinguished himself as the principal and popular guest of the evening. As Dan'l Borem afterward told his sister: "He was one o' them Combination Minstrels and Variety Shows in one.
There is the pomp of the entry of the knights and ladies, and afterwards of the minstrels; the Landgrave's music is effective, which is more than can be said for that usually allotted to the heavy father in an opera; the business of arranging the order in which the competitors shall stand up is accompanied by fragments of the graceful march or, rather, processional to which the minstrels had entered, and these come as a welcome preparation of the ear for the essential part of the scene.
The shepherd in a long speech tells how Daphne was changed into a tree, and then Apollo is seen at the foot of a laurel-tree weeping, accompanied by two minstrels. The repentant god repeats the verse "Sing you, play you; but sing and play my truth; This tree my lute, these sighs my note of ruth: The laurel leaf for ever shall be green, And Chastity shall be Apollo's Queen.
The sky it is, looking down upon me, it is the greensward flaunting rich multitude of flowers. Spring with its thousand voices of joy has entered into my soul, and my heart in sweet ungovernable tumult cries out aloud: To her! To her!" "Praise be to the power," say Landgrave and minstrels, "which has dispelled his arrogance!"
He still loved fighting and war, and his songs were still all of war. He worshiped Christ as he had worshiped Woden, and looked upon Him as a hero, only a little more powerful than the heroes of whom the minstrels sang. It was difficult to teach the Saxons the Bible lessons which we know so well, for in those far-off days there were no Bibles.
Now that the detectives were in adversity, the newspapers turned upon them, and began to fling the most stinging sarcasms at them. This gave the minstrels an idea, and they dressed themselves as detectives and hunted the elephant on the stage in the most extravagant way.
Now these many poems, before Pisistratus took them in hand, had been in the keeping for perhaps three centuries of wandering minstrels Rhapsodoi, Aoidoi, Citharaedi and Homeridae, as they were called who drifted about the Isles of Greece and Asiatic mainland during the long period of Greek insignificance and unculture.
"I shall," he said, "be of assistance to you. Minstrels are like heralds. They are of no nationality, and can pass free where a man-at-arms would be closely watched and hindered. Moreover, it may be that I might aid you greatly in discovering the prison of the king.
"You shall have it and welcome, fair Sir," Gillian replied, detaching the bouquet from her dress, and offering it to him. "Well done, Gillian," the old farmer cried approvingly. "Ah! are you there, grandsire!" the May Queen exclaimed. "Come! your gift for the minstrels and mummers quick! quick!" And while old Greenford searched for a small coin, Jocelyn placed a piece of silver in the tambourine.
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