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, "These chilling winds which blow upon my body are true counsellors;
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." In this manner did the patient duke draw a
useful moral from everything that he saw; and by the help of this
moralising 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.

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.

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.

In those times wrestling, which is only practised now by country clowns,
was a favourite 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