84 PERICLES.

good King Simonides. Worn out as he was, he looked for nothing but
death, and that speedily. But some fishermen, coming down to the
beach, found him there, and gave him clothes and bade him be of good
cheer.

“Thou shalt come home with me,” said one of them, “ and we will
have flesh for holidays, fish for fasting days, and moreo’er, puddings and
flapjacks, and thou shalt be welcome.”

Pericles, touched by their kindness, took heart of grace, and
the love of life came back to him. They told him that on the morrow
many princes and knights were going to the King’s Court, there to
joust and tourney for the love of his daughter, the beautiful Princess
Thaisa.

“Did but my fortunes equal my desires,” said Pericles, “I'd wish
to make one there.”

As he spoke, some of the fishermen came by, drawing their net, and
it dragged heavily, resisting all their efforts, but at last they hauled it in
to find that it contained a suit of rusty armour; and looking at it, he
blessed Fortune for her kindness, for he saw that it was his own, which
had been given to him by his dead father. He begged the fishermen to
let him have it, that he might go to Court and take part in the tourna-
ment, promising that if ever his ill fortunes bettered, he would reward
them well. The fishermen readily consented, and being thus fully
equipped, Pericles set off in his rusty armour to the King’s Court.
The device on his shield was a withered branch that was only green
on the top, and the motto “In hac spe vivo” (In this hope I
live).

‘““A pretty moral,” said Simonides to his daughter. “From the
dejected state wherein he is, he hopes by you his fortunes yet may
flourish.”

In the tournament none bore himself so well as Pericles, and he won
the wreath of victory, which the fair Princess herself placed on his brows.
Then at her father’s command she asked him who he was, and whence he
came ; and he answered that he was a knight of Tyre, by name Pericles,
but he did not tell her that he was the King of that country, for he
knew that if once his whereabouts became known to Antiochus, his life
would not be worth a pin’s purchase. Nevertheless Thaisa loved him